THE PARTY
THE PARTY plays with the term ‘party’ as a symbol of life itself. Through the use of digital resources such as social media platforms in combination with their performative expression, THE PARTY takes on the role of aiming to understand youth culture, their socio-cultural ways and unspoken rules, and their own way of communication.
THE PARTY is about Iben, who invites her friends to the best home-alone party ever, but what starts off as a perfect night is soon tested as party crashers show up. The facade cracks, friendships are tested, and what was supposed to be the party of the year might become something entirely different...
For some of the characters in this story the party represents happiness, inclusion, networking, fun and hanging out. For others it has a bitter taste of exclusion, bullying, loneliness, shame, harassment and bad experiences with various substances.
THE PARTY adresses a variety of issues that are relevant to all youth who engage in social gatherings worldwide and plays with the idea of a "party" as a symbol of life. The performance mirrors the micro-universe and challenges youth are faced with, and the difficult art of balancing self-preservation, integrity and setting boundaries - all whilst finding ones place and be at one with a group. The online communication culture development plays a part in their young lives that can make or break relations with a few quick snaps. With this performance, we aim to aid in the development of a more aware generation of teenagers and young adults with regards to developing more insight into both party culture, alcohol- and substance-use in social settings, a well as "me too"- issues such as physical misconduct and rape culture amongst teens- hopefully resulting in a reduction of the numbers of sexual harassment cases amongst the age group.
In the leading roles in THE PARTY we present four young, talented professional dancers who are capable of truly dedicating themselves to their characters as they communicate ‘their’ story through this performance. The delicate and strong topics this performance aims to convey and the manner these four go about delivering the message is something we are both humbled by and so very grateful for. The preliminary set of dancers in this project, along with our initial participating teenagers from Edvard Munch vgs, have also been of great value to us in our creative processes.We’ve learned so much from listening to the stories of hundreds of teenagers, both about their joys and their challenges. It is with a deep founded respect that we hereby present THE PARTY.
Nina Lill Svendsen & Christer Tornell Founders and Artistic Leaders of ODE Ung
Durance: 55- 60 minutes, 1-2 performances/day including 3-4 hr workshop with the participating 12-16 local youth. No previous experience with performance is necessary.
Age group: Teenagers from the age of 14 and all parents, teachers and other grown-ups who deal with youth in their everyday lives.
Performance space: 10m x 10m x5m
Get in/Get out: 2,5 hrs / 1,5 Hrs
On tour: 4 dancers, 2 technicians, 1 artistic leader/rehearsal director
Scenography: Ideally transported by a large van
Choreography/Artistic Direction: Nina Lill Svendsen og Christer Tornell
The artistic leaders and choreographers of ODE Ung Nina Lill Svendsen (NO) and Christer Tornell (SE), each hold over 40 years experience as professional dance artists and educators both nationally and internationally. ODE Ung was initially founded under Oslo Danse Ensemble in 2012 but is now registered as an independent foundation.
In all of our company productions, we aim to address topics and issues raised by youths own and self-lived experiences - with the performance content explored in collaboration with teenagers and young adults. Due to the versatility of the content addressed in our works we worked with finding the best collaborators and partners for our creative processes to ensure a realistic portrayal of both the social settings and youth culture trends, as well as creating an environment surrounding the performances that ‘hits home’ with both youths and their families, teachers, health services, etc. We also include 12-16 teenagers from each new host area into our performance through a 3-4 hour workshop ahead of our performances.
Photos by: Ken Ronny Thomassen
“THE PARTY”- premiered during CODA international dance festival on Oct. 30th and 31st, 2021 as part of the selected program at CODA International Dance Festival, as well as being programmed at SHOWBOX on December 1st 2021.
The performance has been touring since 2021 both national and international.
Performers 2025: Andreas Holme Kjærland, Eline Vaaje, Ella Skorgan og Gard Lervang
Read more about the dancers here.
Photos by: Photo is brought by the dancers
Creators:
Concept, choreography and art.direction
Nina Lill Svendsen & Christer Tornell
Co-creating dancers in 2021: Nanna Knutson, Lars Henriksen, Oliver Paulsson and Melanie Kajanne Källström
Characters/dancers 2025:
IBEN: Eline Vaaje @elinevaaje
JACOB: Gard Lervang @gardlervang
FILIP: Andreas Holme Kjærland @andreasholmkjærland
MICHELLE: Ella Skorgan @ellaskorgan
Sound design:
Petter Wiik
Light designer/technician:
Daniel Kolstad Gimle
Digital vorspiel/Art director:
Joachim Krogvold
Edit international trailer:
Ingvild Vaasether
Photo/trailer footage/edit: Video documentation:
Elin Osjord (photo), Lars Opstad (photo), Ken Ronny Thomassen (photo/trailer), Åsmund Olason (video documentation)
Music:
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Mohombi, Specktors/Nonsens, Jesper Jenset, Anne- Marie/Burak Yeter, KAYTRANADA, Kesha, Doja Cat, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hilnigger/Badman Dan, Phelian, Jacques Brel, Bugge Wesseltoft, Andreas Mattsson, Igor Stravinsky, Olafur Arnalds, Raime, Trentemøller, Trentemøller/Radio Slave
Outside Collaborators:
Edvard Munch vgs., DIXI – Ressurssenter (resource centre against sexual harassment and rape), Uteseksjonen i Oslo, Overgrepsmottaket I Oslo, Sex og Politikk, Sex og Samfunn, Fossumkollektivet rehab treatment programme for youth, R.E.D. – Residens Eina Danz.
CODA – Oslo International Dance festival programmed us to their festival, where we premiered THE PARTY at Nynorskens Hus on 30th. oct. 2021.
Showbox – young audiences performance art festival. ODE Ung was part of their 2021 programme at Black Box Teater 1. des. 2021. We were honoured to be part of such high- quality performance festivals.
Requirements on tour:
Space: 10 m x 10 m x 5m performance space, 2,5 hr get-in, 1,5 hr get-out.
Workshop with participating students: 3-4 Hrs workshop with 12-16 participating local students pre-performance
Performance: 60 minutes dance theatre performance, 2 performances/day
Travelling team: 4 dancers, 1 technician (ODE Ung crew try to use local technicians), 2 artistic/rehearsal director
Touring availability: 2025 and onwards
THE PARTY by ODE Ung was supported by
Spenn.no, Sparebankstiftelsen/DNB, Oslo kommune, Fond for utøvende kunstnere, CODA, Showbox/Scenekunstbruket, Kulturdirektoratet, Seanse, and sponsored by Ablegøy Jessheim (Ablegøy has dismantled its organization since the start of 2025).
Link to our international trailer:
Foto: Lars Opstad/ CODA
