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Teaser Wakati by Shelmith Øseth. Video: David Alræk

Dance

Wakati by Shelmith Øseth

Dato

Tid

Sted

Tilgjengelighet Accessible with wheelchair No blackout No stage smoke or scents No strobe lights Seated or seating options With English text/speech With Norwegian text/speech

Wakati means ‘time’ in Swahili. In this work, together with musician Stephan Meidell Shelmith Øseth explores her own cultural background and the prejudices one carries along and encounters when moving between cultures. By using her experience of immigrating from Kenya to Norway, Shelmith examines expectations, ideas and limits that come along with being an immigrant and multicultural person in Norway.  

The work sheds light on how identity changes and develops within a cultural context and between different cultures. Going beyond the personal Øseth shows how individual experiences are intertwined with social change and broader historical events. Art can offer a means of understanding the past and imagining the future. 

Foto: Joshua Jacob Bobadilla

Credits

Choreography and dance: Shelmith Øseth
On stage: Stephan Meidell and Shelmith Øseth
Musician and composer: Stephan Meidell
Dramaturgy and outside eye: Vibeke Flesland Havre
Costume: Olga Regitze Dyrløv
Technician and Light designer: Jan Holden
Producer: Camilla Svingen / Syv mil

Co-produced by: Carte Blanche, BIT Teatergarasjen, Fargespill, Bergen Dansesenter, Nordic Black Theatre.

Funded by: Bergen kommune, Kulturrådet, The Audio and Visual Fund and The Fund for Performing Artists.

Bio

Shelmith Øseth is a dancer based in Bergen and Oslo. Her movements are characterised by experience from contemporary dance and various traditional African dance techniques such as indlamu and pantsula from South Africa, and mostly from Isukuti, a dance that is derived from the Kenyan tribe Luhya. She got her education at the dance line in Langhaugen high school in Bergen and later at New Education For Contemporary Dance in Härnösands in Sweden. The focus on social and political aspects with the pure expression of dance is what matters to her.

Guitarist Stephan Meidell is a musical adventurer who engages with sounds from electronic, acoustic and electromechanical instruments and machines, and then recontextualizes them in new and surprising ways. He owes much to contemporary minimalist traditions, early electronic music explorations, 60s modal jazz, and experimental techno. He has released numerous albums and has written commissions for dance, theatre, and audiovisual collaborations.

Foto: Joshua Jacob Bobadilla