Before Long

Before long by Carte Blanche was a celebration of Therese Skauge's career.

In 2004, Therese Skauge was awarded the Norwegian Critics' Award for her participation in Ina Christel Johannessen's I lie, I speak.

When she stepped down after 18 years as a dancer, in 2008, Carte Blanche celebrated her career with Before long, a new creation by the Bergen choreographer, and former Carte Blanche dancer, Alan Lucien Øyen. Also participating in the piece was the Danish dancer Philip Schmidt, making it his first performance with Carte Blanche.

At Winter Guests' webpage the following is written about Before Long:

"With text and dance by Alan Lucien Øyen and 16mm film shot by Norwegian filmmaker Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen, Before Long centres on the end of a relationship between two people. The end, or perhaps the moment we realise the end - the beginning of the end.

In Before Long the auditorium is turned sideways and the audience follows the two performers on a shallow stage in-front of a super-wide-screen canvas. The film and text are reflections on the subjects of loss and endings.

Before Long talks about the end. Or perhaps the moment we realise the end. (The beginning of the end). When you sense that your daughter will let go of your hand. When you realise that you’ll have to toss that old plant. That the pizza won't arrive. The beginning of the end is the transition from one scene to another. The last hot day before autumn. The transition from being together to being alone. When does this loneliness commence? When do we first realise that we are getting old? The beginning of the end is the moment you sit across from the one you love the most and say, 'I miss you, and I’m afraid now'. Is it not already with the first kiss that we slowly start to drift apart? Like ships into the darkness. We are born to die alone. And no matter how close we feel one another, perhaps it is like with the stars in the sky: they glow above us even though most of them went out a long, long time ago."

Sources:

BIT Teatergarasjen, Oktoberdans 2008 . 12.08.2010: http://www.bit-teatergarasjen.no -arkiv

Winter Guests, 12.08.2010: http://www.winterguests.com/public/winterguests_productions_before_long.html

Melanie Fieldseth, Bergens Tidende [Bergen, Norway]:

"The vast distance creates an immediate sense of time passing, and ceasing to exist, in one spatial moment."

Charlotte Myrbråten, Bergensavisen, [Bergen, Norway]:

"Before Long is a beautifully composed performance compiled of non-hierarchical elements. The music, the images, the monologues and the dance are as important elements.(...) The acting is clear, sentimental, loving and melancholic."