Israel Aloni

So, in this creation process, there were a lot of different references to sort of bring together or hold together. There's, of course, the incredible history of all the archaeological sites. There's the current cultures and communities that live in proximity or in the area of the archaeological sites. 

And, of course, the artistic work and the artistic practices for my own experiences. I also wanted to bring something from my history, from my heritage, as a gesture to mix up or bring together with all the other histories and heritage references that we are working with in this project. And all of that together, coming into the space, but also allowing the work with the performers, with the dancers, to kind of reveal to us where we are at the moment and how all of this comes together.

And there's also massive inspiration from the visuals of the archaeological sites that we have visited over the past couple of years in the project. And how that corresponds to sound and the incredible work that we have with the sound designer, with Didi Eres. And also we brought some of the elements of the different communities and cultures that we met in the costumes. So also Amanda Wisselgren, who is the costume designer, brought some of these elements into the visuals of the costumes.

So a lot of different references and coming together into something quite special because of this richness of different references and cultures and communities.

Tomer Giat

What would you consider, if any, as achievements, discoveries and challenges arising during the course of the residency or creation process?

I think it goes to several directions in terms of achievements and aims or goals. We have a very short time to create a structure of, let's say, a piece or a kind of a product that we will keep on developing and change from place to place because of this project. We are aiming to achieve that specific structure that we're trying to build by involving people from different places and communities that will be part of that.

There are some challenges by doing that and I think it's something that we're managing to do. Also, building a dance movement piece that will include the theme that we're focusing on or like aiming for. And yes, this combination of the theme and the artistic decisions with involving some members from different communities makes it like very rich and challenging and this is what we try to make now.

Elias Khanamidi

How was your experience in collaborating and connecting with the community and other artists, professionals, academicians across the elements of Dancing History(ies)?

The collaboration with the local communities has been very valuable. They contributed with useful insights. Their interpretations of the poems and the texts have been very useful for us and will be in further use when we are creating the performance in Sweden. The response from the different communities have been very powerful and positive. And there was a mutual exchange of inspiration and information coming from the two different parties.

Victor Persson

How would you describe your experience of the residency creation process?

I think this creation process has been generally really fun. Challenging both physically and mentally. Yeah, it's been nice to be away from the creation process in Uddevalla to really just be in this world that we're creating together and not be distracted by normal life. 

It's been a bit shorter than usually. But in a way, since we've been away for this creation process, it also felt like a lot of time. It hasn't felt stressful in any way. It hasn't felt like we wouldn't be able to put it together. 

It's been calm and there has been a sense of a lot of time for things to develop and to create this world for this piece.

Jennifer Wallen

Do you think this experience will make a positive contribution to your practice, and if so, how?

I think this experience will definitely have a positive contribution to my practice and my further career as a dancer. Like with all productions and projects that I'm happily taking part of, they leave an imprint just like history does and just like places and similar to other experience we have in life.

We go to places, we do things and we see things and we meet people and every small and big bits, they leave their mark and imprints and memories and feelings and sense, you know.

So I think it will definitely have a positive impact, it has already. And I am really much looking forward to visiting the places that we're going to and to see where that will take us together, where it will take me and the piece.