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2010-2025
THOMAS OF NORWAY 15 YEARS

In 2025, it is 15 years since Basic Movements Dance Company was established, which shortly afterwards became Thomas of Norway.  For 15 years, Thomas of Norway has worked to give social taboos and difficult conversations a scenic expression, with the aim to contribute to more openness, increased insight and conversation. During the anniversary year in 2025, Thomas of Norway is planning two premieres – a solo performance and a performance together with Tromsø-based artist Ida Løken Valkeapää. In addition, throughout the year there will be throwbacks to previous performances - both live and on video, workshops, birthday cake and much more. The anniversary year will be crowned in September 2025 with an all-day happening and a premiere in the sea gap in Vesterålen.

 

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ILLUMINATE THE DARKNESS

As an artist, I create work focusing on social taboos and those things we find hard to talk about. For 15 years, I have worked actively to create space and opportunity for reflection and conversation, around what we as individuals and society rather not want to deal with. It is about the topics in the work I create, about the means I use, about how I choose to use the stage, and about which rooms I choose to use as a stage.  Telling these stories is for me about poking holes in dark bubbles. But how to dance about the rape of boys, suicide, eating disorders, dementia, mental illness, violence in close relationships and the young people's desperate and sometimes self-defeating attempts to be seen, recognized and loved, without pushing the audience away?  

 

I want the audience to have a direct encounter with my art, and the audience encounters a direct language. Part of this, for me, is about how the audience is positioned in the venue. Preferably on stage with me when I perform. The first time I did this was with the performance "No Visibility" (2015), with suicide as a topic. The floor was rigged like a railway track, with one dancer and two stage lights, illustrating the headlights of a train. The audience sat so close that they could hear my breathing, feel the draft as I passed by, and see every little movement. This set a new direction for how I present my art as of today. 

 

In the performance "Until We Meet Again" (2017), I placed the audience in a horseshoe shape on stage. The amphitheater with more than 400 seats had to give way. The work explored child neglect, and when children and parents switch roles. Together with me on stage was 12-year-old Eiril, and the audience got to see the interaction up close. The audience could hear our breathing. And we could hear their silent cries.   

 

After these two experiences, I have always placed the audience up close to the performance. With this, I hope to create an honest space where neither I as a performer nor the audience can hide.

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Until We Meet Again - Foto: Espen Mortensen

The closest the audience gets to my work, comes to surface in the critically acclaimed performance "When Boys Cry" (2016), when shown as The Home Edition. I started The Home Edition in 2021, a way of showing my work that I find incredibly interesting - and that suits my art well. My performances gets closer to the audience than ever before, and the audience expericnes it in the environment in which they usually cook, eat and relax, sleep in. "When Boys Cry" tells my own story of being raped by a stranger as a child - about life in the seconds, minutes, days and years afterwards. I have previously performed the performance in theaters, schools, and churches, but in recent years I have taken the performance into private homes in The Home Edition. The aim of The Home Edition was to see what happens to me and the audience's experience in such a context. Home, which is supposed to be the safest place we can be, is for some the exact opposite. We need to be reminded of that.

 

I feel a responsibility to ensure that the audience feels looked after from the moment they arrive at my performances. Part of this could be an artist talk. Here I share the story behind the performance, or about the process of creating it, or what it is like to work with the topic in question in a theatrical context. And last but not least; the audience can ask questions and make their observations.  

 

I have always been concerned with audience development. A key part of this for me is to contribute to show my work outside of the big cities, and into smaller places and stages close to where people live. Therefore, the vast majority of my premieres have been presented in smaller places, mostly in Northern Norway. Several of my performances have been co-produced by Lofoten Kulturhus (Svolvær). Lofoten Kulturhus also supported the years I ran Aorta Dance Company..

 

Aorta Dance Company was a dance program for children and young people in Vågan in Lofoten, where the children got to meet the artist Thomas. Over a few years, we worked closely together, and the children were able to express themselves creatively and create performances in which they had great ownership. A place where the children learned a lot, but so did I! In the encounter with their sincerity and directness, I myself was challenged as an artist.   

 

For 15 years I have worked to illuminate darkness. Some of it has been necessary for me personally, while some has been for other reasons. With the hope of being able to contribute to making it less scary and hard to talk about the difficult stories, and with the marking of Thomas of Norway 15 years, I look forward to another 15 years.

 

I have never been afraid of the dark. 

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When Boys Cry - Foto: Øystein Voll

JOIN THE PARTY!

Events

Through 2025, you can join the celebration through various events such as performances, workshops, artist talks and much more. Information and tickets for the first events are now out, with more to be added soon. Follow this page to see upcoming events as they are published. 

FEBRUARY 01

19:00

Then, You Left?

LOVEFEST 2025​

Lofoten kulturhus

Svolvær (NO)

MARCH 13

18:00

When Boys Cry

Hurtigrutens Hus

Stokmarknes (NO)

TBA

MARCH 13

13:00

When Boys Cry

Hurtigrutens Hus

Stokmarknes (NO)

By invitation only
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LIMITED EDITION

In connection with the anniversary, Thomas of Norway has launched limited edition merch, including material from 15 years. You will find these at events and performances throughout the year! First come first served!

#thomasofnorway15

Merch

PARTNERS

Partnere
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