Maison de la Danse
is an independent platform for dance, organized and curated by Dance is Ancient. We are based in Malmö-SE, but currently mobile in the city!
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2025 spring program
Dear dance and
dance floor lovers,
I wish I could simply commit to the pure joy of communicating to you the exciting programme of Maison de la Danse – Spring 2025, but the news obliges me to reflect on the power of gestures.
At the time I am writing you, as I do every six months since the beginning of our adventure in the fall 2022, we are one day after a certain inauguration day and the unsettling (disgusting) arm gesture performed by the world’s wealthiest man who happens to have become the best friend of a criminal and rapist elected president. One day after the world’s most powerful country announced its withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement, while issuing an executive order discriminating against trans persons.
Fear covers joy.
That despicable, loathsome, abhorrent arm gesture, shamelessly performed by the world's wealthiest man, is not just the new signature of a sad, reckless clown. For the queer, non-binary person I am, that gesture represents a regime that has sent my people to concentration camps.
Gestures can kill.
As small and seemingly powerless as we are, this spring at Maison de la Danse, together with you, we will make sure to oppose gestures that kill with the poetic and political power of our own movements, with all the weight and lightness of their oddity and beauty.
Many dancers dance in a dancer’s body and a dance is always the product of other dances, as well as a call for dances to come. The connective tissue for this spring programme, as well as for the fall, is how individual movements evoke collective ones, how ’I’ contains ‘WE’. This spring, solos won’t be solos.
‘I’ is collective.
As it has been amazing to witness the growth of the Technosomatics community in Malmö, we will offer more Technosomatics sessions than usual, including a weekend intensive workshop.
The performance programme will consist of three editions of Maison Ouverte, our open house events, including two pieces from my repertoire never presented at Maison, workshops, artist talks and a guest performance to look forward to. Indeed, we will close the spring season with a new performance by an amazing artist, multiply awarded and most of all without whom I wouldn’t be the dancer and choreographer I am today (neither would be the Swedish dance field): Cristina Caprioli.
One last word, as a teaser: in our fall programme, amongst other directions, we will focus again on international artists. We’ll have the pleasure to share the work of other remarkable and politically engaged artists: Manuel Pelmus and Lenio Kaklea.
In 2025, at Maison de la danse, our individual and collective gestures, as small and seemingly powerless as they are, will decisively cut through and erase the gestures that kill.
All our activities are still for free, as usual.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Yours,
Frédéric Gies
Artistic Director of Dance is ancient
SPRING 2025
SPRING 2025
WORKSHOPS
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Monday Workshops | 19.00–21.15 | 10/2, 17/2, 24/2, 3/3, 10/3, 17/3, 24/3, 31/3, 26/5 | Teater Barbro, Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10, Malmö
Intensive Workshops
12/4 | 14.00–18.00 | Festsalen, Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10, Malmö
13/4 | 13.00–17.30 | Teater Barbro, Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10, MalmöTechnosomatics is a unique dance practice that delves into the connection between club dancing to techno music and the body's chakras and endocrine glands. Developed and shared globally by Frédéric Gies since 2014, this practice offers a transformative experience. Each session will be dedicated to a specific focus and theme.
All workshops are free of charge. No previous skill or experience required.
PERFORMANCES
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Festsalen, Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10, Malmö
15:30–18:15 Almost not ballet + dance history crash course / Workshop by Frédéric Gies
1 hour of dance practice and 1,5 hour of dance history crash course mixing theory and practice. The workshop is open to everyone, regardless of any background in dance and is designed for both first timers and dance nerds.
18:15–19:00 Buffet
19:00–20:15 Terpsichore in Scorpio – Deposition / Performance by Frédéric Gies
With one dancer on stage and six dancers on the screen, Terpsichore in Scorpio – Deposition is a testimony of 30 years of dance career onstage, entangled with the memories of countless hours on the dance floor. A love letter to dance as much as an intimate, emotional and humorous self-portrait, to a techno soundtrack by Fiedel.
20:30–21:15 Artist talk with Frédéric Gies -
DAY 1: April 12
At Festsalen, Ungdomens hus
14:00–18:00 Technosomatics intensive - day 1 / workshop with Frédéric Gies
In this intensive workshop, we will address the relationship between the midline and the periphery of our bodies. By means of club dancing to techno with eyes closed as well as through specific movement and breathing exercises, we will explore the relationship between our endocrine glands and other tissues, which have an endocrine function as well. We will witness the various states of consciousness that will emerge and how they infuse our dance and the dance floor.
18:00–19:00: Buffet
19:00-20:15 Tribute – Solo Version / Performance by Frédéric Gies
To a spellbinding techno set by Fiedel, this performance is a tribute to the dance floor and to many dancers, dead and alive. A solo version of a group piece commissioned by and created for Weld Company in 2018. A dance like there is no tomorrow.
20:30–21:15 Artist talk
DAY 2: April 13
At Teater Barbro, Ungdomens hus
13:00–17:30 Technosomatics intensive - Day 2 / Workshop with Frédéric Gies
This workshop will be a continuation of Day 1 workshop. It will include a two hour dance dive in the dark.
All info HERE
Book your spot HERE -
Festsalen, Ungdomens Hus, Norra Skolgatan 10, Malmö
18:00–19:00: Closing of season buffet
19:00–20:00: Handled and Gone / Performance by Cristina Caprioli
“In contrast to the current hysterical oh-so-static pursuit of increased growth with rapidly consumed utility value, this solo proclaims a radical tress-pass. For the dance, through the dancing. In the singular common.”
Handled and Gone will be preceded by short dance intervention by Frédéric Gies, as a tribute to Cristina Caprioli’s dance.
20:15–21:00: Artist talk / conversation with Cristina Caprioli and Frédéric Gies
OTHER EVENTS
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Item description
Upcoming Editions
FALL 2025
More artists, international choreographers and access to behind the stage.
More info in 2025.
About
MAISON de la DANSE
MAISON de la DANSE is an independent platform for dance, organised and curated by Dance is Ancient in Malmö, SE. MAISON de la DANSE is at the moment mobile in the city. We welcome all audiences to a broad range of activities, including performances, workshops, works-in-progress, conversation and open house days.
Previous Editions
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Under construction
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Workshops & classes:
Technosomatics
Technosomatics live (collaboration with Kontra-musik/Ulf Eriksson)
Open training with Dance is ancient’s team
Open classes——
Performances:Many wild times (work-in-progress)
An investigation of the overlaps between hetereocis-normative sociability and climate collapse.
Presented in the frame of the programme evening #ONE (A danceaafter a dance after another dance - 2023).
Dance & choreography: Andreas HaglundChiron in Aries (excerpts and remixes)
Selected duos and solos from the 7-piece cycle Chiron in Aries. Uniquely revisited with group dances danced as solos and/or solos as duos. After the Spring edition revisiting Brittanie Brown and Elisa Brewer’s solos, the fall edition makes us rediscover the cycle through the prism of dancers Declan Whitaker, Andreas Haglund and Frédéric Gies.
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dance: Frédéric Gies, Declan Whitaker, Andreas Haglund / Music: Fiedel / Costumes: Grzegorz MatlagDance is ancient dances Dance is ancient’s dance #1, #2, #3 and #4
6 different compilation of dances from our repertoire, presented in their original form or remixed in unexpected way.
Presented it the frame of our Open House Maison Ouverte.
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dancers: Elise Brewer, Disa Krosness, Anna Pehrsson and Frédéric Gies / Music: Fiedel / Costumes: Grzegorz MatlagExcavation Series I
In the first part of three, Excavation Series I, Choreographer and Dancer Anna Pehrsson, sources movement as mass - hot liquid rock lurking around the corner - a comet’s tail blasting through the skies - or a thin layer of evaporated water reaching the pores.
Presented it the frame of our Open House Maison Ouverte.
Choreography and Dance: Anna Pehrsson / Music: Alva NotoYou might plant a rose bush under your bedroom window
A walk through the landscape of bushes and railway tracks. A sequence of desires and needs unfolding alongside the trail. A dance of repetitive riffs that hits tenderly.
Presented it the frame of our Open House Maison Ouverte.
Dance & choreography: Elise Brewer#TWO (A dance after a dance after another dance – 2023)
A special programme, navigating between Frédéric Gies’ classics and the forgotten corners of their work, in a poetic yet humorous journey. Choreography and dance: Frédéric Gies / Artist talk led by Skånes konstförening.Penumbral dances
Performance for one spectator at a time, in an intimate setting.
Choeography and dance: Frédéric GiesTilt to turn
In 2021, the possibilities of meeting and playing live were uncertain. Intonal Festival decided to do little guerrilla actions where they would crash various locations around Malmö, without notice or announcement, and just create what they loved. No crowd or anything, just them, the artists and their creativity. They invited Frédéric Gies and Rivet, which collaboration gave birth to Tilt to turn.
Presented live for the first time, in the frame of the performance evening #THREE (A dance after a dance after another dance - 2023).
Dance and choeography: Frédéric Gies / Music (live): RivetManifesto 1
A new solo, which will be part of the upcoming piece “Manifestos: Chiron in Aries, Recital #5 and #6”, which will premiere in the fall 2025. It is part of a series of solos, which in their turn are part of the Chiron in Aries cycle, crafted specifically for the dancers who perform them. In this solo, Elise Brewer’s dance oscillate between fierceness and vulnerability, relentlessness and tenderness.
Presented in the frame of the performance evening #THREE (A dance after a dance after another dance).
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dance: Elise Brewer / Music: Fiedel / Costume: Grzegorz Matlag——
Club:
#THE PARTY
A party to celebrate a year of dancing, with Rivet & Berghain resident Fiedel.——
Other:Open rehearsals
Techno lunch
Afterworks
Artist talks——
Partners (curating) : MARC, Kontra-musik
Partners (venues) : Ungdomens Hus, Skåne konstförening
With the support of : Kulturrådet, Malmö stad, Region Skåne -
First edition of Maison de la Danse as we know it today!
Workshops: Technosomatics Regular, Technosomatics Intensive & Ribbon Dance workshop
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Performances:
The Last
A celebration of dancing, dancers, and personal dance histories. It will premiere in August 2023 in Knislinge, with 7 dancers, each presenting a solo. For La Maison de la Danse, Rachel Tess gives a world preview of this work and dances her own solo from the piece.
Dance, concept and Choreography: Rachel Tess / Sound: Uli RuchlinskiLittle did I know that I, ere or since, ever should speak mouthless
Little did I know that I, ere or since, ever should speak mouthless (2011) examines the possibilities of dealing with politics in an artistic work.
Choreography and Dance: Frédéric Gies / Music: Daniel JenatschDance concert #1
Compilation of different programs of bold, tender and virtuosic dances extracted from our recent performances for the stage: “Constellations and Alliances”, “Warriors” and “Terpsichore in Scorpio”.
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dance: Frédéric Gies, Andreas Haglund / Music: FiedelDance concert #2 Compilation of different programs of bold, tender and virtuosic dances extracted from our recent performances for the stage: “Constellations and Alliances” and “Barricades and Legacies”.
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dance: Brittanie Brown, Elise Brewer / Music: FiedelDance concert #3
Compilation of different programs of bold, tender and virtuosic dances extracted from our recent performances for the stage: “Penumbral dances”, “Constellations and Alliances” and “Barricades and Legacies”.
Choreography: Frédéric Gies / Dance: Brittanie Brown, Frédéric Gies / Music: FiedelUnclouded Dances
Performance/ritual for one spectator at a time, in an intimate setting. It addresses the spiritual dimension of dance and its relationship to healing.
Choreography and Dance: Frédéric Gies / Music: Fiedel——
Other: Techno Breakafsts, Open Movement Research
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Partners (venues): Ungdomens Hus
With the support of: Kulturrådet. Malmö stad, Region Skåne -
First Malmö base edition in 2022 under the previous name “ Context”.
Workshops: Technosomatics.
Performances: Good girls go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere - Unclouded Dances - Walk + Talk - Ribbon DanceDance: Frédéric Gies
Music: Fiedel
Partners (venues): Ungdomens Hus, Teaterhögskolan
With the support of: Kulturrådet. Malmö stad, Region Skåne