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LYDIA ÖSTBERG DIAKITÈ & BAMBAM FROST

Lydia Östberg Diakité is a dancer, choreographer and union organizer who since 2013 is based in Copenhagen. Ö. Diakité is inspired by and refers in its work to popular cultural phenomena, hyper-performativity, contemporary criticism and tenderness. These themes and concepts are embodied in the works EMBRACE and CRY BABY. Ö. Diakité works with an intersectional feminist approach in artistic processes and practices decolonization of art production and sees a value in shaping new collective realities. Ö. Diakité laid the foundation for Dance Cooperative and runs it together with 15 artists in Copenhagen. Since 2019, Ö. Diakité is on the board of The Union, a workers union that works towards the elimination of racism on the culture and art scene in Denmark.

BamBam Frost is a dancer and choreographer based in Stockholm, Sweden. She graduated from Stockholm University of the Arts, with a bachelor of contemporary dance spring 2013. In her work she has moved between the club scene, commercial work, music videos and art institutions. During the spring 2018 she debuted with the piece SORRY. BamBam’s work is in constant transformation and dialog with the now. There is a strong interest for social dances and pop cultural expressions. She plays with the thought of these as carriers of time, structures and context with which she through choreography can change the narratives of. Inspired by sci-fi BamBam uses choreography as a tool to imagine and propose alternatives.

Photo credits: Märta Thisner

Odödlig topp/ Immortal summit

Immortal summit is a performance that stretches between ideas of greatness and delusions of grandeur. Two characters are bound to an immortal fate and trapped in an ambivalent reality where remembrance of humanity’s excessive behaviors is put on display. Searching for something different, immortal summit lives in the borderland of provocation and play, tenderness, and failure, asking questions of how to navigate one’s existence in a non-voluntary reality.

In immortal summit Lydia Östberg Diakité and BamBam Frost work with materials inspired by sports, gods and popular cultural icons. Studying the phenomena of iconization and the canonization of performance abilities, where impossible levels and high expectations are the new standard.

Premiere: 11 November 2021, MDT Stockholm

Credits
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Idea, choreography, performers: Lydia Östberg Diakité and Bambam Frost
Composer, producer and sound design: Holger Hartvig Nielsen
Sound design: Neda Senai
Studio musician: Aase Nielsen and Holger Hartvig Nielsen
Set design: Lisa Berkert Wallard
Costume: Lydia Östberg Diakité and Bambam Frost
Light design: Anton Andersson
Photo: Märta Thisner
Graphics: Ali-Eddine Abdelkhalek, EUROSTANDARD
Production: Sara Bergsmark & Therese Johnson, Nordberg Movement, Jessie McLaughlin (MDT). 
Administation: Konstnärskollektivet Interim Kultur
Co-producers: Turnéslingan Tre scener (MDT, Atalante & Dansstationen), Norrlandsoperan, Dansehallerne och Life Long Burning – Towards a sustainable Eco-System for Contemporary Dance in Europe project (2018-2022)

Duration: 60 min

Made possible with support by the Swedish Arts Council, City of Stockholm, Region Stockholm and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee