Photo Thomas Zamolo
About the performance
Get immersed in a work at the intersection between dance performance, installation, and a live concert – and maybe something completely different. All at once.
Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else, is an engaging contemporary dance performance that extends over four hours, where the audience can freely interact with the work on their own terms – choose to stay as long as they want, take breaks and come back to a new experience.
Two dancers, a musician and a rotating stage, a light sculpture of fifteen meters in diameter and twelve speakers form the framework for Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else. A single repetitive bodily pulse is the starting point of the work and drives a continuous transformation. Empathetic relationships arise between viewer and performer, through the tireless propulsion and synchronization of the three performers.
Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else is a total experience where dance, sound and space merge – from the almost imperceptible to the ecstatic –and where movement creates connections between people in a fragmented, polarized and chaotic time.
The performance is created by an international artistic team, consisting of choreographers and dancers Tim Matiakis and Rachel Tess, in collaboration with musician and composer Ulrich Ruchlinski, and lighting designer Thomas Zamolo.
Choreography and dance
Musical composition and live performance
Light design
Credits
Tim Matiakis, Rachel Tess
Ulrich Ruchlinski
Thomas Zamolo
Clothes provided by Henrik Vibskov
Producer Kajsa Rolfsson (KINISI)
Technical coordination and operating technicians Kasper Riisberg, Tanya Johansson
Ligh ring Jacob Bjerregaard
Producer Sofie Pedersen (Dansehallerne)
Concept Tim Matiakis in collaboration with the artistic team
Administration Astrid Gravsholt
Production KINISI
Pictures Mathias Broe, Thomas Zamolo
Trailer Mathias Broe
Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else has been developed through residencies at MARC (Milvus Artistic Research Center), Forsøgsstationen and Dansstationen. The premiere was at ARoS Kunstmuseum (Aarhus) in 2023 and the work has since been presented at Dansens Hus (Stockholm), Dansstationen (Malmö) and Teater Momentum (Odense). Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else, is co-produced by Dansehallerne.
The development and tour of Us Us / Us Else / Else Us / Else Else has been supported by Statens Kunstfond, Augustinus Fonden, William Demant Fonden, Beckett Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fonden, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Letterstedtska Foreningen and Fondet for DanskSvensk Samarbejde.
About the artists
Tim Matiakis
Tim Matiakis’ choreographic practice relates to kinesthetic, physical and dynamic potentials and how choreographic situations create experiential states that explore relationships between performer, work and viewers.
Matiakis is a Denmark-based, Swedish-Greek, dancer, choreographer and artistic director who has his roots in classical ballet. Tim began exploring choreography in 2008 and has to date created 18 works for stage, film and gallery/museum spaces. His works have been performed at ARoS, Dansens Hus (Stockholm), Dansstationen, Det Kongelige Teater, Corpus, Sort/Hvid, Aarhus Teater, Teater Momentum, Bellevue Teatret, HEART (Herning Museum of Contemporary Art), Det Classenske Bibliotek, Malmö Opera, Musikhuset København, Teater Får302.
Matiakis was the artistic director of Corpus, a choreographic project and contemporary dance company, within the organization of the Royal Danish Ballet, between 2012 and 2021. Corpus worked with co-creation, experimental collaborators, cross-disciplinary approaches and formatting of creations, processes, and seasons.
www.instagram.com/timmatiakis
Rachel Tess
is an American choreographer and dancer living and working in Sweden. She is the director of Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC) in Knislinge and was the associate curator for dance at Wanås Konst between 2016-2022. She received a BFA in 2004 from The Juilliard School in New York City. While attending Juilliard, she received a Princess Grace Award (2002), performed as a member of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and was presented with the Martha Hill Dance Award by the faculty.
Tess has been a member of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Gothenburg Opera Ballet, and held a permanent position with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm. In 2013, Tess received her masters in choreog- raphy from the New Performative Practices Masters program at DOCH. She won and completed a Princess Grace Foundation Works in Progress Residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City with her ongoing project ‘Souvenir’, a mobile choreographic architecture.
She is also engaged in the ongoing project ‘These are Bodies, These are Motions, This is the Place’ with choreographer/performer Benoît Lachambre. In 2019 Tess received the prestigious Birgit Cullberg prize for her work with MARC and the premiere of the piece ‘Any number of sunsets...’. She is the recent recipient of Skånes’s regional culture prize in 2023. She has created choreographic works for Corpus (DK), Norrdans (SE), Skånes Dansteater (SE), and Danish Dance Theater (DK).
An interest in new modes of production and presentation for performance is the link between her artistic practice and her roles as curator, choreographer, and dancer..
www.rachelvtess.org
Ulrich Ruchlinski
Ulrich Ruchlinski’s artistic expression varies between musical composition, sound and light design, in- cluding live performance, with movement, guitar, bass and electronic elements. His focus is on physicality and 3d space –meaning that his musical compositions, sound or light design interact as equal elements, while supporting the overall concept of each project.
Ruchlinski’s works have been presented within the performing arts field, as well as exhibition and museum contexts.
Ruchlinski has worked within the performing arts since 1995 with sound, light and stage crafts. Starting off in 1994 at Theater für Kinder i München with stage production and light design, he moved on to Punchbag Theatre Company Galway in Ireland, where he created his first lighting designs for three of the company ́s productions. After moving to Malmö, Sweden in 1997 he started working for local theater groups. In this context he became involved in dance and performance.
Recent productions include works for Norrdans, Skånes Dansteater and Danish Dance Theatre, where Ulrich’s contribution was musical composition, sound design and creating methodologies for community work.
Since 2014 he co-runs the artistic platform Imulto that supports productions and concepts within the per- forming arts.
@poplinski
Dates and times
Practical info
Thursday 8th of October from 18:00-22:00
Friday 10th of October from 18:00-22:00 (Kulturnatten 2025)
Saturday 11th of October from 14:00-18:00
Sunday 12th of October from 14:00-18:00
Duration and stage
4 hours in Hallen. It is a durational piece, where you are invited to stay as long as you want, leave and come back, come later or stay for the full 4 hours.
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.
Note
Children are also very welcome and when you need a coffee or a drink, our bar is open for you. The temperature in the space can be quite low, so please bring warm clothes
Dansehallerne’s address
Franciska Clausens Plads 27, 1799
Copenhagen V.
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 year-round base and interface for professional activities within the field of dance.
Performance Program
