by Louis Schou-Hansen and Karoline Bakken Lund

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Photo: Chai Saeidi

Afterlife is an alternative history, a site for speculation and ambiguous interpretations of a renaissance that never really happened. The work flirts with the idea of the death of classical ballet, while leaning into subtle irrationalities and dark humor. 

Afterlife revisits the origins of the ballet at the Renaissance. A time when the genre was mostly made out of folk dances for white aristocracies, and where a history of violence and exclusion began to take course. By playing with counterfactual fantasies and “what if” questions, Afterlife breaks into, and reimagines the foundations of the classical ballet and its possible other futures. Three performers explore reconstructions and the absurd symbolic gestures of original dances from the late renaissance. They seek to alter oppressive narratives, they look for common grounds and aim to infiltrate a history that never belonged to them. 

CREDITS

Concept/choreography Louis Schou-Hansen
Costume and sculptures Karoline Bakken Lund
Tech and scenography responsible during Ravnedans Alexandra Tveit
Co-making performers Amie Mbye, Georgiana Dobre and Elise Nohr Nystad
Music Peachlyfe / Petra Skibsted
Artistic Advisor Sebastian De Line
Reconstruction of renaissance dances Elizabeth Svarstad
Photos Chai Saeidi
Hair Anna Lübeck

Funded by
Arts Council Norway
Fond For Lyd og Bilde
FFUK
Fritt Ord
Oslo Kommune

Co-producers
Black Box Teater Oslo
Mimosa Studio Oslo
Palmera Bergen

Tour (past and future)
Palmera, Bergen, Norway
My Wild Flag, Stockholm, Sweden
Dansehallerne, Copenhagen, Denmark
ICA – Institute of Contemporary Arts London, England
Suprainfinit, Bucharest, Romania
Untitled, Tbilisi, Georgia
Femidomen, Nesodden, Norway

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