International Youth Dance Festival 2018
July 2018
In the summer of 2018 I travelled back to Macau, this time with Radix Dance Crew, to perform in the the International Youth Dance Festival. The festival is arranged biennially by the Macau Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and lasts for a whole week. Dance artists from all around the world show
contributions from their countries and promote dance art in different arenas of the city. Radix represent Norway in two different works, choreographed by myself and Lisa Marie Lunden, which portray Norwegian history.
In the first piece, we portray the tough and brute Vikings with both shields and weapons we have made from stratch.
In the second piece we take on one of the worst pandemics in our history, The Black Plague. Through this choreography we tell the story of Pesta, the Black Death itself in human form according to Norwegian folklore, and the time she visited Jostedalen. This piece is made by using experimental hip hop, which in this case is a fusion of hip hop and contemporary dance.
The festival had 17 international dance groups and 10 local, all of which performed on three different occasions. In addition to showing our own choreographies, all the groups learned choreographies that the festival organizers arranged.
An image series from the performances in Macau can be seen below.
One of the festival's goals is to build cross-border relations and cultural exchange. On that occasion, an internal workshop was held for all participants. Some of the dance groups held a two-hour workshop that they tailored to suit the festival. Radix was no exception. The choreographers in the project, Lisa Marie and myself, were the ones who held the workshop. The rest of Radix participated in other workshops in other parts of the building.
A big thanks to the organizers for the opportunity to participate, Olaf Andre Bakken for the help with the props, our costume designer Silje Marie Bunæs, and last but not least our escort during the week Charlotte.
