Blood Music | Roosna & Flak

The solo Blood Music is inspired by Albert Camus’ reading of the Sisyphus myth, where, in a surprising gesture, he declares Sisyphus to be a free man, not, as most others would think, slave to a meaningless task. Sisyphus, as the archetype of an absurd man, is aware of the futility of his actions, but will keep going on anyway, never giving in to the comforts of absolute truth of any kind. He knows that absolute truth is impossible, and so sets forth to create his own truths, taking the freedom he needs to do so from the emptiness.

Using dance and interactive technology, Roosna & Flak fill the stage with interdependent sound and movement. In the process they are dealing with the question: How to amplify and expand the body’s movements through sound, so that the body literally becomes an instrument, turning the dancer into the musician of her own soundtrack.

Choreography and dance: Külli Roosna

Sensor programming and sound design: Kenneth Flak

Duration: 40 minutes

Supported by The Norwegian Arts Council and STÜ, Tallinn

Photography: Kaur Ilves

BIO

Roosna & Flak
http://blog.kennethflak.com/

Choreographers and dancers Külli Roosna (Estonia) and Kenneth Flak (Norway) have been collaborating since 2008. Whether creating their own choreographies or dancing for others, their work deals with the narratives and technologies of the body. They have explored a wide range of themes, including ancient Viking mythology, contemporary internet culture and totalitarian regimes. The core of their work is the dancing body’s possibilities and limitations, in a constant dialogue with the digital technologies and discourses that extend and counterpoint it. In addition to their own choreographic works in the freelance field, they have been commissioned to create works for the Estonian National Ballet, Festival Classique (the Netherlands), Kaunas Biennial (Lithuania) and others.

Külli Roosna, born 1981, is a dancer, choreographer and teacher. She graduated Tallinn University in 2005 as a choreographer/dancer and continued her studies in Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. After obtaining her second bachelor degree in 2007 she started working internationally with different choreographers. In 2013 she obtained an MA of choreography at Tallinn University. She has worked with choreographers Richard Siegal, Dylan Newcomb, Amy Raymond, Fine5 Dance Theater, Teet Kask and others. She is a guest teacher at different universities in Estonia, Norway and the Netherlands. In 2010 her solo performance “Circle Through” was awarded the First Prize at the International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk, Belarus. Külli has performed her own and other choreographers’ works all over the world.

Kenneth Flak, born 1975, is a dancer, choreographer, composer and teacher. He has performed in the works of André Gingras, Dansdesign, Richard Siegal, Kari Hoaas, Preeti Vasudevan and many others. He is educated at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Norway and the Amsterdam Arts School in the Netherlands. In 2007 he received a Bessie Performer’s Award in New York for his interpretation of Gingras’ solo CYP17. In 2010 he was nominated for the BNG Award in Amsterdam for Of Gods and Driftwood. He received the Norwegian Government Grant for Young Artists 2004 and 2008-9, as well as its Working Grant for 2014-16. Flak is a guest teacher at universities and professional workshops around the world. A self-taught composer and interactive systems programmer, he creates music for his own and many others’ choreographies and dance films. He is currently chairman of the expert advisory group for the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture 2015-2017.