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MAN
January 18, 2019 • 7:30 pm • ArtSpring Theatre January 25, 2019 • 7:30 pm • McPherson Playhouse Running time: 50 minutes (no intermission) ArtSpring is located on the traditional territory of the Saanich, Cowichan, and Chemainus First Nations and the Royal Theatre is located on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create, and perform on these territories.
Credits
Left and right: Sudesh Adhana in MAN. Photos © Trine og Kim Designstudio.
Choreographer: Sølvi Edvardsen Dancer: Sudesh Adhana Music: Kim Sølve with Swarms: Bjeima, Petter Berntsen, Andreas Vilthagen Light Design: Paul Vidar Ramon Sævarang Film, Costumes, Props: Sølvi Edvardsen Seamstress: Johanna Sutinen Metal: Arne Øystein Lunner Producer: Kirre Arneberg World Premiere: October 23, 2015, CODA Oslo International Dance Festival in collaboration with the Norwegian National Touring Theatre MAN is supported by: Kulturrådet, FFUK og FFLB, the Canada Council for the Arts. The tour of MAN in Canada is supported by the Arts Council Norway, The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/ Performing Arts Hub Norway and
About MAN After a long career, some themes became increasingly important to me. Diving into the thematic of the individual human being, its value and importance, has always fascinated me. It seems even more important in a time when the world is becoming increasingly smaller, our days consist of many challenges and personal choices when it comes to what it means to be human. I am inspired by the human need to constantly express oneself to the surroundings, how we achieve the balance in this personal universe through an inner dialogue. I have been wanting to make the performance MAN — with its double meaning of a male person and humanity in general — to explore the possibilities for a scenic expression based on one dancer’s potential — the maximal in the minimal. The theme is the human in its eternal study of his/her own reality, the lines we draw, the limits we put upon ourselves — or are assigned by different systems and situations, especially if you have a bicultural identity. My early studies of classical Indian dance have been important as a source of inspiration in my art practice. For me, dance is an expression of human spirituality. This is the basis of the Indian dance tradition — a gateway to a philosophical and meditative search, and our relationship to the great questions in life. This is a reminder that the human being
consists of body and soul. I chose Sudesh Adhana as one of the dancers in the project Beyond Borders, which premiered in New Delhi in 2002, commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This has resulted in Sudesh now living and working in Norway. I came from modern-day Norway, looking for the Indian dance tradition, Sudesh was doing the opposite. This gave us a genuine meeting point; to me this anchors the value of having one foot in each culture. The theme of the performance MAN is maximal use of simple means. With only a small sitting stool as a partner, the dancer is left with a prop of great symbolic value. Sudesh himself says it this way: “It is sometimes a toy, a person, a companion. To begin with it is a little too small, but then we use it in a way that it grows into my body, or my body adjusts or melts into it. It is sometimes very modern and other times very ancient. From prison to temple, materialism and spirituality, body and soul.” To me, working on my own projects means making my own decisions, raising my voice for something that feels important. Thank you so much to my team who contributes to this feeling. Thanks for being here, and enjoy the show! – Sølvi Edvardsen
Biographies Sølvi Edvardsen is one of Norway’s leading choreographers, and made her debut with Collage Dansekompani in 1980. She has choreographed works for the Norwegian National Ballet, Carte Blanche, Oslo Danse Ensemble, TV, and has created several commissioned works, large independent projects, as well as her own full-length productions. In 1984, Edvardsen became the first choreographer to be awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize, and has subsequently received many awards for her work. Her credits as a choreographer include several productions for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), such as
the Holmenkollen Concerts and Skarven 1996. She has worked on a number of productions for the graduate students at several university colleges. Sølvi Edvardsen calls herself a composer of movement. She feels comfortable in the field between dance and physical theatre. As a creator of images, she does her own set and costume design in order to create visual consistency. She is a choreographer who enjoys a challenge, entering new landscapes of artistic expression. Edvardsen is a nestor within the Norwegian dance scene, always curious and ready for new challenges.
Sudesh Adhana Sudesh Adhana was born and raised Faridabad, India. He has studied contemporary dance and graduated from The National Academy Arts in 2009. He has also studied the traditional Indian dance forms, Chhau and Kathakali. Sølvi Edvardsen’s project Beyond Borders (2002), which
Photos © Trine og Kim Designstudio.
Sølvi Edvardsen
Biographies (cont’d) Adhana performed, eventually brought him to Norway. Today he works as a freelance dancer and choreographer, based in Oslo, Norway. Adhana has developed the platform R.E.D. - Residency Eina Danz, a collaboration with choreographer and dancer Ella Fiskum. Adhana is an established performer in Norway today, and creates his own works with the non-commercial company Xproarts (established in 2007.) Adhana still keeps in touch with the Indian dance scene, and in 2015, he was awarded the Indian National Film Awards for best choreography. He received the award for his choreography to the song Bismil in the Bollywood movie Haider, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Adhana on working with the performance MAN: “This working process has been very special for me. Edvardsen shows that she understands and has concern for the male condition. I see how she longs for a more humane man, but at the same time she manages to see the man behind the tough, rigid and brutal surface. In MAN, Edvardsen is concerned with portraying the softer qualities of man, rather than portraying masculinity as a longing for power and a tool for dominance. I hope and believe that it is possible for men to be more humane in the real world as well. The way I see it, Edvardsen in a way asks the man to consider — who is he? — where does he come from?”
Kim Sølve Kim Sølve works as a musician and art director. Since 2003, he has made music for numerous shorter choreographies, many of them for Sølvi Edvardsen. He is the founder of the music projects Swarms, Manimalism, and Blitzkrieg Baby, which release music on a number of record labels worldwide. Kim Sølve has a rapidly growing discography, within and on the periphery of several musical genres — from cinematic electronic music, conceptual pop-oriented industrial, to untraditional black metal.
The music for the performance MAN was composed by the group Swarms, lead by Kim Sølve. Swarms started in 1999. Inspired by the general human need to seek what is sacred, while simultaneously connecting personally to the ritual and conceptual aspect of their compositions, the group works from experiences where outer and inner realities co-exist. As such, Swarms is well suited to compose for dance, theater, and film — and, especially so, for MAN. Multi-instrumentalists Bjeima, Petter Berntsen, and Andreas Vilthagen are Kim Sølve’s invaluable collaborators in Swarms and contribute to the music in MAN, performing, composing, and arranging the score. Kim Sølve is an art director and co-owner in the renowned design studio Trine + Kim, who also are responsible for the visual profile and photos for MAN.
Paul Vidar Ramon Sævarang Paul Vidar Ramon Sævarang has worked at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet since 1984, and is currently their Head of Light Management. His fascination for light and the performing arts started at an early age. His father worked in a theatre, where Sævarang would often visit. He was spellbound by the dimmed, blue light, the set construction, and the people behind the stage. After finishing high school, he started as a light technician at the old opera house in Oslo. Since he started working with light design in 1992, he has worked for Carte Blanche (96-97), for the summer productions of the Oscarsborg Opera (2007-14) as well as freelance work for a number of independent groups and established theaters both in Norway and abroad, such as in Finland, Georgia, USA, Japan, Pakistan and China. “To be able to contribute to the totality of a production is what drives me, and to be able to do that extra something to pull out the essence of a complete product — that is always a goal in my designs.” Sævarang’s former cooperation with Edvardsen includes several forms of expression: the stage productions Hildringstimen and En folkefiende at Akershus Theatre, Membran-Beethovens Testamente in collaboration with the Norwegian National Opera Chorus at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in 2013, and the ballet performance ARR, with the Norwegian National Ballet, shown as part of Septemberdans in 2010.
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