Norwegian Critics' Award 2011/2012

Excerpt from speech by Guri Pahle Glad during the awards ceremony for Norwegian Critics' Award (dance) 2011/2012 at The House of Literature in Oslo September 27 2012.

"This year the award goes to an eminent dance artist of the female sex who has for fourteen years delighted her audience in the old opera house in Youngstorget and in the new, grand in Bjørvika. After graduating from the ballet school of The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, The National Academy of Ballet and the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York, she became an aspirant in The Norwegian National Ballet in 1998–2000 when led by Dinna Bjørn, and since then she has been a member with many great roles in her repertoire.

Her first leading role was as Lucy Westenra in Gable and Pink's brutal ballet Dracula after the start of Espen Giljane's time as artistic director for the ballet the autumn of 2002. Since then there has been a number of leading roles within the classic and modern repertoire. I can mention a heap: Clara and the sugar plum fairy in Dinna Bjørn's The Nutcracker, Aurora in Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, the title role of Stevenson's Cinderella, Juliet in Corder's Romeo and Juliet, the title role of Coralli/Perrot's Giselle and Odette/Odile in Eventyret om Svanesjøen* (The Fairytale about Swan Lake) which is a pedagogic mini version of Swan Lake, performed for school pupils and other interested.

She has danced leading parts in Tetley's, Balanchine's and Kylián's works and also in the Norwegian choreographers Jo Strømgren's and Ingun Bjørnsgaard's work, Suite (Strømgren) and Standard Arabesque (Bjørnsgaard), which were both created for today's award winner. Two years ago she danced the role of Blanche in John Neumeier's strong ballet A Streetcar Named Desire and by several critics she was praised to the heavens for her strong interpretation of Blanche. But a Norwegian Critics' Award she was not given then.

But today Eugenie Skilnand will finally get her Norwegian Critics' Award for the interpretation of Marie in the ballet Woyzeck by the German choreographer Christian Spuck, who is resident choreographer for Stuttgart Ballet in Stuttgart. It was danced by The Norwegian National Ballet last year, with two casts doing the main parts."

Excerpt from speech by Therese Bjørneboe during the awards ceremony for Norwegian Critics' Award (theatre) 2011/2012, at The House of Literature in Oslo September 27 2012:

"There is a particular delight in giving the award to a company that to such a high degree gives the impression of functioning as an artistic collective. The core of De Utvalgte consists of director Kari Holtan, actor Torbjørn Davidsen, video artist Boya Böckmann, and dramaturge Anne Holtan. But actors such as Randi Rommetveit, Kari Onstad, Pelle Ask and Jørgen Langhelle are to a high degree part of the project. In each part of the process, not least from the actors' side, the productions are highly personal.

The most obvious example The Art of Being Tamed breaks new ground, is the use of 3D video. The audience is equipped with cardboard glasses - like in the movies. When putting on the glasses the stage floor the video is projected on rises - like a hyper-realist, sculptural room, while the actors on the floor get out of focus. If one removes the glasses, the film projections become blurry. This way the spectators may choose and switch. And manipulate their own experiences.

The use of 3D contributes to making the spectators responsible, and this attitude to the audience is like a red thread in the production of De Utvalgte."