The Norwegian contemporary dance and theater group the Jo Strømgren Kompani are coming to US in the beginning of october as a part of their international tour. The group will be performing at the Gallo Centre for the Arts in Modesto, CA on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October.
10/1/2008 :: Jo Strømgren Kompani was officially founded 1998 by Jo Strømgren and Agnes Kroepelien in Bergen Norway with the aim to produce independent contemporary dance and theatre and tour widely throughout the world. Closely connected to the creative environments around Bergen International Theatre and the growing optimism on the Norwegian free scene. High ambitions and extreme optimism was a brave choice of strategy considering Norway’s relatively poor traditions for both classical and contemporary dance, and not to mention the previous lack of presence on the global dance arena. Despite scarce financial support and small scale administrative facilities the achievements of Jo Strømgren Kompani has surprised people everywhere - a repertory of 10 productions, an average of 100 performances a year and about 35 countries on the touring list. Even a full-length feature film has been released.
This drastic development in distribution and artistic recognition is first of all due to a clear and significant style. JSK present a peculiar mixture of dance and theatre, puppets and film, with a distinct absurd humour attached. By treating existential topics with an unmistakable personal point of view, JSK has given themselves a unique style. JSK has also chosen to reject exclusive networking strategies and giving equal priority to garage-like stages as well as national opera houses. This has allowed JSK to operate within a large scale of audience segments and network levels, crossing both social and geographical borders. A clear strength has also been their serious relationships with collaborators, generating steady touring facilities instead of dead end singular events. Jo Strømgren’s reputation has grown equally through his freelance works, keeping a busy schedule working internationally with a wide range of classical and contemporary companies as well as theatre ensembles, leading to an increase of general interest and curiosity. His extreme diversity range from ultraclassical Nutcracker to workingclassical Football, from workshops in the slums of Brazil to prize-winning performances in fundamentalist Iran. The extreme fusion of activities may cause confusion, but this is considered as a luxury problem in a cultural terrain where a lot of companies and individual artists have to fight for the ability to produce and distribute.
(Press release from Jo Strømgren Kompani)
Schedule:
» Oct 03, 2008 - 8:00 PM
» Oct 04, 2008 - 8:00 PM
» Oct 05, 2008 - 2:00 PM
Tickets and further information may be found at:
JoStrømgren Kompani
Gallo Center for the Arts
By: Stein M Wilmann