The Thief

In The Thief the audience is invited into a powerful space. A beautiful room has been altered, covered, destroyed and ruptured − by time and natural causes. Or is it a distortion of what we remember, of our actions propelled by the opposition between the body and the intellect, between drives and emotions? In this space, nature and culture are turned inside out and inhabited by several dozen crows.

Two women arrive − the eminent dance artists Line Tørmoen and Pia Elton Hammer. Both have a long working experience with zero visibility corp. and Carte Blance. In Ina Christel Johannessen’s work the dancers can shine but simultaneously illustrate the complexity of human life. The composition is built up around the physically visual and audible space and the actions of the dancers. Proximity and distance, strength and fragility exist side by side.

Ina Christel Johannessen is the artistic leader and choreographer of the Zero Visibility Corp, based in Oslo, Norway. The company makes an average of one production a year. They had their international breakthrough with it’s only a rehearsal in 2003, which has been performed on over a hundred occasions. In 2009 they are touring Europe with three works, and have an additional two productions under way for 09/10.

Ina is educated at the National College of Performing Arts in Oslo, where she now teaches choreography classes. A very important part of Ina’s artistic profile and work has been the close relationship with Carte Blanche, the national company of contemporary dance in Norway, where she since 1992 has created 12 full-evening works. Ina has also worked with several international companies and institutions: Helsinki City Dance Company, The Royal Swedish Opera, Scottish Dance Theatre, Iceland Dance Company, The National Theatres in Oslo and Bergen, Dance and Theatre Academy of Helsinki/Finland, and the National College of Performing Arts in Oslo/Norway.

In 2010 she will premier three new creations; for zero visibility, for Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg and Carte Blanche.