After 50 years on stage, she still dances with the same stubborn vigour.<\/p>\n
In art, I can question by looking back and provoke by looking forward. I can use memory to recall or interpret a situation, but also use memory functions that are directly linked to the body, reaction and action in relation to the situation we are currently living in, in relation to different values and political attitudes. We move in a context. Movement expresses our place, and through the body we experience it, says Efva.<\/p>\n
It is summer and the afternoon is tropically warm. Although it is windy, as it has been all summer, the wind is more like a hairdryer than a cooling breeze. We walk along a forest path in the barren dark green forest with sandy soil that takes us to Efva's place of contemplation. Pine cones crunch underfoot, the ground is dry and smells of warm pine needles; spider webs on the blueberry bushes.<\/p>\n
She sits down on a cliff by the sea when she wants to think freely. There, she points. We look out over the water, which is starting to turn green along the shore. Algae bloom. The rising sea temperature is making its mark.<\/p>\n
There was a time when Efva lived on a ship, and she talks about that and how she feels most at home when the natural world around her doesn't adapt to her but challenges her. Does it become boring if everything is too comfortable?<\/p>\n
\"I don't know why that is. But I can't really breathe then,\" she says and walks in front of me to show me the way.<\/p>\n
We sit outside in the shade to prepare for the interview, but we still talk more informally. She has baked a sugar cake. I notice that I am telling her as much as I am asking her. She can express herself in words, but she is also a good listener. The entire home is filled with her and others' works, paintings and art in various materials, books, many places where one can sit and gain different perspectives on the surroundings \u2013 or in one's thoughts.<\/p>\n
I also notice that she wants to know how much I know about her areas of interest: art and politics. She refers to a website with reports on cultural policy, and I immediately google it. I want to know more \u2013 I want to understand her. When she smiles, she looks friendly. But she can quickly change and become impatient or snap when she disagrees or when she brings up something obvious. I like that.<\/p>\n
Has the anniversary year (2026) opened up opportunities to revisit specific movements from your early years?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 If by anniversary year you mean that I am celebrating 50 years on stage, then I can answer yes. Perhaps not in relation to our new work for Dansens Hus, but definitely in relation to the exhibition that the Scenkonstmuseet, in collaboration with the Dansmuseet, is planning to do about my artistry.<\/p>\n Over the years, Efva has presented 19 works at Dansens Hus. A Life as Right as Rain will be the twentieth, this time in collaboration with composer \u00c5ke Parmerud and, in addition to herself, five dancers.<\/p>\n Tell us about A Life as Right as Rain \u2013 which specific fragments from your early works have been given new life in this? If any?<\/strong><\/p>\n What is relevant when the world looks the way it does today, what is a good life? Really? Life gives dance an incentive of continuity. So I live dance and don't see that I can separate dancing from life in general. The work is ongoing. Based on our history, the work continues to move forward. Traces of the past remain. However, it is not my intention to seek out what has been or to make specific choices. A Life as Right as Rain <\/em>addresses how concerns about war, terrorism, climate crisis and environmental problems affect our consciousness, and how worries about loved ones, jobs and finances influence our way of thinking.<\/p>\n \u2013 Anxiety often generates fear and a feeling of inadequacy. How does this affect the way we live, experience and feel, all the things that generate the experiences that make us who we are and become, what we do and what we will do? What becomes personal, collective, cultural or political memories? This, and questions about what the alternatives look like, how we can make room for good forces, enjoyment and positive thinking. Love. And whether it can be expressed in dance. How our experiences affect who we are and who we become, what you choose to remember. The body is the bearer of its history.<\/p>\n Does your background as a researcher and leader (DOCH, Dansehallerne) influence your creative process?<\/strong><\/p>\n Much of my approach to thinking practices and listening techniques has been developed while I have been responsible for staff, including my time with E.L.D. (Efva Lilja Dance) and other situations where my responsibility as a choreographer has been and continues to be to lead and stimulate the work. I wanted power \u2013 and I took on the leadership role. I do not regret that.<\/p>\n Efva believes that as a leader, it is important to be attentive and listen to people, to the experiences that can contribute to the work with dance.<\/p>\n \u2013 And as for research... I have always viewed my work as a type of curiosity-driven basic research, even though it was not until the 1990s that I began to articulate this and my methods in relation to research practice. Sharing experiences with colleagues, discussing and receiving criticism from colleagues is important. For example, I often invite colleagues to rehearsals and other processes. It's difficult but fun! Collegiality has long been my driving force in working to develop conditions for artists to conduct research and to engage in the field of artistic research.<\/p>\n Your work has sometimes been called controversial. What does that mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have never followed trends or adapted to demand, which has sometimes been both controversial and provocative. At E.L.D., we were driven by other motivations, by the development of public situations for encounters with art, regardless of geographical, cultural or social location. And that is still the case.<\/p>\n She explains that E.L.D. developed new working and organisational methods that enabled continuous processes, multi-year contracts for dancers and a highly acclaimed repertoire, which provoked those who believed that this was impossible for an independent group.<\/p>\n We constantly found new solutions that made the impossible possible. Solutions that took us beyond the many conventions that exist in the field of dance.<\/p>\n Interest in my work has often come from venues around the world other than those that traditionally present dance. Often from visual arts (museums, galleries), architecture (public spaces, architectural staging) and music (festivals, artist-run forums). I am probably still the only Swedish artist to have created original works for the Guggenheim Bilbao, Centre Georges Pompidou and other art institutions. I have created two original works for the Moderna Museet, the opening of the Baltic Art Centre, while also performing at major opera houses, theatres and, not least, Dansens Hus here at home.<\/p>\n Efva's work has been presented in Western European cities, but has also toured countries that have been considered low status in the conventional dance world, such as Eastern European countries, Russia, Turkey, New Zealand, India and China.<\/p>\n \u2013 In total, my works have been exhibited in more than forty countries around the world, even though we have mostly worked without institutional support.<\/p>\n What has changed and what remains after your years on stage?<\/strong><\/p>\n I still have a strong will and drive, and my belief in the importance of art in our lives is unshakeable. It requires a commitment to an inclusive concept of culture, that we are all creators of culture through how we live and act. A commitment to the importance of art in our culture.<\/p>\n \u2013 But I am tired. Not just because of my age. Much of it is due to the rapid dismantling of the infrastructure that many of us in the dance field have worked so hard to develop. Current cultural policy is devastating, and the marketisation imposed on artists, education programmes and venues is impoverishing and excluding many people from artistic experiences. Access to artistic experiences is a cultural right. We must demand redress!<\/p>\n Looking back, what would you like to reconsider about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 I know I've always done my best. There's no reason to dwell on it.<\/p>\n How do you know when a work is finished?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 I just know. It's related to professionalism: if I have a deadline, I'll get it done.<\/p>\n What triggers new projects for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 That's life. When you finish a work, the sense of loss is so terrible that I immediately start on the next project. I live for my work.<\/p>\n Have you ever surprised yourself in a work?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 I think you can be surprised every day. Creating and working is a surprising process. When I paint, draw or make a movement, it cannot be undone. And that movement is always surprising. People surprise you.<\/p>\n What do you long for artistically?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 I would like to have more financial resources. Many of the visions I have could be realised by many more people. Meet more people. Imagine being able to work without constant compromises! At the same time, I know that it is resistance that breeds creativity. We all live with different limitations...<\/p>\n During our conversation, we have moved through the house and ended up in the dance studio, but we are still sitting outside because it is so warm. The orange steel bench is cool. When we get up and go back inside, Efva points to the floor, where so much is happening.<\/p>\n When I draw and paint, I work on the floor, just like when I dance. I used to write on the floor too. That's where it all begins.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For five decades, Efva Lilja has been creating art \u2013 and at the same time questioning why art, especially dance, is constantly being deprioritised. 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