Byström Källblad

An immaterial monument for our cities. A group of female dancers, 15-20, move as a herd of wild horses through the cities full of historical male monuments and representation, all being passed on to the next generation as our history. The dancers interact with monuments of kings on horses and powerful architecture, activate and claim the space and write female history of power.

As emperors used to conquer and claim new land, City Horses will manifest female existence in history and forward. Inspiration comes from walking around our city noticing historical public art still so present and at center stage in our cities. Military men and kings on horses and naked female bodies. We ask ourselves, how can we as female bodies in the public space, today relate to these, even physically?

We start a search through being horses, investigating the horse as a symbol of power. Playing horse is a common girl’s game – young female audience have an immediate insight to the work, and so can female experience between generations connect and be passed on through dance, game and play and find a way to address the question of power and possibilities.

City Horses poses questions to never silence, what legacy to pass on the next generation? The audience is anyone in the street, in the square, in the park where City Horses make their way on their route through the city. The physical closeness to the audience and moment of surprise is part of a further exploration of the artistic concept in this new work. Who is really part of the work? How does audience reactions affect the work?

​

City Horses is a Big Pulse Dance Alliance co-production, co-produced by Sismògraf Dance Festival (Catalonia – Spain), Julidans (The Netherlands), Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Germany), CODA Oslo International Dance Festival (Norway) and presented by International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (The Czech Republic), Danscentrum Sverige (Sweden), co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.