After a full program the week continued into the weekend and another panel discussion. Invited by our partner in the business, Elle Sofe Company, we had a nice panel discussion about creating opportunities.
What is ICE HOT?
Ice Hot Nordic Dance Platform is a collaboration between five Nordic dance organizations, which biannually present the best of Nordic dance during on of Europe’s largest dance platform. Both emerging and established names of Nordic contemporary dance and choreography is showcased to presenters, programmers and other professionals from all over the world.
About the seminar
Elle Sofe Company has the pleasure of guiding you through this seminar of The Central Periphery. Invited guests are asked to share their valuable experience of creating art in the periphery, working, and living at the edge of society.
As challenges of distance, costs and cultural differences may prevent citizens of larger cities to reach out for collaborations, the artists of the periphery are seeking each other, finding new pathways of collaborations and networks. There are vast opportunities in this, and we would like to invite you to an insight into the possibilities that open when seeking new collaborations outside of the central routes.
Hailing from Gouvdageaidnu, a village of 3000 inhabitants, Elle Sofe Company has reached out, creating groundbreaking work that makes a difference. Look to the north, the west and east – where the central peripheries are.
About the panel
Maiken Garder is CEO and producer at Elle Sofe Company, based in Hammerfest, Sápmi Nothern Norway. Garder focuses on the strength and potential of art from the periphery, outside the cities. Powerful arts is made where people live and breathe, and reflects their lives. GArder has extensive experience from the performing arts scene, and has held several workshops, lectures and artistic talks.
Jørgen Knudsen has degrees in chemical engineering, history of arts and theatre. He is currently the Artistic Director and CEO of Black Box teater in Oslo.He’s main artistic work is related to the art collective Baktruppen (1986-2011), and as a composer within several genres, mostly in theatre and dance, both in Norway and abroad. Currently he is most active in the Norwegian-Polish duet Nor_Pol. Their last album is Construction (2020). From 2012-2015 he worked as director for the festival DanseFestival Barents in Hammerfest, Norway, and from 2015-2021 he was the performing arts consultant and senior advisor at Arts Council Norway.
Gunn Hernes is from Norway but lives on the Faroe Islands and is the director of the Nordic House in Torshavn. She covers multiple artistic fields, and the arts centre focuses on local and Nordic collaborations. She has worked in public service and as project manager in perfroming arts and music, based in Bergen, Norway, and Reykjavik, Iceland. She works for the local perspective in the green transformation.
Liv Aira lives in Sweden, and works as a dancer and choreographer, reflecting on the Sápmi heritage in her arts. She is the founder and director of Invisible People Contemporary Dance Company, touring with the dance and joik performance Ájttega and the performance Akti Lij for children. She started Låvda – Sápmi manuscript and indigenous people festival Skájdde in Storforsen nature reserve, housing 20 000 people a year. She is currently working on the first Sápmi dance centre in the world, located in Jokkmokk, Northern Sweden. She holds a BA in dance, and an MA in choreography from the Institute of the Arts, Barcelona.
Yelena Arakelow hails from Switzerland, and is based in Reykjavik, Iceland from 2015. She holds a BA in dance practice from Iceland University of Arts. Her multi-disciplinary work on bodily excistence and expectations in dance has been shown across Iceland and Europe. She supports and invests her time in new local dance artists, and dream of a better scene for new emerging dance in Reykjavik.
The reasoning for creating the The North Atlantic Islands Dance Network (NAI) initiative is to connect professional dance artists living in North Atlantic islands. The goal is to create a network for sharing of resources and supporting innovative initiatives. The network was established by and for freelance dance artist on the Faroe islands, Greenland, and Iceland, with a special focus on emerging artists