Magic and fantasy in The Velvet Heart

We are pleased that this year we are also collaborating with Dansens Hus on a screening of one of their performances for our audience.

The Velvet Heart invites you into a sensual and enveloping world. Through dance and live music, a story of friendship and belonging is told. Together with four performers with and without visual impairments, choreographer Ine Terese Hogstad creates a performance specially adapted for children and adults, with and without visual impairments. 

The Velveteen Rabbit draws inspiration from the children's book The Velveteen Rabbit , an American classic by Margery Williams from 1922, and explores the borderland between fantasy, magic and reality. Here we get to know an old, wise toy horse, a child and a velveteen rabbit. We join a journey where small and big questions arise: How does one really become real? What does it mean to be a good friend? Why does the heart beat? From the soft and heavy, from rolling, squeezing and falling, to floating together, running and jumping high! Along the way, you will probably get a little pulled at the seams, and your fur will probably get more worn, but what does it do when you really become important to someone else?

The idea behind Fløyelshjertet stems from a curiosity and interest in exploring how a dance performance can be experienced without the use of sight. The performance engages all senses as the story is told, and provides other ways to experience performing arts. 

The performance is best suited for children from 3 years old.

Papirvinger is led by choreographer, dancer and educator Ine Terese Hogstad, who explores the relationship between place, nature and people. With a holistic, phenomenological perspective, she creates new spaces and worlds, and is fascinated by how small details can be connected to larger contexts.

In recent years, she has focused on multi-aesthetic performing arts performances for the youngest children, with an emphasis on tactile, holistic experiences and sensorimotor presence. Among her works are Fabelaktig (2022, new circus and dance), Lutter øre (2025, for children 0–3 years old) and Fløyelshjertet (adapted for children with visual impairments, part of the Dansens Hus initiative GREAT ART FOR ALL children ).

Hogstad has a bachelor's degree in dance from UiS and a master's degree in dance studies from NTNU. She also runs Papirvinger, collaborates with Moonmade Produksjoner and leads the dance collective ImproLaBergen.

The performance is a co-production with Dansens Hus and is part of the project STOR kunst for alle barn, which focuses on diversity in performing arts for children.
STOR art for all children is supported by the DNB Sparebankstiftelsen.