October 7, 2003
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

Stunning and poetic Swedish dance troupe
K. Kvarnström & Co. perform at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• K. Kvarnström & Co.
• Swedish company at the forefront of contemporary European dance
• Performing its internationally acclaimed work Fragile
• Wednesday, November 12 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General: $30/$27, UCSB students: $19/$16
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

K. Kvarnström & Co.—at the vanguard of contemporary European dance—makes its Santa Barbara debut on Wednesday, November 12 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Acclaimed for his uncompromising, sensual choreography, Kenneth Kvarnström presents his stunning Swedish dance troupe performing the hypnotic work Fragile. The raw emotional tone of Kvarnström’s choreography creates a controlled but high-tension energy transformed by a never-ebbing flow of movement. The piece’s complicated, risky lifts, surprising falls to the floor and liquid, looping swirls, highlight each dancers’ humanity. Dance Europe writes, “Fragile is a work of cool poetry and emotional geometry,” while Ballet International asserts, “Kenneth Kvarnström has got what it takes to make dance a pop event.”

Founded in Stockholm in 1987 by Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström, this troupe has maintained its position as one of the leading dance companies in Europe. Through the decade of the 1990s the Kvarnström style evolved from powerful and physically exhausting to more nuanced and sensual, but his choreography always demands much from his company of five dancers. Kvarnström also works with acclaimed set, sound and lighting designers, conceiving each work not merely as choreography, but also as a theatrical event. Fragile features a Calder-like sculpture by Swedish designer and architect Carouschka Strejffert, an electronic score by company member Anders Jacobson and Brazilian-born, London-based cult DJ Amon Tobin, and exquisitely atmospheric lighting by Maria Ros, who has also worked with the Cullberg Ballet. In an interview Kvarnström explained his desire for a total experience, “Most important is for the audience to have an emotional feeling—to grab the subconscious, to touch the unknown. Not to think with your brain, but to feel it with your stomach or heart.”

Fragile is the final work in an abstract trilogy choreographed by Kvarnström. 325,4 kg, the first work, refers to the combined weight of the dancers and one technician on stage, and both playfully and seriously questions gravity and gravitas. The middle of the trilogy, SPLITVISION, mixes video screens with touchingly intimate dance that led Dance Europe to write, “I’m overwhelmed and elated by such beauty and precision, I don’t even care about the epistemological implications of moving text and images on monitors, the multidimensional revelation that perception is selective, and every one sees their own piece. Unless, of course, if that means I can see SPLITVISION again and again and discover more and more of it.”

Kvarnström began his formal dance training at the relatively late age of 20 at Stockholm’s University College of Dance. In 1996 he was named Artistic Director for the Helsinki City Theatre Dance Company, a group he had developed into Finland’s most exciting dance troupe by his departure in 1998. Kvarnström has received commissions from organizations including the Cullberg Ballet, the Finnish National Ballet and the Royal Ballet in Stockholm, and was a professor of choreography at the University of Dance in Helsinki, Finland.

Read more about K. Kvarnström & Co. on its website.

The audience is invited to remain after the performance to take part in a Meet-the-Artist discussion. On the evening of the performance concertgoers may enhance their experience by attending a tasty Swedish buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 pm. The dinner is $18 per person; reservations must be made by November 5 by calling 805.893.3096.

Members of K. Kvarnström & Co. will teach a modern dance class on Monday, November 10 from 7:30-9:30 pm at the Franklin Neighborhood Center, 1136 E. Montecito Street, Santa Barbara. It costs $15 for students and $5 for observers. This class is sponsored by the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance; for information and to make a reservation, please phone 805.966.6950.

K. Kvarnström & Co. is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Philip Morris Companies Inc. Tickets are $30 and $27 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.