Voluspå

Five dancers and four musicians come together in Hallgrim Hansegård’s new performance VOLUSPÅ. With powerful movement, live music, puppetry and a contemporary take on Norse wisdom, the ensemble creates a universe where tradition and the present meet on stage.

FRIKAR is one of Norway’s most innovative dance companies, known for combining acrobatic folk dance with contemporary expression. With tours in more than 30 countries and critically acclaimed work, they bring a rare energy to the stage – where tradition, nature and the present merge into a unique audience experience. Voluspå is their first production to use puppetry.

The poem Voluspå
“Listen to me, all you holy beings.”

This is how the medicine woman begins her story in the poem Voluspå. Everyone is holy, and everything is connected.

By listening closely to nature and culture, she sees what is to come, and she warns against climate crisis, division and exclusion. Voluspå is one of the oldest and most central poems in Norse mythology.

Through the wisdom of a seeress – a völva – it tells of the creation of the world, the fate of humankind and the gods. The poem explores the interconnections of life, the forces of nature and the place of human beings in the universe, and has been an important part of the Nordic cultural heritage for over a thousand years.

Over a thousand years later, FRIKAR gives this ancient poem new life as a dance performance. With five dancers and four musicians, the audience is invited into a world where folk dance, Viking wrestling and old folk instruments meet contemporary composition and new research.

Choreographer Hallgrim Hansegård lets the poem’s wisdom unfold through body, rhythm and sound, showing what we today can learn from ancient knowledge of nature.

Language: Non-verbal
Duration: 1 hour

The performance is presented in collaboration with Bærum Kulturhus and Heddadagene.

About the choreographer
Hallgrim Hansegård (b. 1980) is a Norwegian choreographer, dancer and entrepreneur who has brought halling dance and Norwegian folk dance to international attention. His works have been shown in more than 30 countries, have sparked debate – including censorship in Italy – and have reached a large audience digitally. He founded the dance company FRIKAR in 2006, opening new spaces for dancers within halling, breaking, capoeira and contemporary circus. Hansegård is also behind the Frikar Academy, the talent programme FRIKAR X and several development projects in Valdres.

Original idea and concept: Hallgrim Hansegård
Choreography and music: Hallgrim Hansegård
Co-creating dancers: Julianne Solli, Jon Filip Fahlstrøm, Marnie Fiebig, Naomi Bratthammer, Mathias Engelstad
Co-creating musicians: Synnøve Brøndbo Plassen, Esther Thunander, Jacob Hee Lund, Bjarne Kvinnsland
Sound design: Bjarne Kvinnsland
Puppet maker and puppetry coach: Pascale Blaison
Costume design: Line Maher
Lighting design: Gard Gitlestad
Producer: Kirsti Buchanan Ulvestad

Co-producers: Bærum Kulturhus – Dans Sørøst-Norge, Figurteatret i Nordland, Sprang – Landsdelsscene for dans, Fjelldansen and the talent programme FRIKAR X.

The production is funded with support from Kulturdirektoratet v/Norsk kulturråd, Regionalt kulturfond – Innlandet, Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, Talent Norge and Innlandet County Municipality.