"LIVING ROOM" is a room in motion, evoked not just by the dancers but also by an almost organically alive video scenography. The floor starts to move, the floor disappears – the space begins to breathe...

It is a performance about hierarchies. Open source, 2.0 and other non-hierarchical structures are buzzwords in the 21st century – and yet, we all subject ourselves to a long line of ancient hierarchies. The world's oldest is that between man and shadow – a hierarchy of nature that it is impossible to disobey… Or is it?

Confronting the human body with a motion-sensitive scenography, "LIVING ROOM" puts a physical expression on what it means to take control or subordinate, and questions who is the puppet and who is the puppeteer – who controls whom?

"LIVING ROOM" won the Danish Performing Arts Award for Best Dance Performance of the Year in 2012 (Reumert Awards).
Reviews

“An emotional knockout of rare magic.” Monna Dithmer, Politiken, March 17th, 2012

"...captivating and exhilarating." Madeleine Saunte, Kultunaut, March 14th, 2012

”It is an incredibly successful interactive performance.” Vibeke Wern, Berlingske, March 17th, 2012

“Tina Tarpgaard's performance "LIVING ROOM" subjects the audience to marvellously imaginative dance in the wake of the apocalypse”. Anne Middelboe Christensen, Information, March 14th, 2012

“Beyond the edge of physical and dance technical skill.... Beyond all expectation. It is tremendous”. Majbrit Hjelmsbo, Weekendavisen, March 16th, 2012

Choreographer: Tina Tarpgaard
Company: recoil performance group
Dancers: Nelson Rodriguez-Smith, Siri Wolthoorn, Rumiko Otsuka, Jonas Örknér
Video scenography: Ole Kristensen, Jonas Jongejan
Music: Pelle Skovmand
Lighting design: Frederik Heitman
Costume design: Inbal Lieblich

Performance filmed at Dansehallerne Copenhagen

50 min

Tina Tarpgaard is a choreographer based in Copenhagen Denmark. Her creation "LIVING ROOM" was awarded best dance performance of the year in 2012 at the danish performing arts award.

“In the development of movement material, I draw inspiration from the relation between the body and the space in which it appears. By extension, my early work was primarily developed in urban settings, using the specific social or architectural frame as the starting point of creation. In my current work, I collaborate with software artists. This has brought me back to the Black Box theatre as a frame for my creations. At the core is a close relationship between choreographic material and motion-sensitive video graphics. Through this juxtaposition, I have obtained the possibility of expanding the motion of the body by also choreographing the light and darkness in which it appears. The graphics become an intelligent light source that allow me to work not only with the visible body, but also with the body as it disappears or is partly visible - an expressive and surprising form that seems infinite in new possibilities.”