”(…) Henrik Kaalunds choreography, slicing arms and vast implosions, merge powerfully into one another. The quartets are skilfully created (..) „4“ is beautifully directed, impressively performed and shines with emotional integrity.“
Anthony Psaila, onlne review of 4, The Place 17.02.2007
„This hour-long elegant mix of dance, language, drama, music and film seems like the perfect hip pop song. DreaMe is being booked internationally, is being appreciated, a crowd-pleaser.“
Kreiszeitung Bremen, review of DreaMe – 20.06.2012
”(.,.) Choreographer and Stage-Designer, Henrik Kaalund, stimulates his audience by means of tricks and tweaks to express their emotions and to boldly take a stance.(…) The performance pure is a pleasure in itself. (...).“
Stadtanzeiger Dortmund, review of aus.der.fremde – 02.02.2000
Henrik Kaalund
Henrik Kaalund* is a freelance choreographer and dancer.
In his work he likes to question our perception of realities: real or just play, true or made-up? While focussing on movement, he allows the audience to enter into an immersive experience, which brings them into contact with various forms of reality. Doubt, pleasure and anger are some of the emotional states which he reflects upon in his work, while at the same time asking social questions.
In Kaalund’s work physical expression is brought to the fore and movement is given its own dramaturgy. Sometimes focus is given to a certain material or a particular prop. In this way pictures and fragments are created, which then offer a surface for reflection and thus let Kaalund’s performative work become events, which in turn are re-formed by the audience’s perception. Additionally, in his current work, Kaalund intentionally makes references to earlier works.
* Henrik Kaalund trained at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart and at the David Howard School of Dance, New York. He subsequently danced for Cleveland Ballet, Arizona, Ballet Basel and Ballet Dortmund among others, working with choreographers such as Rui Horta, Amanda Miller, Thorsten Kreissig, Jean Renshaw and many others. He danced for and toured with Conny Janssen danst, Rotterdam, Jan Pusch, Hamburg, Felix Landauer, Hannover, Carlos Matos, Hildesheim, Peter de Ruiter, Amsterdam, co>labs and Curtis & Co., Nuremberg. Kaalund has choreographed for Dortmund Ballet, Ballet Greifswald, Ballet Hildesheim, Theatre Gießen as well as the State Theatre Saxonia and has received many accolades. In addition he offers workshops in choreography and imrovisation technique as well as classes in contemporary dance.
CURRENT PRODUCTIONs
Lost in Technology
Premiere: March 21st 2024 I Tafelhalle Nuremberg
You know the feeling: you've wasted many precious hours of your life on a piece of hardware or software that was supposed to help you or simply be fun. But it just doesn't work. You press or click on something and something unexpected happens, or nothing at all and you're not sure if you've done something wrong or if there's something wrong with it. And it doesn't even make sense to be angry at the machinery, because it's not alive.
In addition to a person's individual involvement with more or less functioning technical devices, there is always a threat from the outside when dealing with technology in today's networked world. As soon as you reveal something about yourself, you surrender yourself to technology to a certain extent - and this inevitably raises the question of what you would prefer to keep to yourself and why. In "Lost in Technology", dancer Henrik Kaalund and his team want to get to the bottom of different ways of being lost in the world of technology through dance and thus make them reflectable: from being lost in playing with the infinite possibilities, to the frustration when technology doesn't work the way you want it to, to being at the mercy of the threat of losing your most private secrets through hacking and data espionage. With its physicality, dance manages to convey these experiences and feelings in a particularly impressive way.
www.lostintechnology.de
Lost in Technology is a co-production with Tafelhalle Nürnberg, was funded by the City of Nuremberg, the City of Fürth and Kulturstiftung of the Sparkasse Nürnberg. This project is also made possible by the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance (BLZT) with funds from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, supported by Tanzzentrale Region Nürnberg e.V.
ArchivE
DreaMe Reloaded
Premiere: September 2022 I Tafelhalle Nuremberg
Who are you? - Who do you want to be? - Who will you be?
In search of answers to these questions, the protagonist takes the audience into an overwhelming flood of demands and information that is typical of today's media society. A dichotomy arises between reality and wishful thinking. It seems tempting to escape into virtual worlds that seem to offer the the possibility of assuming different identities or even genders. Particular attention is also paid to the ideals of achievement and beauty suggested to us by the media. How do I behave in the face of this increasing pressure to perform? The dancer moves through the various levels of the real stage space and interacts with her "alternative selves" on a video wall.
The original "DreaMe" was produced in Berlin in 2009 and premiered there at the
Tacheles theatre. More than 13 years have passed since the first production, but the subject matter has become even more topical and many new possibilities have arisen in terms of technology and content. have emerged. As part of the re:festival (Tafelhalle Nuremberg), a newly adapted was shown.
A co-production with the Tafelhalle in the KunstKulturQuartier, funded by the City of Nuremberg. This project was made possible by the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance (BLZT) with funds from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts. Supported by Tanzzentrale Region Nürnberg. e.V.
The Matter of Fact
Three-piece format
Premiere: May/July/December 2021 I Tafelhalle Nuremberg
„The Matter of Fact“ is a dance performance about media coverage. The main part constitutes an artistic research period of several months, in which themes and standpoints are researched in an online exchange with the audience. In the forefront lies a study of varying interpretations of headlines and the differing realities which can rise out of these interpretations. From this research short choreographies are created day by day, which are put together to culminate in a performance – live and via online stream – in part directed by the audience.
Interested individuals are invited to follow the development process on a website, especially created for the project, and encouraged to provide their own input. In the blog one can see how the work is developing and in the forum people can take part in discussions about various subjects.
www.thematteroffact.de
This project was supported by the Tafelhalle Nuremberg in Kunstkulturquartier and Tanzzentrale of the Nuremberg Region; financially supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste #takeaction with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as part of the initiative NEW START FOR CULTURE and by the City of Nuremberg.
