Marcus Baldemar

GALDR

Marcus Baldemar performing GALDR

Photo: John Artur.

Mo 27.7.2020, 20:00-21:00, MDT

In the pre-christian north vikings believed in many gods and practiced magic. Their practice of magic was called sejd. Depending on who you ask, a galdr was a magical song or a chant and part of the sejd. Some believe these galdrs were used in battle in order to weaken the enemies swords and lower their shields or to help a woman through childbirth. Some believe that these songs were sung in a high pitched voice because the word gala, meaning falsetto, derives from galdr. Some believe it was chanted on a low almost inaudible tone.

There are many theories about the viking’s culture, customs and general way of life, but we can know very little for sure. Christianity did, has always done, a very thorough, bloody and effective job at erasing cultures. However a general consensus among experts and researchers seem to be that practising sejd was a female profession and any non-female who practiced it was deemed ergi. Ergi can be translated to "unmanly" and "sexually shameful".

At the same time, Odin, the all-father, the god of war and the dead but also poetry, is considered the greatest sejdare (practitioner of magic). They knows 18 powerful galdrs and they can shape shift.

Odin is the one who experiences and the experience. They is the subject and the object, the one who gives and the one who receives. They has many names: Svidur, the one who burns. Svidrir, the one who is burned. Göt, the one who ejaculates. Jalk, the castrated. Ofnir, the initiator. Sváfnir, the finisher. Tveggi, the one who is two. Triggi, the one who is three. Fjolnir, the one who is many.

I’d rather be beautiful than male

I am the eternal seeker of wisdom

Because I’d rather be wise than male

I remain tender and soft

Because I’d rather be soft than male

– Marc Aguhar

This performance is a collaboration with Proud Performing Arts, initiated by Scensverige/Swedish ITI. Proud Performing Arts is a global network that aims to empower, encourage and elevate performing arts with a LGBTQ+ perspective and artists working with the matter. The network is a platform for solidarity and inspiration and strives to bring forward the different conditions for LGBTQ+ people all around the world.

Marcus Baldemar

Marcus Baldemar (1985), born and raised in Kiruna, works as a dancer and choreographer and for the past 14 years has worked as a freelancer in the field of performing arts based in Europe. He was trained at the Ballet Academy in Umeå, SEAD in Salzburg, Austria and P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, Belgium. Marcus has collaborated with a number of choreographers as a dancer and/or as a co-creator. As a choreographerhe has created the works GALDR (2019), Polari Speaking Sex (2021) and Markus Lär Sig Finska (2021).

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Choreography

Performers

Co-production

Dans i Nord

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MDT Moderna Dansteatern

Support

The project is made with support from Dans i Nord and Swedish Arts Council. This presentation is part of Life Long Burning – Towards a sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe project (2018-2022) supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

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Life Long BurningCreative Europe Programme