Ina Christel Johannessen: dancing to songs of Svalbard

Norwegian choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen is in Adelaide to premiere a work with Australian Dance Theatre.

Choreographer Ina Christel Johannessen at Australian Dance Theatre. Picture: James Elsby

How did you and ADT artistic director Garry Stewart come to work together?

Well, it was Garry who found me. This project, (the double bill) North/South, is his idea. He told me he was looking for a Scandinavian choreographer and he had heard about my last project, about the global seed vault located in Svalbard, a remote island in Norway. While I was working on that production, Frozen Songs, he contacted me and asked me to join North/South.

That research trip to Svalbard, staying in the settlement of Longyearbyen, also funnels into your work, North. How does life there compare to the mainland?

Svalbard is interesting because you cannot (give birth) there and you cannot die there. If there is a pregnant woman, she needs to go to the mainland to give birth. (Similarly) there’s no elderly home for the old. It has a very international community because you don’t have to apply to the Norwegian government to do business there. If you want to do dog-sledding for tourists, if you are American, Canadian or Swiss, whatever, you go there and start your business. It’s a mix of people, from intellectuals and scientists to people who want to go skiing and live a simple life. But you’re not as protected in the society as you are in Norway. Life is really harsh.

How are you moulding these ideas on the dancers’ bodies?

I’m creating everything here (in Adelaide). North is about how I discovered the island and saying, “well this is very strange, this tiny society that has such a range of nationalities”. I wanted to have this bunch of people who are not very alike but still need to be in the same spot. There is a bus shelter (in North), so everyone is waiting for the bus. But (in reality) the infrastructure in the whole of the Arctic area is really bad so there is no bus! So, it’s more like a mission impossible or contradiction. The work then goes wider to the whole Arctic Circle, which has so many minority groups inside.

You weren’t always on the path to be a dance choreographer, having started out as a gymnast. How did you use that training to launch yourself into the dance world?

Well, I was actually a rhythmic gymnast, which is kind of closer to dancing. I was on the national team and we had some ballet teachers. One of them said: “I think you’re on the wrong track. I think you should go with dancing.” They told me about the national academy, which I didn’t know about because at the time the school was new, and I got in. During those three years I changed a lot. I was very fit, strong and flexible so I could manage to develop with the training. After that a whole new world of contemporary dance opened up for me.

For you, who is the most influential and inspiring choreographer on the international scene today?

I’ve been working for so many years — I’ve been working for 35 years! So there’s not one choreographer influencing me and (my influences) have changed. Pina Bausch has been a huge inspiration in her performance. Today I really admire Greek choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou. Have you seen him? He does really wonderful work.

The world premiere season of North/South is at the Adelaide Festival Centre from September 11-14.