Skin of the mind

NDT 1 | Alan Lucien Øyen / Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar
Thu 23 Sep - Sat 9 Oct
Thu 23 Sep '21
-
Sat 9 Oct '21

Skin of the mind presents a world premiere by Alan Lucien Øyen, an exciting new voice within the company who will debut his first work with NDT 1. Additionally, the opening program of the 2021-2022 features the return of the highly acclaimed Bedroom Folk by choreographic duo Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar, an important work in the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) oeuvre that will be presented in an expanded version with a larger cast. 

Programme

Alan Lucien Øyen - Wereldpremière
Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar - Bedroom Folk (2015)

Als er een danstaal is die aanhaakt bij de tijdsgeest, is het die van Israelisch dansmakersduo Sharon Eyal en Gai Behar

Trouw **** over Bedroom Folk

Alan Lucien Øyen (Norway) is one of the most exciting artists in the international dance scene today whose work has been performed by companies around the world. As a choreographer, writer, and director, he can best be described as a unique story teller always in pursuit of a sincere and human expression. With an emotional and dramatic drive, Øyen ambitiously combines music, movement, opera, theatre and dance. His complex and technically challenging choreographic language is informed by the world around him which allows him to draw inspiration from a myriad of sources including popular culture as well as personal conversations and experiences.  

Øyen was trained as a dancer at the State School of Art in Oslo and danced with The Norwegian National Contemporary, and Amanda Miller’s Pretty Ugly Dance Company in Cologne before founding his own multidisciplinary company, winter guests in 2006. NDT is very excited to welcome this new voice to the company. 

The choreographic duo Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar (Israel) have come to embody a unique style of movement that is deeply rooted in the exploration of the body. Their work is characterized by pulsing and hypnotic experiences that tap into worlds that seemingly co-exist far into the future and deep into the past. Together they have created works for several companies worldwide and founded their own company L-E-V in 2013.

For Skin of the mind Eyal & Behar will restage their work Bedroom Folk that was met with critical acclaim after its premiere with NDT in April of 2015: “If there is a dance language that locks into the zeitgeist, then it’s the one by Israeli creators Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar.” (Trouw, 2015) This expanded version is bound to further stimulate the rhythmic scoring of a work that links itself through vibrations within both the individual and collective body. NDT looks forward to revisiting this important work and sharing it again with its audiences.

Alan Lucien Øyen

Alan Lucien Øyen is a rarity within dance and theatre. Graduating in dance from the School of Art in Oslo, Alan works in hybrid forms straddling dance, theater, opera, and film.  From Bergen, Norway, his works are highly acclaimed in both his home country and abroad.

Alan has been artist in resident with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet since 2013, where he is given the space and freedom for himself and his company winter guests to make groundbreaking theatre and dance performances in the stunning Norwegian Opera House.

As the son of a dresser watching theatre religiously from the age of 7, Alan started studying ballet at 17 with Hungarian ballet master and Marinsky graduate Peter Tornev. After performing with Carte Blanche and Amanda Miller’s company Pretty Ugly – Alan established winter guests in 2006. winter guests brings together actors, dancers, writers, set designers and technicians, touring theatrical works in English for the international stage. Since 2009 his plays for winter guests have been written and developed together with British playwright and director Andrew Wale. Alan was of the first choreographers invited to create a full-length work for the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal, the first time since the death of their founder Pina Bausch.

2020 paved the way for Alan to begin exploring cinema and film.  He is among the very first to employ high end ARRI film cameras on-stage. His film version of the play ”The Hamlet Complex” for the Norwegian National Ballet is expected to be released Autumn 2021.

Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar 

Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar (Israel) form an innovative duo in the contemporary danceworld. For NDT 2 they created Sara (2013) and FEELINGS (2016) and for NDT 1 they created Bedroom Folk (2015) and Salt Womb (2016). In 2013 the duo formed their dance company L-E-V.

Sharon Eyal was born in Jerusalem. She danced with the Batsheva Dance Company between 1990-2008 and started choreographing within the framework of the company’s Batsheva Dancers Create project. Eyal served as Associate Artistic Director for Batsheva between 2003-2004, and as a House Choreographer for the company between 2005-2012.

From 2009 Eyal created over 30 new creations for dance companies around the world such as NDT, the Royal Swedish Ballet, Goteborgs Operans Danskompani, Carte Blanche Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Staatstheater Mainz and more.

Gai Behar

Gai Behar (Jerusalem, 1977) has been of wide influence of Tel Aviv’s live music, art and nightlife scenes from 1999 to 2005. He produced live music, underground artistic events and techno raves. In addition, Behar maintained more established partylines (Syntechtich, Dark Disco, Night Rox and more) in clubs such as Maxim, Shoken 17, TLV and Deep. Between 1999-2005 Behar also curated and produced the events Man Without a Shirt in Tel Aviv. The first event was co-curated by Uri Katzenstein, the second included works by Sharon Eyal. Together with Ori Lichtik, Behar played in Anna Frank 14 – a techno-acoustic line-up based mainly on minimalistic rhythms and melodies.

Sharon Eyal

Sharon Eyal (1971, Jerusalem) danced with the Batsheva Dance Company from 1990 until 2008 and began choreographing within the framework of the company’s Dancers Create project. Eyal served as Associate Artistic Director of Batsheva in 2003-2004, and as House Choreographer from 2005 to 2012. In 2009 Eyal began creating pieces for other dance companies in the world: Killer Pig (2009) and Corps de Walk (2011) for Carte Blanche Dance of Norway, Too Beaucoup (2011) for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Plafona (2012) for Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg, Germany.

Eyal is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2004 Ministry of Culture Award for young dance creators and the 2009 Landau Prize for the Performing Arts in the dance category. In 2008, she was named a Chosen Artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation.