Swedish dance criticism...

About Anna Ångström's review of Charlotta Öfverhölm's work Pas de Deux sans toi, performed at Moderna Dansteater Stockholm the 24th, 25th and 26th of September 2010. The review was published in Svenska Dagsbladet on the 26th of September 2010.

Critics like Anna Ångström, who are important references for the opinion about contemporary dance in Sweden, seem to favor an aesthetics of dance that focuses on exploring the possibilities of movement, with its different qualities, rhythms and space dynamics. The reviews often imply that dance is most powerful in its purest- 'naken alltså- state. Conversely, a work that stands there exceeding the 'balanced energy' - lagom? -of a rather calm society seems to 'be too much'. Not only is the excess and unbalance of Charlotta Ofverhölm's well acknowledged energy that which seems to bother the critic, but also the excess of theatrical devices in the work: talk with the audience, rope, music, metatheatrical allusions -when Charlotta adresses the technitian Tobbe-, irony, seriousness and so on. This heterogeneity and fragmentary quality of the work is not welcome either. What seems to be desired are qualities such as purity, balance, coherence, unity and so on. Harmony.



There are three things I would like to say about this: First, that it seems inappropiate to judge Charlotta's work in terms of its lack of 'purity and balanced energy', because her work does not belong to the well known and accepted aesthetics of 'pure dance'. Second, that if art is to have relevance for our society -Sweden-, it is crucial to encourage the political potential that art has in its 'excess and impurity'. When something looks to us as being excessive -too much-, impure, incoherent -'splittrad'-, then we are really challenging our own conformity with the functional and passive tendencies of 'social order'. Harmony does not transform!. Third, that if a constructive criticism is to be done about works that 'want to say something' like Ofverhölms' work usually are, it would be most suitable to take arguments from critical theories that problematize society. In the case of Pas de Deux sans toi, a feminist criticism could be more giving than one purely based on aesthetics.



So, What is the work Pas de Deux sans toi wanting to say? From which perspective is it saying it? What kind of assumptions is it reinforcing? How nuanced is the representation of victim and perpetrator in the relations of domination? How are the bodies and their characterizations enhancing and challenging what we take for granted in society? Is it empowering? For whom? In which way? These are just some suggestions, and I do hope to take the time to suggest answers as well. Finally, I do not mean that aesthetic criticism has no place, but I do think that its place should be given by the way in which the specific aesthetics of the work take a crucial part in the thematic that it deals with: love, sexuality, male domination, desire, etc. Having said this, I do agree with critic Anna Ångström in that something seemed weak in the integration of what felt like diverse elements: talking to the audience, using the rope, talking to Tobe, etc, etc. However, I think this apparent weakness is not about 'dispersity', but rather about a lack of intentionality. What they might need is a bit of that 'excess', which seems to be the greatest strength of this artist. Excess, conviction and radicality in the talk with the audience, the inclusion of the rope and perhaps in the metatheatrical comment to Tobe; so that these elements are as powerful as the body of the performer and its ironic gestures.


Sara Regina Fonseca

Review in the Swedish national dance magazine

The Swedish dans magazine (Danstidningen 5/2007) dedicates two pages to the festival Abundance and the piece Cumbia Kumbe.

On stage in the big square of Karlstad amongst autumn leaves and winds, Sara Regina Fonseca enchants with powerful Colombian pathos in Cumbia-Kumbé.

Ann-Marie Wrange

Read the full article (in Swedish)

Review in Göteborgs Posten

The Swedish news paper "Göteborgs Posten" writes about Cumbia Kumbé on Friday the 28th of March.

In circular movements and with inner force, Fonseca moves through situations about life and worship. With some pieces of textile she creates strong images and metamorphoses. Body and voice become a rythmical unity.

Lis Hellström-Sveningson (translated into English)