What Can a Body Do?

Emilia Wärff and Annika Vestel are spending two weeks at DansiT developing a new performance for children aged six to nine.

Both are professional dancers with the Gothenburg-based dance company Spinn.

The residency is part of Shifting the Stage, a collaboration between DansiT and Scenekunstbruket supporting professional and international artistic exchange for artists with disabilities, deaf and hard-of-hearing artists, and/or neurodivergent artists. The aim is to create new productions for young audiences.

“It’s been really, really wonderful. Truly. Such a positive environment,” says Emilia.

_{Emilia Wärff is a dedicated dance artist who works with the dance company Spinn in Gothenburg.}
_{All photos: Ingvil Snøfugl/DansiT}

A performance about different bodies

The performance does not have a title yet, but the idea is taking shape. A key source of inspiration is a Swedish children’s book Emilia had as a child.

“It was about different people and bodies – a girl without arms, children who use wheelchairs, someone who is fat, and another person who has many things but is still not happy. The message was that we are all different,” she says.

_{Emilia Wärff (right) and Annika Vestel are developing a children’s performance at DansiT’s Svartlamon premises. Here, they show the children’s book that has inspired their work.}

Emilia sustained a spinal cord injury when she was five.

“For me, it wasn’t really that dramatic. Of course, I found it frustrating that I could no longer climb or do certain things. But the book had already given me an understanding that bodies can function in many different ways.”

Years later, Emilia unexpectedly met the author.

“That made me feel that this is meant to be,” she says.

The meeting inspired the artists to explore whether they could create a performance around some of the same themes.

_{DansiT visited last week to get an insight into the project. Here, DansiT’s artistic and managing director, Arnhild Staal Pettersen, looks through the children’s book.}

Children’s curiosity

Emilia’s seven-year-old son is another source of inspiration. His friends often ask her questions about her body and wheelchair.

“This shows that children and young people have a great need to know more,” she says.

Annika sees this curiosity as something positive.

“Children have a genuine curiosity. It’s playful and positive. Maybe we can help capture this desire to understand more about what is possible with a body, and how bodies can be so different.”

_{Stine Nilsen, artistic and managing director of Dansens Hus, was also in Trondheim to provide artistic guidance to the dancers.}

From idea to performance

The artists are still at an early stage, collecting images and words and exploring the world of the performance.

One idea is a post office.

“My brain can send many letters to my legs, but they never arrive. They go to the wrong address. There’s something very beautiful about the letter,” says Emilia.

Their first goal is a work-in-progress performance at Showbox at Dansens Hus in Oslo in November.

“The first goal is to create a performance. Then the book will be a bonus,” Emilia says.

For the artists, developing their own project together is both exciting and challenging.

“We’ve never done a project together before. We’re free. It’s both scary and incredibly exciting,” says Annika.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity. We want children to see different perspectives. That’s what we’re working towards,” says Emilia.

_{Images and words are being used to take the development of the dance performance further.}

More role models

For Emilia, the project is also about showing that a professional career in dance is possible for people with disabilities.

“Many people still don’t know that this is a possible path. We need more role models.”

FACTS:
Shifting the Stage is a Nordic-Scottish project supported by Nordisk kulturkontakt and Nordisk kulturfond. It is a collaboration between the performing arts festivals Bibu (Sweden), Bravo (Finland), Edinburgh International Children’s Festival (Scotland), and Showbox (Norway).