Sara Grotenfelt (FI) is a choreographer, performance-maker and performer based in Helsinki, Finland. In her artistic practise Sara investigates the movement and placement of emotion and affect in the choreographic event. Her works play with the associative potential of objects and actions and take the absurd seriously. Lately Sara's work has focused on tweaking the social and aesthetic conventions of the performance situation. Her work has been shown at e.g. Helsinki City Theatre's Stage for Contemporary Performance, Zodiak Stage, Hangö teaterträff and Kaukavesi swimming hall, Kajaani. She has performed in works by WAUHAUS, Sari Palmgren, Anna-Sofia Nylund and Blaue Frau amongst others. Sara also works as a co-director at the dance school Tanssivintti which offers intensive programmes for young dancers aspiring to engage in dance as an art form. She holds a Master's degree in choreography from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki and a Bachelor's degree equivalent from The Danish National School of Performing Arts, Copenhagen.
Selma Reynisdóttir (she/her) is an Icelandic dancer and choreographer based in Helsinki. In her work and everyday life she is fascinated by dance’s potential of telling human and non-human stories and fantasies. Sound and music is an important starting point in all her work and she enjoys collaborating closely with sound designers and musicians. Her recent productions include; HOPP, Hunden Bakom Mannen (a performance that tells Roald Amundsen’s race to the South Pole from the perspective of the 97 dogs who traveled with him) and the Heavy Metal Ballet, Satanvatnið. She has among other things worked with creating choreographies for concerts and music videos, mainly together with the pop-electro duett Ultraflex and she worked as a writer and producer for the National Broadcasting Services in Iceland for a mini-serie where she investigated the so-called danceban that developed during the 16th century reformation in Iceland. Selma holds a BA in contemporary dance from the Icelandic University of the Arts and an MA in Dance Performance from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki.
Once upon a time there was a very long skipping rope… Sara Grotenfelt’s and Selma Reynisdóttir’s first collaboration is a performance about rope skipping.
Once upon a time there was a very long skipping rope. It was a much, much longer rope than the one you are probably imagining right now.
Even longer still longer longer
HOPP is a performance about rope skipping. It dwells in the nostalgia of a childhood playtime activity while it reaches out for new meanings in old movements. Guided by complex associations emerging from simple actions the audience is drawn into a pulsating landscape, an imaginary playground where getting tired is inevitable as we seek excitement.
HOPP was premiered at Zodiak Stage on Feb 28, 2024.
