THE MAIN CHARACTER
A dance performance by RIVA in collaboration with international dancers
We all experience the world differently, shaped by what we see as defining ourselves and the thoughts that color our inner worlds. Some of us prefer to stay in the background, while others move forward with their main character energy. Despite these differences, we all share the experience of being the main character in our own lives.
The Main Character is a dance project exploring human identity, as individuals and as part of a community, and the external factors that influence the development of our sense of self. What are these factors, and how deeply do they affect us?
A Nordic dance collaboration project
The idea behind the project originated with Rannvá Guðrunadóttir Niclasen (RIVA) and Elias Bäckebjörk (NO).
The project served both the artistic development and practice of the participating dance artists, while also supporting RIVA’s vision: to build and further develop Nordic collaborations, as well as to make contemporary dance more accessible to the Faroese public - including children and young people. Altogether, this contributes to strengthening our artistic work and broadening the representation of professional dance in the Faroe Islands, while also inspiring interest in and engagement with contemporary dance for future generations.
The work is centred around three major characters:
The Main Character, The Hive Mind, and The Lightbulb.
(A protagonist, an antagonist, and the unknown higher power.)
The Main Character
The Main Character starts as a fictional vessel inhabited, shaped, and brought to life by different performers, each contributing their own interpretation and personality to it. This initial state reflects the idea that human identity is multifaceted and influenced by external factors, as each performer brings their unique perspective and experiences to the character. With exploration The Main Character becomes a composite of different performers, portraying a vast range of perspectives to the story and situation.
The Lightbulb (and The Main Character's Universe)
The Lightbulb (unknown higher power) is depicted as being one of the few constant and largely unchanging factors in The Main Character universe. Represented as a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Always present, although not always visible, an unavoidable part of The Main Characters universe. As a light that catches all the questions but leaves the answers in the dark, the Lightbulb symbolises humans' eternal strive for questioning the unknown and looking for answers from ungraspable and undefinable entities.
The Hive Mind
The Hive Mind is a collective consciousness that goes both as a narrator of the story and an antagonist to the main character. Symbolising the surrounding factors that affect or are affected by The Main Character. The Hive Mind can represent an opposing force and also portray the stories/situations that The Main Character describes. Can be portrayed by the performers on stage, be influenced by the audience and even become the audience, whose decisions have direct consequences for The Main Character.
Creative process
The main goal of the project was to initiate a choreographic exploration and make use of the opportunity of gathering 7 professional contemporary dancers in the Faroe Islands for an extended period of time. The team worked together for a total of 5 weeks, divided into two working periods between February and May.
In the first period, the focus was on finding a shared direction for the group, exploring ideas, and beginning to experiment with choreographic material.
In the second period, the work was centered on staging the material so it would be ready for presentation on April 9th and 10th.
In total, there were three performances: a school performance on April 9th, and two public evening performances on April 9th and 10th.
For the first performance, Sjúrður Tróndheim and Rannvá Glerfoss recorded interviews with audience members while they were waiting to enter the venue. The questions were about how they described themselves, their personal identity, and their experiences - connecting to the themes of The Main Character. These recordings were then edited into the soundscape, so that the audience suddenly heard their own voices during the performance and, in this way, became part of the performance.
Children and young people as inspiration
Additionally, the creative process was enriched and supported by students from the dance and movement program at Nám X. This was a rewarding and educational process for everyone involved. The students participated in selected rehearsals for The Main Character 1–2 times a week, where they got the chance to experience how the creative process of contemporary dance unfolds.
This included, among other things, dance workshops where they worked both with technique and more physical approaches, as well as thinking creatively and contributing to creating material themselves through various independent tasks they were given.
One particular task worth mentioning was that the students were asked to write down a few sentences describing themselves as the main character in their own lives. These texts were then mixed and reassembled in different ways, and the group worked on creating movement images based on the sentences together. These sentences, along with some of the material developed with the Nám X students, were also incorporated into the final performance.
Performances in the Nordic House Faroe Islands
9th of May
10:30am (school performance)
7pm (public)
10th of May
5pm (extra performance - public)
The team
Idea and concept development
Rannvá Guðrunardóttir Niclasen (FO)
Elias Bäckebjörk (NO)
Choreography and performance
Rannvá Guðrunardóttir Niclasen (FO)
Elias Bäckebjörk (NO)
Vár Bech Árting (FO)
Búi Rouch (FO)
Torill Kolsrud (NO)
Elias Kraft (SE)
Johannes Blattner (DE)
Light:
Villiam Soo Joensen
Soundscape & audience recordings:
Sjúrður Tróndheim
with help from Rannvá Glerfoss
Sampled music:
KVF & Unboxing by Tjant
Ex nihilo by Per Ingvaldur Højgaard Petersen
PR photos:
Erla Ziskasen
Photos from performance:
Tordis Vang Guttesen
Videography:
Rani Joensen
Producers
Rannvá Guðrunardóttir Niclasen (FO)
Vár Bech Árting (FO)
Co-production
The Nordic House in the Faroe Islands (FO)
Thank you to Dansifrøi and Tjóðpall Føroya
for giving us their spaces to do our work.
The Main Character was possible thanks to funding from:
