Elverket will be our third stage

In connection with this, Dansens Hus and Dramaten launched a five-year collaboration project on the stage. Elverket will be a new cultural centre with the aim of offering audiences both Swedish and international dance and theatre productions. The collaboration gives Dansens Hus the opportunity to develop and expand the contemporary dance scene, and it gives Dramaten the opportunity to keep Elverket as a venue. Dansens Hus has also received an establishment grant from the City of Stockholm that initially provides resources to allow for long-term investments in independent cultural life and its actors.

- When Dansens Hus now expands and gets access to three stage spaces, we will be able to create new collaborations and expand our work to support the independent field in a completely new way. With Elverket, contemporary dance and Stockholm have the medium-sized stage that we have long had on our wish list. This gives us greater flexibility when inviting both international and Sweden-based choreographers and companies," says Mr S. Johannes Öhman, Head of Theatre at Dansens Hus.

For the City of Stockholm, one ambition has been to find an actor who can take responsibility and be a motor for the development of contemporary dance in Stockholm and Sweden and give it a larger audience. - I am extremely pleased that the city is contributing to Dansens Hus being able to establish a new stage for dance at Elverket. We are now preserving an established stage in Stockholm and strengthening the infrastructure for independent cultural life. The field of dance and choreography has grown and developed in Stockholm, but there has long been a lack of suitable stages. The initiative is of great importance for Stockholm as a city of culture and as a national hub for the art of dance," says Jonas Naddebo (C), Mayor of Culture and Urban Environment, City of Stockholm.

It was originally intended that Dramaten would leave Elverket on 30 June this year for cost reasons and the future of the venue was then uncertain. But the new collaboration between Dansens Hus and Dramaten means that Elverket can live on and become a hub for the dance field, a place for innovative performing arts, and an arena where both art forms and the audience can meet, create and experience cross-genre performances. In addition, it opens up the possibility of looking at collaborations between the two institutions in the form of, for example, co-productions or artistic formats for collaborations - "I believe in an even stronger need for collaboration in the time we live in, not least considering what we may face after the pandemic. The collaboration will lead to a mutual revitalisation and be forward-looking for the art forms both nationally and internationally," he says. Mattias Andersson, Artistic Director and Head of Theatre at Dramaten. Already in the autumn of 2021, Dansens Hus begins its programming at Elverket. For the next two years, the programme will be presented by Dansens Hus, with the exception of Dramaten's three-month residency in the summer of 2022. From 2024, the collaboration between the two institutions becomes more full-scale in a common approach and clearer line on joint artistic projects.

- "Our goal with the collaboration is to attract the audience interested in dance to the theatre and the audience interested in theatre to contemporary dance. And to offer a platform for creators who want to work boldly and forward-looking in the borderland between the two art forms," say Johannes Öhman and Mattias Andersson.

Press cuttings

Dansens Hus moves into Elverket, SvD

Dramaten remains at Elverket, Dansens Hus moves in, SVT

Elverket becomes new venue for innovative performing arts, DN

History of Elverket

Designed by Gustaf de Frumeries, the building was constructed in 1923-1927 for the Östermalm station's electricity plant.The salon can accommodate up to 360 visitors.The salon area is 460 square metres with a ceiling height of 14 metres.In 1993, the City of Stockholm decided that the premises would be rebuilt for cultural purposes.Already in 1994, the director Thorsten Flinck staged the youth project Take a beating in collaboration with Dramaten and Fryshuset in the premises. In 1997, Elverket was inaugurated as a theatre stage with the famous musical. The Black Rider, directed by Richard Günther.

2002-2009 director Stefan Larsson was Elverket's artistic director. 2009-2014 Elverket was the home stage for Unga Dramaten. The current property owner is Fastighets AB Kannan.