Hybrid Lab in Västerås with Crossing Motion

During the lab in Västerås in 2019, dancers and musicians created duets together where the role as the leading part was constantly in flow and alternated between the artists and their expressions. At the end of September 2020, three dancers from our Work ensemble and three musicians from Västmanlandsmusiken reunited to develop their duets at the Västerås Concert Hall.

However, nothing is the same during these times of a pandemic and we had to find new ways to have the choreographers – Wagner Moreira in Germany, and Charlotte Darbyshire in the UK – lead the lab together with musician Jonas Jonasson who was on site in Västerås. So, we had one lab leader on site (Jonas) and two were with us online (Wagner and Charlotte)!

Last year, the team worked with a starting point in questions like What is your artistic appetite? The food theme continued this time too with questions like What is the difference between being hungry and to feel an appetite for something?

Since Crossing Motion is a research project, researcher Annika Notér Hooshidar from Stockholm University of the Arts was there to capture the working process. All participants were given notebooks to write down their thoughts and reflections. Or, if they wanted to, they could record themselves on the phone instead. Before we all separated again, we got to take part of the different dishes – though only in the world of dance and music.

Read more about Crossing Motion here!

This article was first published on October 13, 2020.

All photos: ShareMusic & Performing Arts