Jo Strømgren Kompani (Norway)
A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football
This famous, multi-award-wining piece of choreography had its premiere in 1997, but for several years it was not a part of Jo Stromgren Kompani’s repertoire. However, this year it was re-staged in tribute to the World Cup in football in South Africa. The 4 + 4 Days in Motion Festival is now (for the third time) presenting the Prague public with a work created by the unique director and choreographer Jo Stromgren. The piece is characterised above all by humour, openness, depth of perception, and innovative gags. Stromgren pays tribute to the art of football from the position of ballet, thus surmounting the artificially formed chasm between ‘popular sports’ and the elitist world of art. He reveals the aesthetic and emotional qualities of the football match, pays tribute to the physical demands and routine of practice, and highlights the features that football and ballet have in common. It is a funny and entertaining piece and not a bit superficial.
Jo Strømgren’s (1970) never completed his studies at the Norwegian National Ballet Academy because of his sceptical attitude towards academic methods and his untolerated absences. In 1994 he nonetheless he embarked on a prolific career with the prestigious Carte Blanche Dance Company in Bergen. Later, as a freelance choreographer, he created works for a number of European and North American companies (e.g. Norwegian National Ballet, Ballett Nürnberg, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Repertory Dance Theatre in Utah). He became an esteemed theatre director, especially of Ibsen’s drama, and has written works for the stage and film. In 1998 in Bergen he founded Jo Strømgren Kompani, which is one of the most stable independent companies in Scandinavia. The company’s artistic profile derives from its diversity of genres, experimentation, the use of jargon, including the creation of its own artificial language, and the presence of actors capable of movement and dancers capable of acting. A rather unusual choice of themes is also a feature of the company’s profile.
No language barrier
It’s a cheeky, rumbustious celebration of the physical exuberance of football and dance. The Times, UK
