fifty ways to leave a shape
- IN2IT
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Navigating change through the body
Fifty Ways to Leave a Shape is a personal solo performance by dance artist Siri Jøntvedt (NO). The work explores the experience of having to say goodbye to a part of the body – specifically two worn-out hip joints. It is a profound and transformative experience that can open up a new way of facing life.
For a dancer, this also involves a shift in perspective and influences artistic expression. Through song, film, text and dance, the audience is invited on a poetic and intimate journey. How can bodily changes be carried forward into life? How can we surrender to transformation? asks Siri Jøntvedt.
The performance reveals traces of what she has been through – and what lies ahead of her – and expresses a deep love for the movement.
Audience reactions:
"The communication with the audience is clear, warm and at the same time filled with emotion and nerve – as if something is at stake here and now. (…)"
“(…) Yet it is the experience of necessity and vulnerability that remains in the days after the performance, and which reminds me of the unique thing about witnessing genuine and solid, experience-based dance art.”
Background – Siri in her own words
The solo performance Fifty Ways to Leave a Shape was created in 2020, but it was never fully completed, although it was shown twice in the form it then had.
We were in the middle of the pandemic, and it was impossible to gather the entire team due to travel restrictions, cancellations, and constant changes.
At the same time, I was experiencing severe pain in my hips – pain that had been building up and gradually getting worse over several years. Over time, this took up a lot of my attention, drained my energy, and made me increasingly unable to function normally. I could barely walk.
It's brutal when you've been a dancer your whole life.
Finally, I realized I had to have surgery – go under the knife – and I was terrified. In 2021, I received two new artificial hip joints: the first on May 18th and the second on October 5th.
As my body has changed after the surgeries, the meaning of this performance has also changed. These have been turbulent years.
In parts of the performance, I use recordings I made three years ago of my mother playing the piano. She was a pianist, and she died in 2022.
I have also written texts during the process to put into words what I have been through. Two of these texts are part of the performance.
Watch the trailer here :
Credits:
Concept, choreography, text and performer: Siri Jøntvedt
Composer and sound designer: Gyrid Nordal Kaldestad
Outer Look and Sound ( Run That Body Down , P. Simon): Øyvind B. Lyse
Playwright and filmmaker: Darko Dragičević
Lighting design: Evelina Dembacke
Assistant: Amy Pender
Additional photo: Darko Dragičević
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