Photo Fryd Frydendahl
About the performance
shivr is a being of the twilight. Neither nor. Both and. Living between the realms of the ill and the well. shivr is undying ongoingly. A crack in your porcelain politics.
shivr [gyse, gåsehud] is a body horror dance solo by choreographer Ar Utke Ács. The piece portrays the fictional character shivr, built like a mosaic of lived experience. Through shivr the performance investigates the chronically ill body as a non-binary position and a world departing from a queer, sick body, rather than a abled/pre-disabled body-mind. shivr sheds light on unapparent aspects of an ill dancing body and the process of coming to a voice through embodiment rather than didactics. The performance uses body horror as an expression of the chronically ill experience, where the fear and horror is not a response to “the other” but rather to the transformations happening within ones own body. shivr claims the complexity of embodying both and, neither nor, in one single body: neither ill nor well, both monstrous and scream queen, neither perpetrator nor victim, both dissociation and euphoria, neither desire nor disgust.
shivr is the first performance of the unapparent trilogy which portrays non-binary positions from the queer and chronically ill body. Each performance represents a character, an archetype, and each proposes another body-mind and thus another worlding.
Photo Fryd Frydendahl
Credits
Choreography, concept and performance Ar Utke Ács
Co-creation, sculpture and styling Sofie Winther / Puer Parasitus
Co-creation, video and editing Fryd Frydendahl
Light design and space consultancy Sofia Staal
Light design and technician Will Zawistowski
Sound design Per Buhl Ács and Ar Utke Ács
Producer and access worker Mariana Suikkanen Gomes
Video production assistance Nûno Godfredsen
Video post production assistance Felix Emmanuel
Textual co-conspirator in research phase Yolanda Bohm Ramirez
Administration Astrid Gravsholt
Co-production Dansehallerne and MDT (SE)
Producer, Dansehallerne Anne Mette Berg
Residencies Dansehallerne, MDT (SE), Danscentrum Stockholm/ Dansens Hus (SE), Linha de Fuga (PT)
Supported by Danish Arts Council and Copenhagen Municipality
Thank you to Mariana Suikkanen Gomes, Rasmus Eo Clarke, Mmabatho Thobejane and the Linha de Fuga LAB participants for your generous feedback. Thanks to Ejvind Spence for driving us to Vesterhavet and to his grandparents for having us
Photo Fryd Frydendahl
About the artists
Ar Utke Ács
Ar Utke Ács is working as an artist within contemporary dance and an expanded understanding of choreography. They work with the poetics and politics of the body in the seams of performance, dramaturgy, text, installation, social choreographies and the imaginary. In particular, they are busy with counter-hegemonic strategies and organising from queer and crip writing and lived experience.
They are based in Copenhagen and Stockholm, hold a BA in Dance Performance from Stockholm University of the Arts and are a part of the studio cooperatives Dance Cooperative and höjden studios (SE).
Ar has co-produced works in collaboration with Dansehallerne, MDT (SE) and BIT Teatergarasjen (NO) and presented their work at contexts such as BalticCircle (FI), Open Out/Tromsø Kunstforening (NO), Index Art Foundation (SE) and Charlottenborg.
woundedgutfeeling.wordpress.com
Fryd Frydendahl
Fryd Frydendahl b. 1984 Danish visual artist and photographer who divides her practice between Hvide Sande and Copenhagen. Frydendahl graduated from Fatamorgana in 2006 and received an advanced certificate from The International Center of Photography in 2009.
Frydendahl has published several books and has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at V1 Gallery, Politikens Galleri and Baxter Street Gallery at The Camera Club New York. She has received grants from, among others, Fogtdals Rejsestipendium, The Henry Margolis Foundation and Josephine Merit Scholarship, the Danish Arts Foundation and in 2024 she received an artist grant from the Ny Carlsberg Foundation.
Frydendahl is represented by V1 Gallery in Copenhagen and LINKDETAILS in Stockholm. Selected works are included in the collections of the Statens Museum for Kunst, the National Photo Collection, the Royal Library, Kunstmuseum Brandts and the Ny Carlsberg Foundation. Frydendahl is currently the headmaster at Fatamorgana, Denmark’s School of Photography.
www.frydfrydendahl.com
Sofie Winther
Sofie Winther b. 1991 is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans sculpture, installation, performance and video. Drawing on personal experiences as a mother and her fascination with themes of kinship, labour and power she blends traditional craftsmanship with innovative technologies. Winther’s practice challenges conventional boundaries between art and function, creating works that provoke dialogue about our societal structures and global consumption.
Puer Parasitus, founded in 2021 by Sofie Winther, is a project at the crossroads of fashion and sculpture, emerging from an intuitive, three-dimensional approach to textile materials and recycled objects. It challenges conventional boundaries by deconstructing and reconstructing everyday items into immersive works that question consumption, empowerment and the roles of gender and power in society.
www.instagram.com/damesnolder
Photo Fryd Frydendahl
Interview with Ar Utke Ács
How do you work with the fictional character shivr?
shivr is a central character in the creation of the piece, where I aim to portray the chronically ill body as a non-binary, dancing body. shivr acts as a vessel for lived experiences with autoimmune illness – especially from queer people living with chronic conditions, including both my own and others’ experiences exchanged over the past ten years.
So much in our society is created based on ideas of a normative body – what it is, and what it should be able to do. I wanted to shift that perspective and begin somewhere else.
Both the text and the movement material in the piece are open to interpretation. It’s important to me that the work can be experienced in many different ways – that there isn’t one narrative people are meant to ”get”, but rather that it speaks to multiple layers and entry points.
Photo Fryd Frydendahl
Practical info
Date and time
24.4.2025, 20:00
26.4.2025, 17:00
27.4.2025, 17:00 + artisttalk after the performance
28.4.2025, 20:00
Duration and stage 1 hour in Hallen.
Please note that there will be loud sound during the performance.
Dansehallerne’s address Franciska Clausens Plads 27, 1799 Copenhagen V
Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible, with an elevator providing access to the stages. All restrooms are genderneutral, and an accessible toilet for wheelchair users is available.
About Dansehallerne
Dansehallerne is a national center for dance and choreography. Our focus lies in presenting and co-producing Danish and international productions for all ages. We are a gathering point for passionate dance audiences and professionals. From our center, we communicate professional knowledge of the art of dance, and we drive discussions about all aspects of the art of dance, at an intermediate level and in-depth.
Being a national center, as well as a gathering point for the local and international communities, we continuously work to ensure the best possible settings for artistic production and for the audience’s encounter with the art of dance. Every year, people from all around the country can experience the best that dance has to offer. And for several hundred artists, Dansehallerne is the yearround base and interface for professional activities within the field of dance.
Spring Program 2025
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