What is a classic? Fine and ugly, ugly is fine, and up is also down if you’re hanging by the backs of your knees from a tree branch.
In this summer edition of Piano Favorites med Norrdans, Martin Forsberg explores taste and aesthetics. An international ensemble joins forces with a classical pianist in a performance where dance meets some of the most overplayed repertoire ever written, in complete earnestness: Für Elise, the Moonlight Sonata, Aria from the Goldberg Variations.
Music and dance intertwine with a stream of text written by Rebecka Berchtold. Expect a celebration of high and low culture, music and dance history, beauty and ugliness, all fused into a jubilant mix. Norrdans creates an anarchic carnival of dance.
“For me, the work is an overflow of grand emotions: sticky romanticism, delusions of grandeur, intense listening, and idol worship. It’s a cavalcade of dances set to some of the most overplayed pieces in classical piano music. We want to bring them down from their pedestal, but at the same time, we want to listen closely, again and again and again.” says Rebecka Berchtold.
The performance received the Svenska Teaterkritikers Förenings Barn- och Ungdomsteaterpris in 2021 and was selected for Scenkonstbiennalen 2022.
A trailer for the stage version of Piano Favorites with Norrdans can be viewed here.
