Göteborgsoperans Danskompani stakes a strong claim to being one of the foremost contemporary dance companies in Europe. The largest in the Nordic region, Göteborgsoperans Danskompani is “truly a company of today”, with dynamic seasons of new works year after year. At Göteborgsoperans Danskompani, the repertoire consists primarily of creations specially made for the company, which means when they have a première, they have a world première.
The four major premières taking place in the coming season seem to delve into the imagination and explore fantastical landscapes. Two of the pieces are contemporary variations of well-known fictions, while the others are firmly rooted in history and folklore.
The choreographers have taken four very different artistic approaches to their subject matters. Slovak choreographer Anton Lachky's A's Adventures explores Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from a new perspective and delves into a surrealist landsape of what is not visible in the looking-glass. Conversely, Norwegian choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen's Wasteland is an avant-garde and socially critical piece that takes us into the darkness of the coal mines and questions the stress of consumption today. Alan Lucien Øyen’s Neverland, a piece characterised by a strong desire never to grow up and inspired by J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, is partnered with Irish choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan’s provocative work, Shadowland, in which a witch-hunt ensues.
But mystical is not the right word to describe the Wonderland: Weird and Wonderful season, Adolphe Binder, artistic director of the Dance Company, corrects me. Perhaps this description negates the grounding these pieces have in reality, and compromises the true depths of human experience the four choreographers draw upon.
AB: The four major premières Wonderland/Wasteland and Neverland/Shadowland will be very different artistic ways to deal with the subjects. From funny to poetic, raw to theatrical. From Alice's adventures in abstraction, to the vast wastelands of a coal mine, the world of lost boys and the fear of growing up to the oppressed fears, guilt and longings in our witch-project. Realities, how we perceive and remember them.
CS: The theme of storytelling blooms in the Opera season too, where fairytale, folk tales and myths take the stage. Why is this theme important?
AB: It is about different layers of reality and diving into our (sub-)conscious. There are many worlds within us, worlds to flee to, worlds to dream about and worlds to learn to cope with for survival.
CS: How does the 2014-15 season develop themes we've seen in past seasons?
AB: The Wonderland: Weird and Wonderful season, builds on the previous seasons: Homeland and Riskzones (12/13) and Mind and Spirit (13/14). All of them explore our approach to the perception and reflection of different realities. They all build on each other. At first the reality of the migrant body, with the effect of dislocation and what effect it has on our sense of belonging. Next, the reflection of interconnectedness of the space within and outside us, questions on parallel realities, the collective body and the power of its intentional mind. Wonderland will dive into the realities of the conscious/unconscious/subconscious of the individual as much as of the social environment. Like Alice down the black rabbit hole, re-discovering the unknown. What level is real, what is history or lived life stored in our memories, what fantasy, what projection, what fear? Dreams as well as nightmares.