When Monday came is not only an intellectual endeavour with nature’s rage, but also a deeply existential crisis that we are facing. What do we do now? The warnings have never been more apparent. We do not need more proof that something has gone terribly wrong. While driving through Australia artistic director and choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen asked herself: What happens to people when their environment burns down? What can possibly come out of a burning site? What kind of fundamental change is the destruction caused by fire representing in terms of human conditions?

These are some of the questions that she and her dancers and artistic collaborators are investigating in this performance. It is not just a question of the philosophy of the matter but the real conditions – the factual impact of the burning itself — the vision, the sound, the smell. And, of course there is the body. But the body plays both an active and passive part. It can of course die but also escape, survive, make a difference, and even change the order of things within the course of events.

So, what are the possible human consequences of an encompassing fire? Merely destruction? A new possibility? Change? When there is a fire, there are ashes. In some cultures, ashes is a source of cleansing – a connection to another life. It represents nature in a changing situation. The challenge is to bring this fundamental condition of both destruction and new life into an aesthetic frame. And who or what is Monday? Just another day? The name of a child hence the future? But how can the devastating results of a fire be so tragic and beautiful at the same time? Part of the story is that tragedy is not the accident that occurs but the recognition that it is man’s destiny.

Ina Christel Johannessen is one of Norway’s most renowned choreographers – a true pioneer. With her company zero visibility corp, established in 1996, she thrills audiences world-wide. She is as a choreographer as capable of charming audiences with her art as she is at making them squirm uncomfortably in their seats. Her choreographies explore opposites that are constantly changing. One hundred percent physical, and full of both energy and poetry.

Ambiguous is my favourite word. I want to put opposites on stage, something that may seem strong, turns out to be very fragile, or the other way. Something beautiful changes to ugly, or dangerous, just like we humans are. We are all filled with different qualities, emotions, experiences, needs, some of them we don’t like or don’t want to show, but they are there. I have an ambition to create an ambivalent pleasure in the audience. They are entertained, but simultaneously the images are displaced in a slightly disturbing way.

choreography: Ina Christel Johannessen
composer: Tommy Jansen
scenography: Åsmund Færavaag
dancers: Ole Willy Falkhaugen, Hugo Marmelada, Dorotea Saykaly, Camilla Spidsøe, Ole Kristian Tangen, Line Tørmoen
musician: Tommy Jansen
costumes: Ina Christel Johannessen
light design: Daniel Kolstad Gimle
sound: Morten Pettersen
touring manager: Silvia Aiuvalasit
produced by Zero Visibility Corp
co-produced by Dansens Hus, Oslo; La Briqueterie, Paris; Fabbrica Europa, Florence
Zero Visibility Corp. is supported by Arts Council Norway
with the support of Norway Embassy in Rome

[photo: Yaniv Cohen]