Alexander Ekman is known from the Opera with his previously acclaimed works such as Midsummer Night's Dream and the ballet Tyll.
Now he is back with two works: SHIFT and CACTI.
With the performances, Ekman wants to elevate part of the choreography - to write dance.
- Both works are based on a choreographic craft.
The common denominator with the works is that there is a lot of rhythm in both, says Alexander Ekman.
Born out of the pandemic
SHIFT is a completely new work by Alexander Ekman that he was given the task of creating together with the composer Mikael Karlsson and the Royal Ballet earlier this year.
The work was born out of the pandemic and reflects how we are constantly changing in different states.
There are 38 dancers on stage who are scattered in a formation and keep their distance.
- I have never received such clear directives in my creation before.
I can 't float away and do anything.
We are in a time that is constantly changing and I have practiced being flexible and staying where I am, which you can see in the work.
When technology becomes all that is significant in the prevailing circumstances, Alexander Ekman thinks quite the opposite.
He wants to get away from all technology and go into the choreography itself.
- I have done many performances before that are based on the stage technology.
There I have choreographed the stage room in a way.
During this process, I have created dance with the dancers and just put everything together after that.
Has been played by 25 companies
The second work, CACTI, is a reworked version of Ekman's internationally best-known work worldwide.
The work premiered in the Netherlands in 2010 and has been performed by 25 companies, now for the first time ever in Sweden.
- We have made it a little bigger now and expanded from 16 to 25 dancers.
I'm super happy to see this in Stockholm.
SHIFT / CACTI premieres on September 26 at the Royal Opera in Stockholm.