Ingun Bjørnsgaard

Following the establishment of IBP, Ingun Bjørnsgaard rapidly distinguished herself as a true innovator in the world of Scandinavian dance. Her productions soon won several international prizes, which drew attention to her work in many European countries.

A salient characteristic of Ingun Bjørnsgaard’s choreographic style is an articulated interaction between classic and modern dance. Her play with genres allows an analytical dimension to emerge – a free framework, in which the scenic identities of the dancers hover between given characters and those of unveiled private lives.

In many of her works, mythical female characters are presented. These characters are liberated from their original stories and are thus given the opportunity to elaborate their own personal complexity. At times, the choreography seems to convey a narrative, but the dramatic situations are constantly interrupted by choreographic passages or by a dancer stepping out of character and catching sight of something outside the given, fictive situation.

Bjørnsgaard’s dance pieces cannot be called purely abstract. Neither can they be described as narrative. Rather, they may be regarded as scenic rooms, situated beyond a normal, causal time frame. The response on her performances in Norway and abroad has been that Bjørnsgaard’s choreographies are both very skilled and highly innovatory.

The autumn of 2010 Ingun Bjørnsgaard was rewarded Norwegian Critics' Award for dance, for the production Largo. With this Bjørnsgaard became the first choreographer to have received this award twice, as she also got it for Sleeping Beauty in 1995. She has been central within Norwegian dance with Ingun Bjørnsgaard Prosjekt since the early 1990es.

Sidsel Pape said the following, among other things, in her speech to Ingun Bjørnsgaard, held as part of the awards ceremony for Norwegian Critics' Award for dance 2009/2010, September 30 2010 at The House of Literature in Oslo:

"In a time when more contemporary dance choreographers test works with large companies, Bjørnsgaard shows that she masters the format, as well as performances in solos, duos and trios. When 18 dancers create an apparent state of chaos in Largo, a well-considered composition step forward, one in which the choreographer's eye for the individual and the group is taken carefully care of. Bjørnsgaard excellently balances power and fragility, humour and melancholy in quick transformations, unexpected and unpredictable. The production towers above other choreography performed in Norwegian venues the period of 2009/2010.

Bjørnsgaard's musicality creates dynamic interaction between music and movement. The music is, as in several of Bjørnsgaard's former productions, composed by Per Henrik Svalastog. Baroque music by Bach, Telemann, Goebel, Händel and others has also been used."

Read the speech in full (Norwegian only) here.

Sources:

BIT Teatergarasjen, Oktoberdans 2010. 07.11.2010: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no/article/369

Norwegian Critics'Association, kritikerlaget.no, 29.09.2011, http://www.kritikerlaget.no/pages/nor/540-dansekritikerprisen_20092010_til_ingun_bjoernsgaard

1982 – 1985 The National Academy of Ballet, Oslo

1985 – 1987 Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance

• Performing Arts Hub Norway - Member of board (from 1990 to 1992)
• Ingun Bjørnsgaard Prosjekt - Artistic director
• Zakraz Dansekompani - Artistic director (from 1987 to )

• Norwegian Critics' Award 2009/2010 - Norwegian Critics' Award (dance)
• Kritikerprisen 1994/95 - Dansekritikerprisen