WHEN MONDAY CAME

Premiere 30th January 2020 at House of Dance, Oslo (Norway)

When Monday Came is the second piece in zvc´s ongoing trilogy, which has the global climate changes as the overall turning point.

Trailer by Yaniv Cohen

Photos: Yaniv Cohen

The Element of Fire

What is the human purpose and relevance of fire— of the actual event of burning? What kind of space or situation is a fire plot for the human body? 

 

When Monday came is not only an intellectual endeavour with nature’s rage, but also a deeply existential crisis that we are facing. What do we do now? The warnings have never been more apparent. We do not need more proof that something has gone terribly wrong. While driving through Australia artistic director and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen asked herself: What happens to people when their environment burns down? What can possibly come out of a burning site? What kind of fundamental change is the destruction caused by fire representing in terms of human conditions? These are some of the questions that she and her dancers and artistic collaborators are investigating in this performance. It is not just a question of the philosophy of the matter but the real conditions – the factual impact of the burning itself — the vision, the sound, the smell. And, of course there is the body. But the body plays both an active and passive part. It can of course die but also escape, survive, make a difference, and even change the order of things within the course of events. 

 

So, what are the possible human consequences of an encompassing fire?  Merely destruction? A new possibility? Change? When there is a fire, there are ashes. In some cultures, ashes is a source of cleansing – a connection to another life. It represents nature in a changing situation. The challenge is to bring this fundamental condition of both destruction and new life into an aesthetic frame. And who or what is Monday? Just another day? The name of a child hence the future? But how can the devastating results of a fire be so tragic and beautiful at the same time? Part of the story is that tragedy is not the accident that occurs but the recognition that it is man’s destiny. An act of hubris will be punished tragically. That is also the beauty of it all – we are talking about the art of performance since before the Greek mythologies.

When Monday came demonstrates how dance is brilliantly created for the sense of presence of something deadly important and with a shared significance between the dancers and the audience.

 

In her last productions the fundamental questions of the future of human existence and its natural surroundings have been the topic of the choreographic work of Ina Christel Johannessen pushed to the edge of aesthetic experience.

 

CREDITS:

Choreography            Ina Christel Johannessen

Composer                  Tommy Jansen

Scenography               Åsmund Færavaag

Dancers                   Ole Willy Falkhaugen, Hugo Marmelada, Dorotea Saykaly, Camilla Spidsøe,

Ole Kristian Tangen, Line Tørmoen.

Musician                  Tommy Jansen

Costumes                  Ina Christel Johannessen

Light Design              Daniel Kolstad Gimle

Sound                     Morten Pettersen

Executive producer   Kirsti Ulvestad

Produced by Zero Visibility Corp

Co-produced by Dansens Hus, Oslo, La Briqueterie, Paris, Fabbrica Europa, Florence.

Zero Visibility Corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway

IL LUNEDI (Monday)

Photo: Monia Pavoni

Photo: Monia Pavoni

A site-spesific creation with 11 PERFORMERS AT LEOPOLDA, FLORENCE

Monday can mean different things.

It can be Monday blues, when everything went wrong,

Or the day after a disaster,

Or the day with possibilities, the start, beginning, when you can change everything.

Ina Christel Johannessen

 

This  46 minute piece was created on site specific in Alcatraz, a part of Leopolda for 2 zero visibility dancers and 9 Italian dancers.

Ina was invited to make a creation for the opening of the festival Fabbrica Europa 2019 at Leopolda which is a huge old abandoned railway station in the center of Florence. And Zero visibility agreed to start a co-production and a pre-work for the 2020 premier WHEN MONDAY CAME.

When Maurizia asked me if I could come and do a duet, a trio, or perhaps a workshop for Italian dancers - and then choose a few persons to continue,-   I said “Yes”. Because I really love Leopolda. My company have performed there twice in earlier years during the Fabbrica Europa festival. I just wanted to come back and do “something”.

“Can you do something site specific?” “Yes ,I can try…”

And the result is Il lunedi.

I chose 9 Italian dancers who performed together with 2 dancers from zero visibility, and our focus was to try to make an atmosphere of possibilities, searching for a starting point ….by using the group of dancers like a tide, washing the shore again and again, and each speaking their own personal language, from the body and mind – the thinking body.

Credits:

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Performers: Line Tørmoen, Anton Borgström Participants: Giulia Gilera, Elena Zagaroli, Agnese Gabrielli, Gianmaria Girotto
con interventi di: Alessandra Cozzi, Camilla Neri, Livia Bartolucci, Niccolò Giorgini, Pablo Ezequel Rizzo
Costume: Loretta Mugnai
Light: Paolo Pollo Rodighero Sound design: Spartaco Cortesi
Sound technique: Tempo Reale
Produced by: Fondazione Fabbrica Europa, Compagnia Xe


 

 

Photo: Monia Pavoni / Marco Caselli

WHO TOLD YOU THIS ROOM EXISTS?

Photo and film by Yaniv Cohen

Who Told You this Room Exists? is the first part of Ina Christels upcoming trilogy; Three different pieces with one mutual theme, based on the following three headlines: Decay/Desire, Disaster/Tragedy, Abandonment/Loss.

 The pieces are thematically based on the questions around Man’s excessive and never ending desire for personal life enrichment; The constant lust for more, bigger, better. Ultimately, this human force could lead us to individual and collective destruction – a paradox.

 In this first piece Decay/Desire will be the foundation of Ina Christels examination of the following: In Who Told You This Room Exists? Zero Visibility Corp is exploring various rooms; Physical rooms, social rooms, internal rooms. And what happens when your private actions are transferred into a public space? What defines a room, and what happens to that room when borders and boundaries are moved or torn down?

Four people in constant search of space. What are the rules, and who, or what, defines which rules are to apply?

In the making of this piece, Ina Christel has chosen to frame the internal relations of the characters; as four siblings, their actions create a certain underlying dynamic which opens up to numerous ways of interpretation.

 

Who Told You This Room Exists? is a piece with a physical expression of detail and distinction, accompanied by experimental electronic music by Mika Vainio.     

 

Credits:

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen

Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Ole Kristian Tangen, Anton Borgström, Jim De Block

Light design: Chrisander Brun

Visual concept: Ina Christel Johannessen

Music: Mika Vainio

Film: Jim de Block

Photo: Chrisander Brun

Production Manager: Kirsti Ulvestad

 

Produced by: Zero Visibility Corp.

Co-producer: Dansens Hus, (Oslo), Le Briqueterie, (Paris)

 

Zero Visibility Corp. is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council (Norsk Kulturråd)

 

 

FROZEN SONGS

Premiere 7th September 2017 at The Arctic Theatre, Tromsø (Norway)

Teaser 2:00 by Yaniv Cohen

Photos by Antero Hein and Andreas Beetz

 

ABOUT FROZEN SONGS

Deep inside the Global Seed Vault on the island Svalbard, in the dark and cold, the source of life and possible new beginnings are being kept. Here the world stores its future.

This scenario forms the backdrop of a new creation by choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen. The cast of 7 beautiful dancers give Frozen Songs a unique and powerful physicality, combined with poetic and often theatrical elements. With the combination of the scenographic elements, multi -media, light design and composed music this performance will create an experience out of the ordinary. Born out of the exciting encounter between international and Norwegian artists, this performance offers a unique experience which brings forth the most vital theme of today; the survival of our species. 

Choreography Ina Christel Johannessen

Multimedia Feng Jiangzhou and Zhang Lin, Sifenlv New Media

Music Frederik Meulyzer and Koenraad Ecker, Stray Dogs

Scenography Kristin Torp, Graa Hverdag AS

Costume design Kathrine Tolo, Norsk Kunststoff AS

Light Design Nico Benz

Dancers Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer, Ole Kristian Tangen, Valtteri Raekallio, Daniel Whiley, Fan Luo, Anton Borgström

Text Oda Fiskum

Singer Aksel Rykkvin

Photographer film sequence/photos Yaniv Cohen

Video technique Magnar Mork

Sound Morten Pettersen

Executive producer Kirsti Ulvestad

Production team Kirsti Ulvestad, Inger Buresund, Fabrizio Massini

Original idea Inger Buresund, Artistic director, The Arctic Theatre


Produced by Zero Visibility Corp, The Arctic Theatre, Ibsen International

Co-produced by Dansens Hus, Oslo, La Briqueterie, Paris, Arts Printing House, Vilnius

International relations Lene Bang, zero visibility corp.

 

Zero Visibility Corp is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council.

The Arctic theatre is supported by the Norwegian Cultural Department, Tromsø city council, counties of Troms and Finnmark

Ibsen International is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

 

Footage from the research trip to the global seed vault, Svalbard November 2015

Film by Yaniv Cohen

Trailer 5:00 by Yaniv Cohen

FUTURE

….to imagine a time and a place in the future has played a crucial part of human creativity and philosophy. To play with the idea of a future is particularly interesting on stage. The presence of the body on stage serves as a link between the past (the experience) and the future (the idea/concept). It connects the experiences that we have from our lives with the hope of a future, particularly for the children.

A future that is not like the past or the present, but something different and better                                                                                                              Siren Leirvåg

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen

Composer: Bram Bosteels

Set- and costume design: Kristin Torp/Graa Hverdag AS

Light designer: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen

Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer,Merete Hersvik, Antero Hein, Edhem Jesenkovic, Yaniv Cohen, Ole Kristian Tangen, Chiara Mezzadri.

Children: Mikkel, Simian, Emilie, Tilde, Lovi, Tuva, Alva, Aksel.

Produced by: zero visibility corp.

Technical coordinator: Nico Benz

Sound technician: Morten Pettersen

Production manager: Kirsti Ulvestad

International relations manager: Lene Bang

Co-produced by: Hessighes Staatstheater, (Darmstadt, Germany), O Espaço de Tempo, (Montemor o Novo, Portugal), Dansens Hus (Oslo)

zero visibility corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway

Premiere 1.september 2016 at Dansens Hus, Oslo, Norway 

THE GUEST

Powerful movement through space, at times a chamber play, intimate and secretive. Hypnotic structure and rhythmic mantra.

 

Ina Christel Johannessen and 12 dancers embark on a journey to explore the ambiguous struggle between hospitality and friendship, opposition and hostility.

 

How do we treat those who enter our community? When are you the guest, and when are you the host? How do the given situation and the relationship to your alliances affect your ability to make the right choices?

 

Ina Christel Johannessen continues to investigate many of the same themes as in “Terra 0 Motel”, but in a completely different format. Continually present on stage, the dancers rephrase the inexplicit space between solitude and personal freedom. In a space out of the ordinary, audience members are surrounding the ritual of the performance. They are invited to be close witnesses to the choices made and view the situations from different sides. – Not to judge but to draw their own conclusions. 

 

All dancers embrace zero visibility corp.’s specific practice, as they have collaborated closely with Ina Christel Johannessen on several previous occasions. The piece is performed to the haunting soundscapes of Demdike Stare and Palestinian music. 

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Light designer: Chrisander Brun
Sound designer: Morten Pettersen
Music: Demdike Stare, Le Trio Joubran
Visual concept: Ina Christel Johannessen

 

Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer, Mate Meszaros, Jon Filip Fahlstrøm, Dimitri Jourde, Merete Hersvik, Antero Hein, Valtteri Raekallio, Edhem Jesenkovic, Yaniv Cohen, Camilla Spidsøe Cohen, Cecilie Lindeman Steen

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Costume supervisor: Therese Vågane
Technical coordinator: Nico Benz
Production manager: Linn Eidås
Relations manager: Lene Bang
Co-produced by: Akropoditi Dance Centre, (Syros, Greece) O Espaço de Tempo, (Montemor o Novo, Portugal), Dansearena Nord, (Hammerfest) Dansens Hus (Oslo)

 

zero visibility corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered January 29th  2015 at Dansens Hus, Oslo, Norway 

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PIANO PIANO

For the first time, the three choreographers Örjan Andersson, Kenneth Kvarnström and Ina Christel Johannessen come together in a common project. And then things happen. They become each other's challenges, and each other's possibilities.

 

The result is greater than the sum of the parts. The performance brings three dance companies together in a new common expression. The choice of music enhances the feeling. piano piano is performed not to, but together with Schubert's piano works. The choreographers work with tension as opposed to the often romantic musical atmosphere. Drama and intensity are greeted with an invitation to take it gently, a little more ... piano piano.

 

Choreographers: Örjan Andersson, Kenneth Kvarnström, Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Pär Andersson, Sophie Augot, Pia Elton Hammer, Antero Hein, Paul Lee, Josef Palm, Daniel Whiley, Line Tørmoen
Musician: Asuka Nakamura
Costumes: Bente Rolandsdotter
Light design: Patrik Bogårdh

 

A co-production between: K. Kvarnström & Co, Andersson Dance and zero visibility corp.
In collaboration with: Rum för Dans/Region Halland.
Andersson Dance is supported by the Swedish Arts Council, Stockholm City and The Swedish Arts Grant Committee.

 

zero visibility corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway. 

 

Premiered March 20th 2015 at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern

Terra 0 Motel

zero visibility corp. and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen present Terra 0 Motel, characterized by an athletic, personal and theatrical body language. We meet 6 physically strong and expressive dancers, from respectively Norway, Finland and Bosnia, who has clearly contributed to the character of the performance. Ina Christel Johannessen has based this production on a spatial concept in order to provide a framework for various meetings between people.

 

Terra 0, Terra Nullius, means "country belonging to no-one" or no man's land. The expression is used in international law to describe an area that has never been subjugated to a state’s supremacy. In 2014, there are still a few areas left on the world map that are not yet annexed by any state. Terra 0 Motel is in a “no-mans land.” It is simply a motel somewhere on earth, in a space between borders. What happens when six people are stranded in a place which is not a defined place, but which could more aptly be described as a situation? Who are these six people? Do they already have an identity or do they create an identity in the situation

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer, Antero Hein, Valtteri Raekallio, Edhem Jesenkovic, Merete Hersvik
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as / Kristin Torp
Light design: Chrisander Brun
Sound design: Morten Pettersen
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Co-production: Dansens Hus (Oslo) and Graner-Mercat de les Flors (Barcelona)

 

Premiered January 30th 2014 at Dansens Hus, Oslo, Norway

Leave. Two. House

Two women sit in a room, enclosed by a rear wall, and facing the audience. Each of them is sitting on a stool in front of a door located in the middle of the rear wall. The shape of the door leaves an ambivalent impression of being both locked in and unable to get out, and of being locked out and unable to get in. Atop the rear wall sit 20 stuffed crows. The location of the crows, precisely in this grey zone between an outside and an inside, strengthens the sense of a spacious ambiguity or ambivalence. The crows sit on the threshold between the outside and the inside, between a here and a there, between the actual and the perceived. There are many stools in the room. Have more people been here, and then left? We hear footsteps from behind the door. Is someone coming to get them out? Is someone trying to reach them?

 

We hear strains of “Remember me” (Purcell – Dido’s Lament), infinitely beautiful and infinitely sad. It is as if she is asking to be remembered, and that we remember: Our collective oblivion, all the stories and tragedies that we leave behind a closed door.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers/performers: Line Tørmoen and Pia Elton Hammer
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as / Kristin Torp
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Music: Elegi, Svarte Greiner, Deaf Center, Kreng, COH, BLIR, 
Hildur Gudnadottir, Purcell
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Co-production: Dansens Hus, Oslo

 

zero visibility corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered 26. September 2012 at Dansens Hus, Oslo 

Again

Again
again and a gain
come again
…and again, it might not happen..

 

Again is a complex interplay between written music, large electronic clusters, musicians, the orchestra, dance, and the visual scene. An artistic collaboration between choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen and the Swedish composer Marcus Fjellström.

 

Do not think, see, feel. It is not that easy. Again’s choreography reminds us that we are language-based creatures who depend on scores that we unfold without even noticing. Time will come for hybrid, disorder, trouble, again, which may propel the person towards a beautiful and joyful unknown. Again and elsewhere, again and always, the perspective of the choreographer wishes to disturb nothing; it is contemplative and tough, and is based on writing gestures, a language with its own grammar, codes, which assumes them as rituals that are elementary as the transition from day to night. The dancers do not show off, they execute, motivated by the inevitable ticking of an inhuman clock, which is submerged, lost somewhere in the universe.
A great example of meditative choreography, in depth and in full, which is intended for the long-run, thus requiring from the spectator’s attention, usually short, some reconnaissance work, beyond the infernal ticking, towards a salutary or insane “Again”. 
- Paris, 18 July 2014 Evelyne Trân

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Composer: Marcus Fjellström
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer, Camilla Spidsøe Cohen,
Kristina Søetorp, Sudesh Adhana, Mate Meszaros, Antero Hein
Performer/ sound/ noise musician: Tommy Jansen
Conducter: Rumon Gamba
Musicians: NorrlandsOperan Symphony Orchestra
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Set design and costumes: graa hverdag as / Kristin Torp
Sound: Morten Pettersen

 

Production: zero visibility corp. and NorrlandsOperan
Co-production: Carte Blanche, Bærum Kulturhus

 

Supported by Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered 2012

 

(im)possible

zero visibility corp. and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen have with the present performance (im)possible revisited the eternal conflict and paradox of creating true and genuine relationships. Although touching on the previous productions “…it’s only a rehearsal” (2003) and “(but) that night I found her very alluring” (2006), this performance is perhaps more introvert in its effort of creating a physical and mental presence in which the Other is included. The duet as form and seduction as artistic strategy are combined in (im)possible. The beauty and sensuality of the movements, the music and the scenography work by the principle of absorption rather that presentation. There is a possibility of being drawn into the performance by the play on the possible and impossible as an overall strategy. The performance language is rough (acrobatic), soft (poetic) and comic (situational). Moving in waves of performance structures rather than narratives, it’s more like an (im)pulse than a story. As well as the presence of life and energy – the dancers and the living bodies – there is also absence; death and emptiness – the ashes, the empty boxes… Is the (im)possible (finally) coming to terms with the paradox of life and death?
- Siren Leirvåg, Lecturer in theatre studies, University of Oslo

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Dimitri Jourde, Sudesh Adhana, Cecilie Lindeman Steen and Kristina Søetorp
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Music: Irisarri, Jacaszek, Ø, Kreng, BJNilsen, Noto
Production manager: Gunn Hernes 
International manager: Lene Bang / vonpang
Technical management: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Communication manager: Cecilie Lindeman Steen
Photo: Erik Berg

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Co-production / Collaborators: Dansens Hus, Oslo (Norway) Centre de développement chorégraphique du Val-de-Marne, Centre des Bords de Marne du Perreux-sur-Marne (France) andFabbrica Europa /Fondazione Pontedera Teatro (Italy).
Supported by: Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered 2011

Now she knows

Now she knows is a big unique Nordic project initiated and produced by zero visibility corp. and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen. A unique cooperation project between 20 female dance artist, different dance institutions and zero visibility corp.

 

In this creation Ina Christel Johannessen choose to work with women only and that choice is based on a need to explore and question the body and the mind of the Scandinavian and the North-European woman of today.

 

You find the contemporary woman on all levels and positions. We take it for granted that she is an equal part, that she shares the responsibility in the society. So, in one sense women of today doesn’t need to prove her self and her abilities. She is in charge and she has to be in charge. How does this affect her?
What is shown and what comes out and how is this expressed through the body? What kind of thoughts occupies her and in what way does she communicate them? What is in her body, what is on her mind, both in a conscious and unconscious way?

 

Ina Christel Johannessen’s point of origin for NOW SHE KNOWS is to gather female dancers that she has worked with the last 20 years, dancers who share brilliant technique with a great ability of theatricality. 20 women with an age span of 30 years who are mothers of 27 children. They have different dance background and they represent Norway, Sweden and Finland.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen (Norway)
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer, Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Aleksandra Sende, Kristina Søetorp, Guro Nagelhus Schia, Ida Wigdel, Nina Biong, Kristianne Mo, Marianne Albers, Torunn Robstad, Katarina Eriksson, Sandra Medina, Sanna Söderholm, Lava Markusson, Jennie-Elina Lehto
Project assistant and dancer: Cecilia Roos
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Music: Alva Noto / Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ólafur Arnalds, Henry Purcell
Production manager: Gunn Hernes 
International manager: Lene Bang / vonpang
Technical management: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Communication manager: Cecilie Lindeman Steen
Photo: Erik Berg

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Co-production: Dansens Hus Oslo (Norway), Carte Blanche (Norway), Helsinki Dance Company (Finland), Dansescenen, Copenhagen (Denmark), NorrlandsOperaen, Umeå (Sweden)
Supported by: Arts Council Norway, Nordic Culture Fund and Nordic Culture Point

 

Premiered 2010

Thief – After – Clip 0 (zero)

Thief – After – Clip 0 (zero) is a grand performance for only two female dancers, apart from the 30 stuffed crows sitting on a roost. They look at us, alive but dead.

 

The mighty space is outside and inside at the same time, nature has forced and twisted itself into the room and the mountain is coming up through the floor.

 

But nature is also lifeless and deprived… We find ourselves subsequent to something… what lies prior to what we see?

 

Who is the thief?

 

As a poetic, dark absurd interplay between two women who can also be one, the performance illustrates our complex actions. We are both nature and intellect, we create, and we consume and destroy. In a dark rom of faith, the incredible physicality of dance shows us the power that is in our bodies and in our existence. In the end, almost in the dark, the naked backs insist on breath, force and life.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen 
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Pia Elton Hammer 
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as 
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen 
Music: elegi and svarte greiner 
Sound design: Morten Pettersen 
International manager: Lene Bang / vonpang 
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom 
Technical management: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen 
Communication manager: Cecilie Lindeman Steen 

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp. 
Photo: Erik Berg 
Co-production: Kulturarena Bærum (Norway), Théâtre Silvia Monfort, Paris (France), la TANNERIE, Barjols (France), fabrik Potsdam (Germany) 
Support by: Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered 2009

It was November

It was November is a performance based on the motive of the collector.  What do we regard as the most important collector's object? Not only to us as individuals but also to mankind, in other words in an overall perspective.
What do our lives evolve around: sounds, objects, movements, - memories? Within the frame of a seven days' intense and fragile gathering the people seem to not get out of the situation they are in. In an almost Tsjekhovian atmosphere of longing for a change the characters are apparently communicating with each other, but the dialogues are monologues in disguise. We are all holding our breath and hoping for something to happen, which is underlined by the music, monotonous in an energetic way, making everything sad and beautiful, and almost calm.The whole thing starts off with a disturbing solo performed blindly. What does she see? Something beyond the limits of the room? Some secret that will tear every illusion apart? One of the characters seems to be more aware of the freedom of entrapment, the possibility of multiple personalities: the lost child, the playmaker, the sympathizer and in the end the escapist. "I am leaving now. It’s my exit!"
- Siren Leirvåg, lecturer in Theatre Studies, University of Oslo

 

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers / performers: Pia Elton Hammer, Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Kristina Søetorp, Daniel Proietto, Line Tørmoen, Morten Cranner and Asher Lev/Dimitri Jourde
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Music: Gultskra Artikler
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Text: The Company
International manager: Lene Bang / Von Pang
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Photo: Erik Berg and Carina Musk-Andersen
Co-production: Dance House Norway
Supported by: Arts Council Norway

 

Premiered 2008

37,7

37,7 was created for the official opening of Dansens Hus (Dance House Norway) on 29th of February 2008. This piece was a "prequal" to the performasnce It was November that premiered in November 2008 as the first in house co-production for Dansens Hus. The performance was based around some consistant dancers in addition to several alternating guest dancers during the period of performance.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Kristina Søetorp, Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Daniel Proietto, Jon Filip Fahlstrøm, Vebjørn Sundby, Pia Elton Hammer, Guro Nagelhus Schia, Dimitri Jourde
Set design/costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Music: Gultskra Artikler
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Photo: Carina Musk-Andersen, Kristin Torp
 

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs

 

Premiered 2008 

I have a secret to tell you [please] leave with me

This dynamic, choreographic work contains references to Ina Christel Johannessen’s earlier productions. As in her previous works she explores a strong, physical and elegant style and form, but in this performance she also includes elements that depart from her own aesthetic style.

 

The elegant artistic idiom is effectively smeared when dancer Dimitri Jourde performs vomiting sounds and spits on stage facing the audience.
Johannessen breaks down the opposition between what is artistically beautiful and what is genuinely vulgar. In an energetic interplay between gender, desire, control and submission we are left with a sad feeling of inevitable involvement. Even the pommel horse, reminiscent of school gym halls, seems to have a more mythical function in the way Line Tørmoen frenetically balances and rides it. This creates associations with the story of Equus (play (1973) and film (1977) by Peter Schaffer), where desire for sensuality and intimacy is played out in the relationship between a young boy and a horse.
Kristin Torp has created a room with clean, white papered walls, a shadow play of a horse and seagulls on the back wall, and the rather stylishly placed pommel horse placed to the right on stage. The horse and the birds serve to transcend the boundaries of the room, sending us into the mists of interpretation.
-Siren Leirvåg, lecturer in Theatre Studies, University of Oslo

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen / Kristina Søetorp, Dimitri Jourde, Sittibancha Bamphen, Vebjørn Sundby
Set design/costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Sound: Morten Pettersen
Music: Alva Noto, Coleen, Goem, Fm3
Photo: Erik Berg

 

Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Co-producers: Montemor-o-Novo (Portugal), Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf, Germany)
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs

 

Premiered 2006 

(but) that night I found her very alluring

A performance in which the female, danced by Line Tørmoen, appears as a strong, active and yet somewhat distanced figure. Three other dancers accompany her on stage: Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Kristianne Mo and Daniel Proietto.
They are all excellent dancers and create an energy on stage that has become part of the trademark of Zero Visibility Corp. The performance presents a world of abstract encounters in very physically concrete movements – this is perhaps an artistic signature of Ina Christel Johannessen’s recent productions. At the centre we do not find emotions or intellectual associations but the body, caught up in a language of dreams, desires, stories and memories.
Three objects in particular catch our attention during the performance: a bright red coat, a sharp-edged spinning top, and an owl. The colours of the costumes are contrasted mainly in black, white and red. So simple and yet so complex. These strange objects interact with the vibrant bodies of the dancers, signalling a web of death, blood, life and wisdom. One of the highlights of the performance is when Line Tørmoen dances around and close to the sharp, spinning top. It takes the utmost precision to perform this dangerous part.
- Siren Leirvåg, lecturer in Theatre Studies, University of Oslo

 

”A brilliant nightmare”
"(But) that night…” is an extremely fascinating piece of dance theatre."
"Music, set, light and costumes complement each other splendidly."
"...perfect dancers with strong expressive personalities..."
"An evening with response, the public gives an overwhelming applause."
- Thomas Hag, Kultur in Dusseldorf

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Kristianne Mo, Daniel Proietto
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as
Light design: Kyrre Heldal Karlsen
Sound design: Morten Pettersen
Music: Murcof
Photo: Erik Berg
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Co-producers: Montemor-o-Novo (Portugal), Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf, Germany)
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affair

 

Premiered 2006 

The terror of identification

Four outstanding female dancers give you the doubtful pleasure of observing their journey through a variety of transformations. The yearning for knowledge and wisdom, but at the same time the fear of it.

 


zero visibility corp. draws inspiration from the drama and emotion of ancient mythology. Through the sensual energy and athletic character of the choreography, the audience perception is challenged both physically and intellectually.

 

The Terror of Identification is inspired by Ovids ”Books of transformations”. Most of the stories end with the changing of humans or gods into for instance animals or flowers. When Johannessen engages the rich material, she does in no way shame the tradition. With her presise agitation and taming of wild animals, (read: dancers), she fortifies her position as a leading norwegian choreographer.
Taking your eyes off Line Tørmoen is nearly impossible, she never danced better. Yet, it is recommended, as the other three dancers also give so much. The secrets behind high shoulders, uneasy hands, drooling mouths, great love and polished nails (!) is disclosed with honor to the diversity of the life of women….…The three Charites, the gracious helpers of the godesses, surrender to seven women anno 2004.
- Verdens gang 2004

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Cilla Olsen, Kristianne Mo, Cecilie Lindeman Steen
Set design, costumes: graa hverdag as / Kristin Torp
Light design: Ellen Rugen
Sound design: Morten Pettersen
Music: Murcof, Colleen, Pan Sonic, Chris Clark
Photo: Erik Berg
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Co-producers: Dansens Hus (Norway), BIT Teatergarasjen (Norway), Dansens Hus (Sweden)
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs

 

Premiered 2004 

...it's only a rehearsal

Through a powerful, physical and dense duet we meet a man and a woman,- a couple, lovers, two people. It is in the physical expression the relation between them is unveiled to us,- not through scenes or performative elements. Is it the antique myth we are watching? Acteaon sees Artemis naked, after which she punishes him by transforming him to a stag, which is then killed by his own hounds. How do we reward or punish those who achieve to see our nudity.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Line Tørmoen, Dimitri Jourde
Set and light design: Jens Sethzman
Music: Murcof
Text: Ovid
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Photo: Erik Berg
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs

 

Premiered 2003

Confession time. that cool and immature feeling of total honesty

Isolated from the outside world, six people take turns in confessing their secrets. With nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, they apparently expose more and more of their hidden selves. But as a disclosure has become a media phenomenon, it isn’t easy to tell how little is being revealed and what awful secrets remain concealed.

 

Like Big Brother meets Forced Entertainment, Confession time is as unsettling as it is engaging. We are drawn into its fragmented narratives and sublime, revealing dance sequences, yet can never be certain about the truth of the confessions, nor the relationships of the individuals.

 

Choreographer: Ina Christel Johannessen
Dancers: Marianne Albers, Line Tørmoen, Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Ludde Hagberg, Terje Tjøme Mossige, Staffan Eek
Set and light design: Jens Sethzman
Music: :zoviet*france:
Text: Amok Journal, Kjell Askildsen, Finn Iunker, Philip K. Dick, Franz Kafka, Fjodor Dostojevskij, Ernst Jünger, Rem Koolhaas, Robert Smithson
Photo: Erik Berg
Produced by: zero visibility corp.
Production manager: Cathe Sjøblom
Co-producers: Fabrik Potsdam (Germany), Moderna Dansteatern (Sweden), Tramway (Scotland)
Supported by: Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs

 

Premiered 2001