Eliisa Erävalo

Halla Ólafsdóttir

Bitch

Person sitting on their knee in a red lit stage room

Photo: Märta Thisner

We 3.3.2021, 20:00-21:00, MDT

Th 4.3.2021, 20:00-21:00, MDT

Fr 5.3.2021, 20:00-21:00, MDT

Sa 6.3.2021, 20:00-21:00, MDT

"Bitch" is the sequel to the dance performance "BITCHCRAFT" and is based on the practices we call bitchcrafting. Bitchcrafting is a form of activism that generates meeting places in the shape of performances and workshops. We see the theater as a place for rituals and we want to embody how women have exercised the social and cultural power they were otherwise denied through magic.

The bitch is an instigator, a fire-starter, a feisty and easily provoked character who is liable to attack first and ask questions later. She sees herself as trying to help, rescuing the world from its madness by imposing her sense of magic upon it. She has enormous energy and unleashes her fire when interfering with dark forces. The bitches power is strong but not hostile, she is loud and has a voice that can cut through mountains. She loves to shake all her body parts and has a tendency towards overkill. The bitch practices bitchcrafting with her pack that she has an unbreakable bond with. Bitchcrafting is a human battery that generates sisterhood, caring and fearless togetherness.

"Bitch" is a one- on – one solo performance that invites the audience member on a journey through a world of distorted images, sound and movement. The Bitch works through rituals of healing and resistance, a resistance to the ongoing practise of controlling the female body. "Bitch" wants to blur the boundaries between the audience and the stage. A performance that  simultaneously undresses and dresses up-  exploring the power of the gaze between the performer and an audience.

Eliisa Erävalo and Halla Ólafsdóttir are two Stocholm based choreographers and dancers. Their collaboration is based on friendship and a common interest in, through contemporary dance, creating a human battery that generates sisterhood, care and togetherness. Together they have worked with i.e: "Dorte Olesen in The Bad", "The Good and The Ugly" (2011), "BITCHCRAFT" (2017) and hosted workshops with the Cullberg Ballet (2018) and at The Iceland University of the arts (2019).  Eliisa and Halla are currently working on the dance performances "Bitch" (2021) and "Granddaughters" (2022).

Eliisa Erävalo

Eliisa Erävalo is a Finnish choreographer and dancer based in Stockholm. Eliisa has a long history of work both as a solo artist and in different kind of collaborations around Europe and in Sweden. She always explores and works with the concept of "Support" in her different tasks.

Eliisas choreographic work contains two "clouds". She has a deep interest in making art in public spaces and has created a work series of interventions on streets. She does this work alone. It is a part of her research in the idea of a porous body and the experience of intuition. Mostly Eliisa works in collaborations and with dance. One of her focuses there is to further intersectional feminism and a non-binary society.

The work Eliisa has lately been doing elaborates different concept pairs as outside-inside, technology-nature, materia-spirit and winner-loser. She wants to understand how we build togetherness and form strategies in life. Even in that she wants to create space and focus attention to that which we cannot put into words. Eliisa has worked as a dancer at the London Royal Opera House with Freddie Opoku-Addaie, toured with Dorte Olesen, Gui Garrido and Sidney Leoni and worked with many other choreographers.

Read More →

Halla Ólafsdóttir

Halla Ólafsdóttir is a dancer and choreographer with an MA in choreography from Stockholm University of the Arts (formerly DOCH). She works collectively in various constellations, looking for ways to expand the notion of choreography. A big part of her work revolves around recognisable material from art and pop culture, which she uses to explore what happens when set in another context.  She often makes use of convention and cliché, trying to find working methods that break and erase. For Halla, the meeting between the artist and audience beyond the stage is very important, and through her artistic work she has focused on building structures to provide feedback, both among artists, but also between the audience and practitioners.

Halla has been touring with Amanda Apetrea with the pieces DEAD (2017) and Beauty and the Beast, which won the Prix Jardin d’Europe Awards at ImpulsTanz in 2013. Sälkvinnorna (Seals) (2023) is the duo's latest work. Halla is part of the collective Samlingen, a choreographic project where a common interest in choreography and feminism is intertwined with the history of dance, together with other practitioners and the audience. Samlingen changes from place to place and has so far worked at Cullberg, the Postdance conference, the Works at work festival in Copenhagen and at Riksteatern (The Swedish National Touring Theatre). 

Halla experiments with various forms and expressions, and finds inspiration in different art forms. She played the lead role in the feature film Under Influence by Sidney Leoni and will play in the upcoming FLY by Leoni, as well as in a new film directed by Ester Martin Bergsmark, A Sweetness From Nowhere. Halla and choreographer Eliisa Erävalo have developed the workshop BITCHCRAFT which was held with Cullberg and with Iceland Art Academy. Together, they have created the works Bitch (2021) and Granddaughters (2022).  With Erna Ómarsdóttir Halla is currently working with their piece Romeo <3 Juliet (nominated for “DER FAUST Awards” 2019)  with Iceland Dance Company, and with a new work called The Juliet Duet (2022).

Read More →

Music and sound design

Light Design

Costume

Photography

Producer

Mariana Suikkanen Gomes, MDT

Co-production

MDT and Turteatern

Administration

Supported by

The Swedish Arts Council, Swedish Arts Grants Comittee, Region Stockholm, City of Stockholm

Special thanks to

Teater Galeasen

Show More