PROGRAMME
Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer. From 1999, she studied in Amsterdam and Brussels where she, in 2004, graduated from the performing arts school P.A.R.T.S. Her first performance Manual Focus (2003) was made while she was still studying. Her early pieces comprise, among others, of 50/50 (2004), to come (2005), It’s in The Air (2008) and GIANT CITY (2009) – performances questioning affect, perception and sensation in relation to bodily representation. Her work is characterised by hybridity and engages in extending choreographic practices by combining dance and movement with other domains such as visual art, technology, language and theory.
An important strand of her work was developed between 2009 and 2012 with The Artificial Nature Series, where she focused on reconfiguring relations between human and non-human agency through choreography. The series includes three performances devoid of human presence: evaporated landscapes (2009), The Light Forest (2010) and The Extra Sensorial Garden (2011), and two in which the human figure was reintroduced: Speculations (2011) and the group work The Artificial Nature Project (2012).
By contrast, her newer series, The Red Pieces – comprised of 69 positions (2014), 7 Pleasures (2015), to come (extended) and 21 pornographies (2017) –, inscribes itself into a history of human performance with a focus on nudity, sexuality and how the body historically has been a site for political struggles.
In 2019, she premiered Moving in Concert, an abstract group choreography, that focuses on the interlacing between humans, technological tools and natural materials.
In 2021, Mette Ingvartsen presented two new projects: The Life Work, an in situ project with elderly people in the Ruhr region in Germany which addresses migration issues; and a new solo, The Dancing Public, inspired by a fascination for dancing manias throughout history.
Skatepark, a large-scale performance for skaters, dancers and local skatepark communities, premiered in 2023. And in the beginning of 2024, Ingvartsen presented RUSH, a solo performance for Manon Santkin that draws on twenty years of collaboration.
2025
