Display

Display. Display: to present or to exhibit... A closer consideration of the title of the work reveals choreographer Björn Säfsten´s fascination with ambiguity. What game is played on stage? Are bodies in motion simply a bold image? Or should we read them as we do language? As symbols?

As a choreographer, Björn Säfsten has long worked with deconstructing - breaking up and pulling apart - dance as both language and movement.

"And it continues to be exciting to investigate what dance movements really represent," says Säfsten. Dance is a language, both linguistically and historically. At the same time, dance is also poetry and, as an art form, has great potential to be critical, not least of all of language.

Display investigates the ambiguity present in the meeting between repetition (the repetition of the same sequence of movement) and variation, and the ambivalent relationship between appearance and disappearance.

"Hopefully the alternation will make certain things either more and less clear. In this way, the audience becomes conscious of their own interpretation; of what they see and don't see."

Säfsten often expends as much effort on formulating an interesting idea as he does on choreography. In preparing for Display, parts of the theoretical study have been carried out within the framework of the on-going collaboration between NorrlandsOperan's dance department, Umeå School of Architecture and Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, based at Umeå University. This cooperative arrangement is intended to continue until 2014, when Umeå will serve as a European Capital of Culture.

Is Säfsten influenced by his discussions with the students at the two institutions?

"Absolutely! The discussions we have help me to formulate my ideas more clearly. They are a way for me to understand and develop my own practical application. They change it, too."

Choreography: Björn Säfsten
Music: Victor Saiz
Set Design: Jovanna Remaeus Jönson
Lighting: Sutoda
Rehearsal Director/Assistant Choreographer: Anja Arnquist
Performers: Eric Ernerstedt, Sebastian Lingserius

Display is a co-production between Säfsten Produktion and NorrlandsOperan.
In collaboration with Moderna Dansteatern.
Supported by: Swedish Arts Council, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee and the City of Stockholm.

First Performance Fri 7.10

Read more about Björn Säfsten here