Tillsammans

Words from the choreographer

Everybody is sad. Sad people hurt other sad people. People love, people hate, people fight, people kill, people hope, people pray, people celebrate, people leave, people stay, people find each other, and then they leave because they are sad.

Sadness is a part of life, and we try to get away from it as if it isn’t one of the most fundamental aspects of our lived experience. Without our sadness, how would we know what happiness is?

Choreographic practices and stage work offer us the possibility to think and feel things together--to gather, to sit side-by-side with someone we know, or someone we don’t--and in doing so engage in one of the most sacred human rituals we have: witnessing.

We see ourselves when we witness other people being vulnerable about their human experiences. Humans learn by reproducing the patterns of their elders; babies learn to speak by mimicking the shape and sound of the mouths speaking around them. When we witness and imitate the behaviour of others, we create ourselves. And when we create ourselves, we generate the world.

But what kind of world do we want right now?

Right now, I feel particularly interested in making art that is fearless in addressing how dangerously close we are to descending into violence. What is particularly shocking to me is how the violence we witness in the public sphere, and on a global level, is actually an escalation of violence that exists within the intimacy of our own relationships and communities.

Sometimes our deep sadness clouds our ability to look at our neighbour, to dare to say, ‘I turn to you and I am hurting’ But I will turn to you nonetheless - to hope, to dare, that if you see me this way, you may also find yourself in me. And me in you.

I want to thank all of my collaborators and colleagues dearly for engaging with me on this incredible and enriching journey into an ambitious unknown. Specifically, I want to thank Felix Villiers, Erik Annerborn, Harry MacGibbon, Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura, and Luke Blair for standing by me and my vision on yet another show, and for their continued engagement with my crazy ideas and rigorous demands. I also want to thank the dancers of Norrdans who have brought so much of themselves, and their vulnerabilities, to my practice, teaching me so many valuable things about what it means to nosedive into sometimes difficult work, or feelings, to come out on the other side with a beautiful perspective on what it means to be human, and how to work together towards a common goal.

Finally, I want to thank the entire staff at Norrdans for giving me this incredible opportunity to choreograph a highly ambitious work in their home. I feel lucky to be able to do this and am honoured to have Norrdans be a stop on my journey as a choreographer and artist.

AIR BODY SAD is the 14th authored work by British-American choreographer Malik Nashad Sharpe, specifically made for the dancers of Norrdans. Working with the cinematic impulses within his choreographic practice, his interest in crafting horror and dark fantasy for the live context, and what is on the horizon. Sharpe has created a work that challenges audiences to bear witness to a certain degree of sadness, and conflict, in order to reflect on and gain insight into our lowest human moments.

// Malik Nashad Sharpe, choreographer