Wednesday 23 April at 16:00, as an opening of the Dansens Dager week here at Dansens Hus, the short film Pre will be screened – a poetic and playful film celebrating choreography in the everyday. Pre, which was initiated and realised as a result of two application rejections, depicts both the melancholy and the urge for counter-reaction that comes from rejection.
The film will be screened on loop 23. - 27. April.
Below are the artists' thoughts on Pre:
Steffi:
In the spring of 2024, my application for funding for a pre-project was rejected. Elin Osjord was supposed to be a fly on the wall with a camera and document the process. I called her and told her that the project wasn't going to happen this time round, and then she said ‘I've also been rejected’ and added the wonderful words ‘why don't we meet, play and create something anyway?
I've always had a myriad of short film ideas rolling around in my head that have never been realised, but now I thought: this idea of the red floor - it's simple and feasible, and fortunately Elin, as well as set designer Turid Ousland and musician Hege Rimestad, were on board.
I've always had a fascination for everyday dance, skilled hands performing their craft with precision and musicality, and a similar fascination for all the invisible craftsmanship behind a production. The pre-preparations! Along with a desire to pay tribute to the beautiful Scenehuset, the dance field's ‘home’ (and the nicest place in the universe according to me), yes, this became a film in late summer 2024.
Elin:
The firepower of creativity
nobody can block or stop
if a commitee reject a project with a no
that can be a yestime for hello
let’s fire up our talents together
get those energies to run higher ever
hurrah for the fierce force in us all
for continuous creation and for
Dansens Hus that in the speed of the foyer
will screen our not rejected creative power
Bios:
Steffi (b. 1961), educated at the Amsterdam School of Art, School for New Dance Development, 1984-88. Since graduating, she has created more than 40 works, with an emphasis on solo work. Often with a queer angle, and often with his own stage texts. Works in a borderland between dance, theatre and performance. Holder of a government grant for established artists.
Elin, trained at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, ballet school. Danced at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, the Norwegian Theatre, the Norwegian Touring Theatre, NRK, the National Stage, independent groups and her own productions. Re-invented himself as a filmmaker in 2005. Video-documented a number of dance performances and created his own dance films. Screenings on NRK2 and various film festivals around the world. Received several awards. In 2023 she published the poetry book Rå Nå Poesi.
Turid (b. 1964), educated at the Norwegian School of Crafts and Art Industry 1984-89. Employed in the auditorium at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet since 2004. Works freelance with scenography and props assignments.
Hege (b. 1954), musician and composer. BA in musicology at UIO. She is particularly well known as a pioneer of the electric violin, and since the 1970s has played with Amtmandens Døtre, Veslefrikk, Mari Boine and Geirr Lystrup, in addition to her own releases. As a composer, she has worked extensively with dance and theatre in the independent field, especially with Steffi Lund and Ellen Johannesen.