Lecture / Jo Strømgren Kompani, Oslo

During the dance festival within the Schools of the Future programme unit, we will host the Jo Strømgren Kompani from Oslo, which will hold a lecture at the Serbian National Theatre on 29 March. The rehearsal and conversation with the students of the Academy of Arts from Novi Sad will be about theatre, differences in directing and choreographic work and approach, creation of non-verbal performances, dramaturgical base, technical implementation of contemporary plays.
Jo Strømgren Kompani was founded in 1998 in Norway, and grew into one of the most successful independent Scandinavian ensembles. They perform over 150 plays a year, so far they have performed in more than 60 countries, both on large national stages and in small alternative theatres. Their main stage is the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, where Strømgren is a permanent choreographer.
Born in Trondheim in 1970, Jo Strømgren lived a typical Norwegian upbringing in contact with wildlife, social democratic values and violent fairy tales about trolls. In addition to his traditional childhood, he spent several years in the tropics due to the business engagement of his parents. The early mixture of local identity and global confusion was important for his professional work, both in terms of themes and genre changes, and especially in his special interest in languages.
After graduation, he began his new studies, ranging from chemical engineering at the Polytechnic College to the Russian language within the Norwegian Army. As an exchange student, he discovered flamenco in Madrid, which seriously attracted him to the performing arts and made him send an application to the National Ballet College in Oslo. His application was accepted, and the future was sealed. Although he gained an education in the field of ballet, he is turning his career towards contemporary dance.
Due to the injury, he decided to focus on choreography and theatre directing. At the same time, literary ambitions evolved to the possibility of becoming a stable career, within the framework of drama writing. Different types of art were simply defined as his main occupation, so he soon developed his own style in scenography and lighting design. Involvement in filming, in front of and behind the camera, also brought him results worth mentioning.
One of his films won the prestigious Golden Rose Award. As a choreographer, he was engaged by a number of companies, both ballet and contemporary dance. As a theatre director, he has mostly worked with national and city theatres in the Nordic region, but has successfully staged several plays in the United States, Germany and Russia. As a playwright, he wrote a long list of theatre and film scripts. Stromgren is the artistic director of his own ensemble, but also a residential choreographer at the Norwegian National Ballet. He has created over 150 productions, most of which are all-night performances, while his works have been performed in 64 countries.