MATSALEN on international tour this autumn

The dining room/The Canteen. Photo: Håkan Larsson

The critically acclaimed the performance Dining room (transl. The Canteen) by Björn Säfsten is now touring the Nordic and Baltic countries and will be shown on 26 occasions in Copenhagen, Klaipeda, Helsinki and Stockholm from 22 October to 6 December. The tour also marks the start of the Body of Curiosity project, a new network of organisations, dance venues and producers that will initiate conversations, exchange of experiences and research on touring dance performances for young audiences in the Nordic and Baltic countries - now and in the future.

Björn Säfsten's dance performance Dining room premiered at Regionteater Väst in 2016 in collaboration with GöteborgsOperan and is aimed at children aged 8-11 years. It is about the dining room; the room where we eat together, a familiar room with strong codes, built-in movement patterns and familiar roles.

In the performance Dining room the audience and the dancers together agree on new rules. Which norms can be renegotiated? By turning and twisting ordinary things - a tray, a dish, a table - perhaps we can let our imagination give them new uses, and see ourselves relating to each other in new ways. Using everyone's bodies and video projections, the performance explores the meaning of everyday choreographies that the audience deals with every day. Dining room was performed on tour in the Västra Götaland region in spring 2016 and received a fantastic reception from the children in the schools.

-"In the Dining Room, we have looked at social choreographies that take place between students and try to use the norms that exist in the dining room to build a new possible dining room, a place for a new collective and a place to experience interaction with bodies and trays via their potential to become other"says Björn Säfsten.

-"It also feels very exciting that the tour this autumn will go to several different countries. I look forward to seeing how the work is received in different ways in different contexts!"

Dining room will visit:

• Danshallerne in Copenhagen 22 October
• Klaipeda Culture Factory in Lithuania 25-26 October
• Annantalo in Helsinki 30 October-1 November
• Dansens Hus in Stockholm 5-8 November
• Skärholmen Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, 3-6 December

The international tour of Dining room is the start of the pilot project Body of Curiosity, which will lay the foundation for a network for research and exchange of experience. Body of Curiosity is initiated by Säfsten Production together with Lene Bang Org. (DK) and Nordberg Movement (SE) in collaboration with a number of dance scenes and organisations in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Quote:

”I feel as bubbly as the seven-year-olds. This was a great experience and a little social experiment about our eating habits." Sara Kirudd, Bohusläningen 22 March 2016 

”The creative duo Säfsten and Tan's approach of directly engaging us in the work sharpens our view of the different dimensions and genres of dance art, the dance is seen with the body's own experience and feeling. It's smart."  Mira Becker, Borås Tidning 5 March 2016

"The choreographer is not afraid to walk alongside the young audience. Without being ingratiating, he shows how professional dancers can stage popular music." Lis Hellström Sveningson, GP and Danstidningen March 2016.  

Björn Säfsten has worked as a choreographer and dancer since 2003, as well as a researcher in choreography at Umeå Art Academy. Säfsten is particularly interested in how the body is produced through language and how language shapes our idea of the world. He also uses choreography as a way to create a critique of representation and norms. Björn Säfsten's latest work, LANDSCAPES OF I, premiered at Inkonst in Malmö in February 2018, followed by a tour of Sweden with Riksteatern.