Johannes Wieland is starting the creation of a new piece for eight dancers (five from the DANCE ON ENSEMBLE, three from Compagnie Jus de la Vie / Age on Stage) that will have its world premiere in September 2017.
For the creation period, the choreographer, artistic team and eight dancers– including Charlotta Öfverholm and Christopher Roman – are spending six weeks in the small, sub-arctic town of Piteå. Supported by coproducer Dans i Nord and Luleå University in Piteå, the group lives and rehearses together, sharing the life of the community and opening up their daily classes to professional dancers working locally.
Johannes Wieland is a choreographer and former soloist with the Béjart Ballet Lausanne who now splits his time between Germany and the USA, running both the dance ensemble of the Staatstheater Kassel and his own company, johannes wieland, in New York. He received the Kurt-Jooss-Förderpreis for his 2004 duet shift and counts among the winners of Hubbard Street 2’s international choreography competition in Chicago. His work, while conceptual and abstract in nature, is characterised by theatricality and a strong, radical movement language.
Is there an age limit to transport ideas?
There are ideas which only become a reality with performers who have a wealth of information through their long diverse artistic careers and life experiences. i am very excited to research and work with this group of dancers from different backgrounds to manifest a profound perspective; their thoughts and ideas will become an integral part of the piece.
But instead of emphazising age, my hope for the project is to overcome and break through the system of numbers and countdowns we live in: aren’t we all just in transition all the time? – Johannes Wieland