Norwegian choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen created a new piece for Cullberg Ballet in spring 2011; True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors. Eight of Cullberg Ballet’s dancers perform in this illustrative piece.In 2009 Cullberg Ballet presented JJ’s Voices by Benoît Lachambre and xspectacle by Crystal Pite under the program Up Close at Dansens Hus small stage in Stockholm.
With Ina Christel Johannessen the Cullberg Ballet again entered a smaller, more intimate venue, giving the audience a possibility to get closer to the work. Ina Christel Johannessen came across the title True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors in the sub-heading of an adventure book comprised of survival stories of people who had been shipwrecked. Johannessen based the creation of this new work on the concept of islands, an place that can symbolize both salvation and captivity. She wants to examine human relations – the longing to belong and the need for isolation, solitude as a choice or a constraint, a sense of exclusion, yearning, intimacy and distance.
Each word in the title has significance for Ina and the dancers. They twist and turn their meanings together. The choreography explores contrasts and contradictions: the beautiful becomes ugly, what appears strong proves fragile, while the frail demonstrates unforeseen strength. Ina Christel Johannessen is the artistic leader and choreographer of Zero Visibility Corp, based in Oslo, Norway. The company had its international breakthrough with the work it’s only a rehearsal in 2003, which was a major success having been performed over one hundred times. The company tours Europe regularly. Ina trained at the National College of Performing Arts in Oslo, where she now teaches choreography. A important keystone of Ina’s artistic development and work has been the close relationship she has had with the national company of contemporary dance Carte Blanche, based in Bergen. Since 1992, Ina Christel Johannessen has created thirteen full-evening works for the company.
Johannessen has also worked with several international companies and institutions which include the Helsinki City Dance Company, The Royal Swedish Opera, Scottish Dance Theatre, Iceland Dance Company, The National Theatre in Oslo, Norway, Dance and Theatre Academy of Helsinki, Finland, and the National College of Performing Arts, also in Oslo. Johannessen’s work is characterized by high intensity physicality merged with poetic and dramatic theatrical elements. She collaborates closely on the creation of visual elements such as lighting and scenography, which play a crucial role in her work as a whole. The music is most often composed of electronic works from international composers, either new or rewritten works.
In True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors for Cullberg Ballet Ina Christel Johannessen works together with set designer Kristin Torp and lighting designer Kyrre Heldal Karlsen. Movement material developed in collaboration with the dancers.
Length: approximately 60 minutes.
World première 25 February 2011 at the small stage at Dansens Hus, Stockholm.
Press:
“A survival test that gives a taste for more”
– Svenska Dagbladet
“All of the dancers are given an opportunity to sculpt their own part of the piece, which begins with a suggestive, collective scene that could be interpreted as a shipwreck survivor being caught in a violent sea. This is a scene that Victoria Roberts fills with a suggestive energy, alluding to the power and strength needed to survive against all odds. Johannessen brings to the fore the strength of those we usually see as victims. As well as the pain that arises when the struggle is lost. The closing scene is just as touching as it is beautiful and captures the moods in the suggestive collage of sounds that serves as a kind of auditory scenography.”
– Scentidningen Nummer