Different Bodies – kunstnerlab i Norge

Neste kunstnerlab i EU-prosjektet PUSH+ arrangeres skal arrangeres av oss, her i Norge. Leder for lab’en er Tone Pernille Østern. Sammen med 15 scenekunstnere med base i Norge, Danmark, Belgia, Skottland og Irland skal utforske spørsmål og ideer om kropp. Noe av det de skal jobbe med er:

• Hva er en kropp og hvordan er den knyttet til vårt selvbilde?
• Hva er sammenhengen mellom kropp, samfunn og scenekunst?
• Hvilke kropper ser vi på scenen, og hvilke er ikke der?
• Hva er følgene av hvordan vi behandler og snakker om (eller ikke snakker om) kroppene våre?
• Hvordan påvirker lite mangfold på scenen publikum?
• Hvordan kan vi åpne for nye perspektiver og oppfatninger, hvor blir ideer og praksis rundt ulike kropper utfordret?
• Hvordan kan vi gi kunstnerisk rom der ulike kropper kan bevege seg og kommunisere, og på samme tid gi rom for egne oppfatninger og tankesett?
• Hvordan kan en variasjon av kroppsutrykk hjelpe oss å reflektere gjennom en fysisk tilnærming?

Lab-en skal ha en åpen og utforskende tilnærming til tematikken, og jobbe med å skape bedre representasjon i scenekunst for et ungt publikum.

De tre norske scenekunstnerne som er plukket ut er Maria Terese Kittilsen, Tendai Malvine Makurumbandi og Mafalda Silva. Her forteller de om seg selv:

Maria Terese Kittilsen

I am a dance artist, living with a disability. I mention this because my lived experience strongly affects my artistic approach. I am curious about exploring different bodies, both in teaching and creating. I believe that to stay relevant to society, the dance art has to include a greater diversity of bodies and capacities than the present moment.

Accessing professional training as a dancer with Cerebral Palsey has been challenging. I was not able to get a formal degree of dance, but have done my training through evening classes, workshops and travelling. This way I got a wide experience through meeting different people, styles and approaches, especially related with dance and (dis)ability. I also have a bachelors degree in sport psychology and coaching in relation to dance, which has added a theoretical and science based approach to my creative work.

I now work freelance as a dance artist, creator and teacher. I have specialized in working with differently abled dancers, and this is where my heart truly lies. I have worked with different age groups and skill levels, and I prefer very mixed groups. I choose to see this great diversity as a resource rather than an obstacle or a challenge. Most of my experience lies within the field of teaching and coaching, but I have also assisted artistic processes. Currently I am working on a research project, «NORMAL», together with Daniel Mariblanca, produced by 71bodies and co-produced/supported by Carte Blanche among others. The research is inspired by topics related to sexuality and bodies that challenge normative standards. I am also working on a pre project/artistic research for an autobiographical solo work. 

Tendai Malvine Makurumbandi

My name is Tendai Malvine Makurumbandi and I come from Zimbabwe but based in Norway. I got my BA in Dance, choreography and teaching from the National Ballet of Zimbabwe in 2005. I am currently doing my Masters in Choreography at Oslo National Academy of Arts.

Dance and music has been part of my upbringing. I come from a cultural family of  dancers, musicians and painters. I have been working as a dancer and teacher both in Sweden and Norway for 14 years.

I consider myself to be highly motivated, patient , hardworking, confident, honest, creative, good communicating and teaching skills. I like meeting new people, expand my network and use each platform as a learning platform whilst sharing experiences and inspiration.

Mafalda Silva

Mafalda is a Portuguese-Norwegian actress and theatre maker, whose main body of work includes puppetry, clown and visual theatre. Having immigrated from Portugal to Norway at an early age, she keeps a special interest in performances that are able to communicate without the use of words. Through her own work, Mafalda aims to explore a universal visual language that is capable of puncturing cultural barriers, symbols and conventions. Whether they be clown, puppetry, or dance, Mafalda’s creations all derive from her interest in movement and its implications on our emotional universe. Her pieces often delve into the themes of belonging, identity and the loss of it.

Mafalda has a BA from the Acting and Theatre Production program of Nord University in Verdal, Norway. She has additionally done extensive training in France with performers from the French theatre company Cie. Philippe Genty. Her work has received funding from Arts Council Norway, the Norwegian Fund for Performing Artists (FFUK), Trøndelag fylkeskommune and Sparebank 1 SMN.

In addition to her stage work, Mafalda also dabbles in soundtrack design, and works as a dialogue facilitator and workshop holder for youths in the Oslo region.

Lab-leder: Tone Pernille Østern

Tone Pernille Østern was studying at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance in the 1990s, when CandoCo dance company, with dancers with and without disabilities, was up and coming in U.K. Much inspired by their work she co-funded Inclusive Dance Company in Norway in 2000, a small independent company that since then has had “difference” – in many ways – in focus in its artistic search. She further funded The Dance Laboratory, a community-based company with differently bodied dancers in 2003 and was artistic leader for them for 10 years. The Dance Laboratory also was her doctoral project for a Doctor of Arts in Dance at the University of the Arts in Helsinki, which she fulfilled in 2009. Since then, she works as an artist-teacher-researcher in an academic context as professor at NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The question of different bodies runs as a red thread through her work.

Les er om de andre scenekunstnerne her.