AVIAJA Dance – Speech/less

With her background in both Greenland and Denmark, choreographer Sarah Aviaja Hammeken explores in the performance the complexity of having roots in two countries. On one hand, it provides a richness of possibilities to feel part of multiple cultures. At the same time, one may experience not quite fitting in anywhere. But what makes one feel included in a community—or not? Which cultural references do we carry with us as baggage? And what do we do if we do not fully understand or master a culture’s language, traditions, and rituals?

Another question is how one, as a human being, can handle carrying genes and cultures from two countries with such a turbulent history and relationship as Greenland and Denmark? Hammeken revisits in this physical dance performance the ways myths, legends, and stories are shared in Inuit culture—a living culture of exchange between people, here interpreted through modern dance, song, and music. The qualities and themes of movement and sound are inspired by different mythical characters. The costumes are based on the colors white and red—the colors of both the Danish and Greenlandic flags. This opens up many possible connotations, including the Arctic nature and the bloody colonial history. On stage, you will encounter two dancers and a musician, and you yourself become part of the performance along the way.

Sarah Aviaja Hammeken is a choreographer and dancer educated at the Ballet Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2019, she founded AVIAJA Dance, where she creates performances that draw, among other things, on her Greenlandic heritage. Hammeken is driven by a deep interest in engaging in dialogue with society through the body and dance.

Alexander Montgomery-Andersen is an Arctic artist with Greenlandic roots and a dance education from the Bårdar Academy in Norway. He primarily works with a Nordic perspective and is deeply interested in exploring how the body’s physical boundaries can be expressed aesthetically—and evoke emotional responses in the audience.

Mathilde Rosengren Bruun is a singer, songwriter, and pianist. She holds a degree in rhythmic singing from the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Rosengren Bruun writes music under the name VELA in the genre of electronic pop.