About MDT

A Brief History

MDT (Stiftelsen Moderna Dansteatern) was founded in 1986 by choreographer Margaretha Åsberg and inaugurated with the premiere of Åsberg's dance performance “Yucatan”.

Located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, MDT is housed in a former Torpedo workshop built in 1880. At this time Skeppsholmen was a military island and the building was used for constructing and testing torpedoes. 

By the 1980s, the building (as well as Skeppsholmen as a whole) had been reinvented as a site for various cultural activities. 

Margaretha Åsberg served as MDT’s Artistic Director for nearly twenty years, from 1986 to 2004. Since then, Christina Molander, Danjel Andersson and most recently Anna Efraimsson (since 2020) have all held the position of Theatre Director (i.e. a role that combines both Artistic Director and Operations Manager).

Our Vision

MDT is a co-production platform and one of Sweden’s leading venues for contemporary choreography and performance. We are situated in a reconstructed torpedo workshop on the island of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm and our facilities include one main stage and two studios. 

We co-produce, host and present both international and Sweden based dance artists with the aim of providing space for both artists and audiences to develop, discuss and experiment within contemporary dance and choreography. 

Our aim is not only to preserve and support the future of dance but also to present and platform the cutting edge of dance today, giving space to dance artists and choreographers to experiment, find new collaborations and develop their practice. We hold a contemporary and progressive view of dance where courage, criticism and pluralism are central.

MDT manages and strengthens the theatre as a base and workplace for independent dance artists for, among other things, consultancy, residencies, concerts, tours and co-productions. MDT is a workplace with knowledge of freelance dance artists' working conditions and with a mediating role in spreading knowledge about dance and choreography as artistic practice and theoretical discourse. In this way, MDT works for the interests of the art of dance even outside its own organisation.

MDT wants to create an open place where different audiences feel welcome. MDT is a learning organisation and has broad representation among employees, which we consider to be both a matter of fairness and quality. Power-critical approaches permeate the organisation and its program activities.

About MDT

MDT (Moderna Dansteatern) is a theatre with a focus on dance and choreography and is located on the island of Skeppsholmen, in the middle of the city of Stockholm.

MDT is a foundation and independent organiser. As per our statutes, written in 1987, our aim is "to provide a basis and opportunity for the development and survival of the future of the art of dance. The foundation shall be an open stage forum for non-institutional active choreographers and dancers, be a guest performance stage for groups in and outside Stockholm, work for Nordic and international cooperation through, among other things, guest performances, work to profile and strengthen the position of the art of dance through an active and varied programme and provide opportunity for a new audience to take part in modern dance art.”

MDT today consists of an office, a stage with a capacity for 120 people in the audience, and two studios, which are primarily used for rehearsals and residencies, but also occasionally as public venues.

The Board hires a Theatre Director for four years at a time. The current manager since 2020 is Anna Efraimsson. The Moderna Dansteatern Foundation receives support from Kulturrådet, Stockholm City, the Culture Administration Stockholm County, Creative Europe (EU), the Benny Andersson Foundation and the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. MDT has a sponsor agreement with the PR/communications agency NOI.

MDT presents and co-produces dance and choreography, primarily contemporary and experimental dance. We co-produce international and Sweden-based artists, receive international and local guest performances and arrange varied public gatherings such as symposia and festivals. Our yearly programme is organised in two seasons. The first season usually begins in February and ends in June, with the Lustholmen festival, and the second season runs from September to December.

By contemporary dance we mean not only the genre that has come to be called contemporary but also other expressions, which are additionally dance expressions that work in the present. We also work with other art forms such as poetry, film and music. Programming is done by theatre director Anna Efraimsson in consultation with the artistic council, which consists of people from the MDT staff. Additionally, we collaborate with independent and external curators who we invite to curate and execute programs. Amongst other things, this injects more perspectives into the theatre’s overall programming by including more voices.

In addition to a programme for the stage, we host an Off Stage programme that consists of various talks, texts, study and reading circles and more. Here there are also workshops and similar events aimed at artists; we have a feedback format for artists to get feedback on their work and we have a collaboration with Reading edge, which is a library housed in MDT's foyer and dedicated to publications in dance, choreography and movement-based practices.

We see that the concept of audience is pluralistic, i.e. rather than everyone having to go all out, we work to welcome different audiences depending on which performance is on show. Through our new "pay-what-you-can" ticket policy, we hope to lower the thresholds so that more people can come and enjoy dance and choreography.

Residencies are central to MDT's operations and we have residencies all year round in our two studios, and also on stage for premieres of local co-productions. In this way, MDT is also a workplace for dance artists.

Central to our work with artists and performances, we co-produce, both Sweden-based and international. Our co-production model includes financial support, residency, technicians and producer time. In 2022, we also released a report on co-production. We also programme guest shows, both international and local.

We work with independent producers, who are affiliated with MDT. MDT is a producer hub - a hub for competences, knowledge and experience in terms of production, touring and international work.

The international dimension is important in our operations. We are involved in several international projects and networks and we work with networks such as Slingan (a national  network made up of us, Atalante in Gothenburg and Dansstationen in Malmö) to ensure that artists have the opportunity to tour their work.