ABOUT US:
The ODE Ung foundations prime purpose is to produce dance theatre performances for, by and together with professional dancers. In our productions, ODE Ung choose our topics based on the communicated experiences and topics of relevance to the teenagers self-lived experiences with social issues related to youth party culture, staged in a societally oriented context.
In our company productions youths are involved both in the creative exploration and artistic development processes around our topics, as well as participating on stage where each performance includes 12-16 local teenagers alongside our four professional dancers in each new host area.
At the time being, we have recently started touring the project THE PARTY, and below this text you can see the four professional dancers who are working on this production: Lars Henriksen, Nanna Knutson, Melanie Kajanne Källstrom og Oliver Paulsson.
All photos below: Ken Ronny Thomassen
Kunstneriske ledere:
Nina Lill Svendsen
Nina Lill Svendsen (NO) is an associated professor at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, has established herself as a renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer in Norway for more than 40 years since she completed her professional training at The Ballet Institute (now NDH) 1979. She was one of the founders of Oslo Dance Ensemble (ODE) in 1983, and co-founder of ODE Ung in 2012. She has worked extensively with several Norwegian dance companies, and she is still dancing
professionally today. In 2019, she danced and choreographed the performance “Ulendt Terreng”- a performance about living with cancer. She also directed and choreographed “DU MÅ IKKE SOVE”- a project that intertwined dance with opera which is a continuing project in 2022. This year Svendsen and Tornell are also performing at multiple occasions as guest performers at “Ta Plass” in Oslo, and Svendsen is also starting a duet project with dancer Silas Kjølmoen Henriksen from the National Ballet. She has been teaching and choreographing extensively at all the institutions for dance education in Norway from 1979-2022, as well as having the head responsibility for teaching jazz dance at the dance programme at Edvard Munch vgs (A-levels in Dance). She has received several grants and scholarships in Norway for her work as a professional dance artist, including the Norwegian State Senior Scholarship for artists in 2010.
Christer Tornell
Christer Tornell (SE) is a former figure skater on the national team of Sweden and a former student at Dansforum (Performing arts school) and the Ballet Academy in Gothenburg. Tornell has been working as a professional dancer since the early 80s, mainly with jazz and contemporary jazz dance. In 1987 he joined the Ran Hamilton Dance Company in Gothenburg, and since 1988 he has been working as a dancer and actor in Oslo, Stockholm and on national tours. In 2004 he also started directing, choreographing and producing and hosting events. Tornell was a dancer in the Norwegian dance company Oslo Dance Ensemble from 1994 until 2001.
In 2012 he was one of the founders of ODE Ung, making performances for and with youth. In the years 2007-2013 he was a recurring judge in the Norwegian version of Dancing with the stars.
Excerpts work as a dancer and actor in Scandinavia: Cats, A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Chicago, La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story.
Excerpts work as a choreographer and director: Rommet i Klassen, Cats, Full Monty, The Addams Family, FESTEN.
In 2016 and 2018 he was an actor and dancer in the play “At the community house” (På Lokalet) based on the movie Le Ball (1984). This year Svendsen and Tornell are also performing at multiple occasions as guest performers at “Ta Plass” in Oslo, and Tornell is currently also head lecturer for dance and musical theatre projects at NSKI University College in Oslo since January 2020.
Producer Anne Marthe Melberg
Anne Marthe is a newly graduated dance artist from the Norwegian School of Dance (2021), and has a BA in contemporary dance with pedagogy with extra subjects in ballet didactics. She has participated as a dancer in various productions and held LMU and academic council positions as a student at the college. She is currently studying Creative Industries Management at BI Norwegian Business School, teaches dance at private studios and cultural schools, and is self-employed in consulting services. She has been a producer at ODE Ung since the fall of 2022.
Previous Producer
Ingvild Vaagsether (NO) was the producer for ODE Ung from September 2021 til August 2022, and has a vast and varied background as a dancer, performer, choreographer, director, dance teacher, contextual studies lecturer at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts since 2019 and as a dance festival founder and producer since 2018.
She has a long and many-faceted education within the performing arts, including a BA (Hons) from LIPA (2007, UK), post-grad in teaching qualifications from Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2009, NO) and NoMAds MA from NTNU (2017, NO).
Vaagsether has performed with MTV Europe, Hugo Boss UK, TATE Modern Liverpool, The Bluecoat Arts Centre Liverpool, TV productions and music videos for national and international artists before starting to choreograph and directing for events, national celebrations, dance companies, runway shows and theatre groups in the mid- 2000’s between dance jobs and teaching dance extensively. She’s founded, performed and choreographed for two dance companies in the East of Norway, and in 2018 she established Oslo Jazzdansfestival with her co-founder Natalie Dahl, providing the first Scandinavian scenic platform specifically focusing on providing a space for portraying the vast variety of the jazz dance genres and styles.