Benoît Lachambre and Jefta van Dinther create new works for Cullberg Ballet
Cullberg Ballet’s first encounter with Jefta van Dinther was last autumn, when he staged The Way Things Go with the company at Kulturhuset in Stockholm. The choreographed chain of events surrounding cause and effect was a huge success and van Dinther received universal praise from the media and audiences for his innovative choreography. The new work, entitled Plateau Effect, will be created for ten of the company’s dancers. Van Dinther is working in partnership with set designers Karin Lind and Simon Häggblom, as well as lighting designer Minna Tiikkainen and sound artist David Kiers.
“With Plateau Effect my aim is for the dancers’ bodies, the light and the sound to literally radiate out and reach the audience in a direct way, without any need for interpretation! I want to give the audience an opportunity to be part of something that they are not familiar with. The title Plateau Effect refers to a condition of stable development and productivity, which after a while reaches a plateau,” says Jefta van Dinther, speaking about his new production.
In his previous work for the company, JJ’s Voices, Benoît Lachambre took his inspiration from the music of Janis Joplin. The production has been successful on the international stage after almost three years as part of the company’s repertoire. In his new creation for Cullberg Ballet, Lachambre is working in partnership with visual artist Laurent Goldring and costume designer Alexandra Bertaut and uses humour to push the boundaries of gender stereotypes.
Fact file: Jefta van Dinther
Jefta van Dinther, born 1980, is a choreographer and dancer working in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Berlin. He grew up in Sweden and later moved to the Netherlands, where in 2003 he graduated from Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD). His The Blanket Dance (2011) was staged in collaboration with Frédéric Gies and DD Dorvillier. Kneeding – a choreography for three men – premiered in Amsterdam in 2010, and in 2009 he created the quintet The Way Things Go. He developed the performance IT’S IN THE AIR (2008) with Mette Ingvartsen. His latest performance GRIND, a collaboration with lighting designer Minna Tiikkainen and sound artists David Kiers, premiered at Weld in Stockholm in December 2011 and is frequently touring Europe.
Fact file: Benoît Lachambre
Benoît Lachambre is a choreographer, artist, improviser, teacher and artistic director of his own dance company, Par B.L.eux., in Montréal, Canada. He has been part of the international dance scene for the past thirty years and throughout his career has adopted an exploratory approach to working with movement and dance. His works are always characterised by visual features and elements of performance art. Par B.L.eux works with contemporary and ground-breaking choreographic works and enjoys close partnerships with choreographers and artists around the world. Benoît Lachambre has taken part in a number of films and won many awards for his works. JJ’s voices for Cullberg Ballet premiered in November 2009 on the small stage of Dansens Hus in Stockholm and was his first production in Sweden.
Further information and press images are available at www.cullbergbaletten.se
For additional information, contact
Erica Espling, Press and Marketing Officer, Cullberg Ballet
+46 (0)70 6022701