Photo Ville Vidø
About the performance
The Labyrinth, by Danish choreographer Marie Topp, is a work that encapsulates the sense of time passing and accelerating. It’s a work that draws on personal experiences of being equally close to the birth of children as to the death of loved ones. Where the reality of time is pushing you forward.
The audience meets three characters, all embodying different emotional states of time. They move in a blurred, yet alluring landscape of light, all immersed in a soundscape of fantastical voices calling the listener.
The Labyrinth is created by Marie Topp in close collaboration with a dedicated artistic team. The piece merges sound, light, costume, and movement into one immersive whole.
“The Labyrinth” from 2022 is a masterpiece that grips the audience in the gut and gives form to the essence of life.” - Statens Kunstfonds Legatudvalget for Scenekunst 2024
Photo Ville Vidø
Credits
Choreography Marie Topp
Music Julia Giertz
Lighting design Mårten K Axelsson
Developed and danced by Johanna Chemnitz, Emilie Gregersen, Alen Nsambu
Dramaturgy Igor Dobričić
Costume Maria Ipsen
Song Zosia Holubowska
Sound technician Emil Assing Høyer
Producer Gry Raaby & Carlos Calvo
Producer Dansehallerne Anne Mette Berg
Bookkeeper John Gottenborg Bruun v/ Cyrk
Documentation and trailer Milja Rossi
Production Visible Effects
Premiere The work premiered April 21, 2022 at Dansehallerne
Residencies Holstebro Dansekompagni, Udviklingsplatformen/Tid i rum, Dansehallerne
Co-production Dansehallerne, Inkonst.
Supportet by Statens Kunstfond, Beckett-Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, William Demant Fonden.
Photo Søren Meisner
About the artistic team
Marie Topp
Choreographer and dancer
Marie Topp is a choreographer, born and based in Copenhagen. She has collaborated with artists such as Julia Giertz, Mårten K. Axelsson, Igor Dobricic, Margret Sara Gudjonsdottir, Eric Andersen and others. She is affiliated with the Milvus Artistic Research Center and has worked with organizations including Dansehallerne, MDT Stockholm, Bora Bora, Dansk Danseteater, Aaben Dans, Sydhavn Teater, Inkonst, K3 Tanzplan Hamburg, Kampnagel, Atalante, Moving in November, and Dansstationen. She graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2009 and has been the artistic director of Visible Effects since 2019.
The performances by Marie Topp are characterized by their meditative and hypnotic effects on the viewer. By using slowness as a way to create hyper awareness, and by buildiwng landscape-like scenarios on stage through the movements of dancers, sound and light, Topp is creating performances that hold potential for intense emotional journeys. Relationships, isolation, loss and anxiety are recurring themes in her works.
marietopp.dk
Visible Effects
Mårten K. Axelsson
Lighting designer and scenographer
Mårten K. Axelsson works as a lighting designer and scenographer. He has designed lighting design for more than 70 performances and scenography for 10 theatre, dance, and opera productions – primarily in Denmark, but also in Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and the USA.
Julia Giertz
Composer, music producer, and sound engineer
Julia Giertz is a composer, music producer, and sound engineer based in Stockholm. With a backgrounds in choreography, she now develops her artistic practice as a composer. Her works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Unsound, Intonal, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, MDT, and K3 Hamburg, among others. She works as a sound engineer at Elektronmusik Studio (EMS) in Stockholm.
Igor Dobričić Dramaturge
Igor Dobričić is based in Berlin and works as a dramaturge and artistic advisor. As a teacher and mentor, he has a long-standing collaboration with the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in Amsterdam. He collaborates with choreographers such as Alma Söderberg, Nicole Beutler, Meg Stuart, Quarto, and Arkadi Zaides.
Maria Folkmann Ipsen is based in Copenhagen, where her costume work focuses on how materials and textures move with and through the body. She has a background in fashion design and is a former dancer. Her collaborators include Roy Assaf, Sebastian Kloborg, and Rachel Tess.
Maria Folkmann Ipsen Costume designer
Alen Nsambu
Choreographer and dancer
Alen Nsambu is a choreographer and dancer, educated at the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2022. Alen has worked with choreographers and companies such as Sonya Lindfors, Hanna Brotherus, Miles Greenberg, Fallon Mayaja, and Helsinki City Theatre.
Emilie Gregersen
Choreographer and dancer
Emilie Gregersen is a choreographer and dancer based in Copenhagen. Since graduating from the Danish National School of Performing Arts, she has created several choreographic works, including Touch, Caresses, High Tide and On My Tongue. Emilie is a co-founder of Dance Cooperative – an artist-run space and platform led by 16 artists.
Johanna Chemnitz
Choreographer and dancer
Johanna Chemnitz is a dancer and physiotherapist. She has toured worldwide with Mette Ingvartsen and Margret Sara Gudjonsdottir, and has also worked with choreographers such as Eszter Gál and Sasha Waltz & Guests. She has collaborated with artists including Henrik Vibskov, Annika Nilsson, and Anne Sophie Malmberg. As a choreographer, she has created several projects, including Reflections of the Performance of Rage and Femininity.
Photo Søren Meisner
Dates and times
27.3.2026, 20:00
28.3.2026, 17:00
Practical info
Duration and stage approx 1 hour in Blackboxen
Dansehallerne’s address
Franciska Clausens Plads 27, 1799
Copenhagen V.
Marie Topps new work
Are you curious about more of Marie Topps’ work, her new work FROM THE FINITE TO THE INFINITE TO THE FINITE TO THE… opens at Sydhavn Teater in May 2026. More info here
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 year-round base and interface for professional activities within the field of dance.
Performance Program
