Want to contribute to the making of a performing artwork? The Proximity Project is looking for participants from Fredrikstad and the surrounding area for free workshops!

The Proximity Project is a project that explores human capacity for proximity and presence. It is run by dancers Live Skullerud and Karen Høybakk Mikalsen. As part of the residency at Østfold Internasjonale Teater this autumn, they are now inviting participants to their development of the work:

Who

The workshop is open to participants of all ages from 16 years and up. No prior knowledge or experience of dance is required. The organisers welcome a diverse range of people for a safe, non-discriminatory experience.

When and where

• Saturday 30. September and Sunday 1. October
  12-15 pm both days
  Østfold International Theatre
  Dokka 3a, 1671 Kråkerøy

• Saturday 18. November and Sunday 19. November
  12-15 pm both days
  Frivillighuset
  Kasernegaten 52, 1632 Gamle Fredrikstad

Registration

It is possible to sign up for just one or both weekends.

How

Over the course of two days, participants will be guided through various exercises that focus on body awareness, presence and interaction. The exercises vary from play to meditation, from dance to silence, from distance to physical contact. There will be room for both laughter and inner peace! The project works on opening up the senses, landing in oneself and listening to others. Exercises are carried out alone, in groups and in pairs. The workshop ends with time for conversation and reflection on what you have experienced.

The workshops will mainly take place indoors, with the possibility of bringing the work with some of the exercises outside. Please contact us if you have any questions about the possibility of organising the workshop for different functional variations.

Contact information

If you have any questions about the project or the workshop, please contact
Live Skullerud: +47 95 97 76 31, liveskullerud@outlook.com

About The Proximity Project

The Proximity Project is an artistic work in development, initiated by Live Skullerud. The aim is a performative practice for public space, with both participants from the local community and professional dancers as performers. In the performance, the performers’ bodies will become living monuments in the urban space, as a tribute to the present and present human being. The workshops this autumn are part of the process of developing the project into a finished performance – by participating, you will therefore have the opportunity to contribute to the making of this artwork!

In the spring of 2023, Live Skullerud and the Proximity Project were invited by Østfold International Theatre and curator-producer James Moore to participate in the IN SITU Hot House in Kosovo. IN SITU European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space is a network of artists and art institutions working with art in public space. The Hot House is a meeting place where IN SITU partners and European artists in the establishment phase can discuss artistic work in development.

Live Skullerud

Live Skullerud has a bachelor’s degree in Dance Performance from the University of Stavanger (2018), and now works freelance as a choreographer, performer and producer in her own and other projects (including Panta Rei Dance Theatre, FRIKAR, ØIT and Festina Lente Dansekompani) based in her hometown Fredrikstad. As a choreographer and performer, Live is concerned with making room for the human, the playful and the vulnerable. She searches for honesty, humour and poetry in her work, and is most of all fascinated by relationships, interaction and community. Live believes in the importance of art and dance in the development of society, and is committed to expanding the boundaries of who has access to movement and performing arts.

Karen Høybakk Mikalsen

Karen Høybakk Mikalsen has worked as a dance artist, choreographer, educator and project developer since 2004 and has a strong commitment to community and inclusion through movement. She develops her own projects and choreographs for others, often based on compositional improvisation and ensemble work. She has initiated meeting points with dance art as an umbrella, and has developed a number of projects in public spaces. In recent years, she has run Lonely Riders Norway, a community dance project where dance artists and different target groups in society meet and create a performance together around loneliness and belonging, which has been performed in local cultural centres in Viken and Trøndelag.

Karen is based in Oslo, but has a wide range of movement and a broad education from Stockholm, Salzburg and New York. She is a member of the international impro collective Lower Left Performance Collective and is a certified Ensemble Thinking Teacher

This project has received a writing aid by the (UN)COMMON SPACES project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union.