Adapting tracks from Kraftwerk’s Tour de France album to dance, the starting focus was to give the choreography a sharp racing dynamic with fast physical and technical movement phrases. Each duet would start on the bikes, racing each other and warming up, before moving to the floor to dance. While they danced, the next duet would already be on the bikes, trying to close the distance. As the dancers are pushed incessantly onwards by the beat of the music, the whirring and clicking of bike spokes, and the competitive energy of the race, they further blurred the lines and motions between cycling and dance.

Music: Prologue, Tour de France (Etape 1) by Kraftwerk
Lighting: Paul Vidar Sævarang
Costume: Sunniva Østerbø
Video: Unni Sanne, Anders Dahl
Editing: Unni Sanne
Dancers: Martelle Cho, Andrew Coffey, Simon McNally,
Shaakir Muhammad, Elise Nøkling-Eide,
Erika Pastel, Mathias Tannæs, Qu Xi
Photography: Jörg Wiesner

Tour de France (stage 1)

A structured improvisation performance involving music, visual art, dance and video design, Movements explored various levels of connection, both interdisciplinary and figurative, forming a rich audio-visual experience. Performed four times consecutively for different audience groups, the creative flexibility of the piece structure allowed each iteration to pass through the concept stages in different ways. Each improvised moment, made with a sensitivity and awareness between the artists, created a vibrant and intuitive cross art communication.

The first concept stage was one of arrival, where one of the dancers wandered through the architecture of the opera foyer, illuminating the patterned walls while being drawn towards the platformed stage and light painted wall. Another concept played with intensity of sound in the music and physicality in the dance, in relation to the proximity between the two dancers. This led into a vacuum of silence where one dancer initiated the direction of movement for the other, drifting him slowly through space. The fourth concept introduced the visual artist manipulating ink across glass, projecting slow shifting landscapes onto the foyer wall. The dancers paused to observe these motions, then began to dance with them, slowly becoming absorbed into the moving wall.


Producers: Vibeke Christensen, Eva Gran
Video/Director: Simon Valentine
Music: Verneri Pohjola, Tuomo Prättälä
Visual Art: Runi Langum
Dancers: Simon Regourd, Kenji Wilkie
Photography: Camilla Storvollen


Movements

“A small seed can grow into a big dream. Building upon Knud Kundsen’s historic landscape photography, the dream takes shape through the symbiotic relationship of humans and the natural world, leading us through the passing seasons and phases of life.”

“A story about a young boy who plants a seed. The seed germinates and grows as the boy ages. Through a year in the orchard, the audience joins in changing seasons and changing phases of life. History unfolds as a fantasy, in a landscape inspired by the pictorial pioneer Knud Knudsen, as he captures it through his camera. The story of man in battle with nature is conveyed through the latest in digital technology. Using four projectors, the room becomes dressed with the material, and an immersive experience envelops us.”

Choreographing in silhouette posed some interesting limitations whilst providing a clear aesthetic. The movements and shapes had to be considered in terms of their outline appearance due to the silhouette concealing everything within itself. The theme of cycles and transformation, found both in plants and humans inspired the approach to generating movement material. In certain moments the dancers portrayed farmers cultivating the land or celebrating the arrival of spring. In other moments they became the plants, their torsos rising trunks and arms reaching branches, bowing to the harsh winter winds. The storm abating, tentative hands like spring saplings reach upwards to pluck the ripe fruit, further intertwining the relationship between the farmers and the orchard.

Exhibition Designer: Kine Liholm
Video Artist/Composer: Simon Valentine
Technical Management: Logic Interactive AS
Dancers: Ida Haugen, Kenji Wilk