This is not a love story

Gunilla Heilborn in co-production with NorrlandsOperan and Göteborgs Dans- och Teaterfestival

Première: 11. 5. 2011, Dansens Hus Stockholm, Sweden
Running time 1 hour. No interval.

Director and author of concept Gunilla Heilborn
Choreograpers and authors of text Gunilla Heilborn, Johan Thelander, Kristiina Viiala
Set and costume designer Katarina Wiklund
Lighting designer Miriam Helleday
Author of music Kim Hiorthoy
Sound designer Johan Adling
Technical coordinator Axel Norén
Managing director Asa Edgren/Loco World

Cast
Johan Thelander, Kristiina Viiala

This is not a love story is a story of two reluctant heroes – Kowalski and Vera. Or maybe their names are really Emma and Folke?  With a disarming simplicity they switch between dance and scattered questioning: Who did what? When? Where? And why? Is there any specific period in the history that I should focus on? Have you ever worked in the fishing industry?
In a delicate search for context and continuity, heroes end up on a journey that definitely is not about the destination, but the reflection along the way. A true road movie dance with a long working process. During 2010 and 2011 the authors and cast visited and worked in residencies at Arts Academy in Tromso, Alkantara in Lisboa, Dancecity in Newcastle, SIN Culture Centre in Budapest, Saxnäs in Sweden, Fabrik Potsdam in Potsdam, Germany and Steirischer Herbst in Graz, Austria. At each place they made a presentation of the work at that point; a short dance, some texts about ancient explorers, projected images of filmheroes – anything really that was on their minds during that specific time. These showings and the re-evaluations of material that this made possible, had an extremely important impact on the final piece: It was as if they lived with the piece for more than a year.

Gunilla Heilborn is a choreographer and film maker based in Stockholm, producing and touring nationally and internationally. Heilborn’s unique way of combining text, motion, video and im- ages, often spiced with humour and a cool irony, has given her audiences around the world.