fifty ways to leave a shape
- IN2IT
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Mapping Change and Bodily Transformation
fifty ways to leave a shape is a personal solo performance by dance artist Siri Jøntvedt (NO), that explores the experience of having to say goodbye to a part of the body – more specifically, two worn-out hip joints. It is a profound and transformative experience that can lead to a new way of approaching life.
For a dancer, this also brings shifts 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, and expresses a deep love for 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. (…)
( ...)Nevertheless, it is the experience of necessity and vulnerability that remains in the days that follow the performance and which reminds me of the very own thing of witnessing genuinely and solidly, experiential 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, even though it was presented twice in its then current form.
Because we were in the middle of the pandemic, 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 worsening over several years. Eventually, this took up much of my focus, drained my energy, and made me increasingly dysfunctional. I could barely walk.
That is brutal when you have been a dancer your whole life.
In the end, I realised I had to undergo surgery—to go under the knife—and I was terrified.In 2021, I received two new artificial hip joints: the first on May 18 and the second on October 5.
As my body has changed since the surgeries, the meaning of this performance has also changed.These have been turbulent years.
In part 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 throughout the process in order to put into words what I have been going through. Two of these texts are included in the performance.
Watch the performance trailer here:
Credits:
Concept, choreography, text and performer: Siri Jøntvedt
Composer and sound designer: Gyrid Nordal Kaldestad
Outside eye and sound (Run That Body Down, P. Simon)Øyvind B. Lyse
Dramaturg and filmmaker: Darko Dragičević
Lighting design: Evelina Dembacke
Assistant: Amy Pender
Additional photography: Darko Dragičević
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