The Cullberg Ballet Works 16 October - 19 November 2014

Programme

The Cullberg Ballet's next major initiative offers two newly created works with different expressions. Canadian star choreographer Edouard Lock creates a classic passion drama inspired by 1950s jazz and film noir: 11th Floor, with specially written music by composer Gavin Bryars. Four musicians play live on stage: piano, bass, saxophone and accordion. Swedish rising star Stina Nyberg, with a distinctly contemporary style, allows dancers to create music and movement in the work Tones & Bones where choreography, sound and light play equal roles.

The collection programme entitled WORKS shows the breadth and brilliance of the Cullberg Ballet in two completely different works.

Costume designer Ulrika van Gelder creates the costume for 11th Floor, an elegant and sophisticated costume drama with ten dancers from the Cullberg Ballet. Composer, jazz musician and bassist Gavin Bryars has written music for numerous operas, string quartets, concerts, choirs and created a number of instrumental works. He has collaborated with several choreographers and directors, alongside Edouard Lock, Merce Cunningham and Robert Wilson.

At the age of 20, Edouard Lock was already choreographing works for several companies in his native Canada. Lock founded his own company, La La La La Human Steps, in 1980 in Montréal and the company achieved international success with large-scale full-evening works. The multi-award-winning Lock made his international breakthrough in 1985 with the work Human Sex, and has collaborated with Louise Lecavalier, David Bowie and Frank Zappa, among others, in addition to works for other companies. He has created several films and transferred choreographic works to film, including the highly acclaimed and awarded Amelia , 2004. Lock is recognised as one of the pioneering superstars of modern dance.

Swedish choreographer Stina Nyberg , one of the most acclaimed young choreographers today, creates Tones & Bones directly for the Cullberg Ballet. The choreography is closely intertwined with sound design by Rebecca Digby and lighting design by Chrisander Brun.

The six dancers play instruments, create and perform songs, and act as musicians for their own dance performance. Movement and the body's relationship to sound are central to the work, which centres on the theme of how hierarchies between music and dance can be constructed, destroyed and changed. Dance and music develop simultaneously and with the help of each other.

- There is a sense of recognition in seeing someone doing their very best on stage, daring to both succeed and fail. For me, it's about using your experience to question ideas about quality and professionalism. And learning something new along the way," says Stina Nyberg about Tones & Bones.

Stina Nyberg graduated with a master's degree in choreography from Dans- och Cirkushögskolan (DOCH) in Stockholm in 2012. She works in several different constellations and projects, often around methods and the concept of "practice". 2011-2014 Stina has presented several works at MDT in Stockholm, most recently the solo Horrible Mixtures and before that Musical, The Environment and The Way Sounds Attack. 2012 she created Orkestern för Kungliga Svenska Balettskolan which was performed in the gold foyer at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. Several of her works revolve around the connections between sound production and movement and how we can create new relationships between movement and thought. Together with Amanda Apetrea, Nadja Hjorton, Halla Ólafsdóttir and Zoë Poluch, she choreographed The Collection for the Cullberg Ballet at the Dance Museum in December 2013. Since 2012 Stina has developed, choreographed and participated in the show Shaking the habitual with the Swedish cult band The Knife, a collaboration that continues in 2014.