Story, story, die. Photo credit Mats Bäcker.

Story, story, die.
winter guests – Alan Lucien Øyen

Ottawa, Ontario

June 7, 2022
June 8, 2022

Presented by
National Arts Centre

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Norway

Alan Lucien Øyen and his company winter guests tell stories of the contemporary world. Drawing from real-life experiences, his innovative multi-disciplinary works of dance and theatre have gained critical acclaim and an international following.

As a Norwegian director, choreographer and dramatist Alan Lucien Øyen’s recent recognition in the dance world is matched only by his long-established acclaim as a theatre artist. His highly emotional multidisciplinary works easily cross geographic and cultural boundaries and employ a complex and technically challenging movement language. In Story, story, die., his latest work for seven international dancers, Øyen uses a striking cinematic structure to dig deep into questions of self-identity and the relationship between lies and love. The performers’ personal stories and power struggles take dramatic twists and turns, as they explore the contradictions constructed between truth and reality.

Additional tour stops:
Toronto (Jun. 28-29) |  Vancouver (Jun. 22-23)

Choreography / Text
Alan Lucien Øyen

After graduating from the School of Art in Oslo, Alan Lucien Øyen danced with The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, Carte Blanche and Amanda Miller’s company Pretty Ugly before establishing winter guests in 2006 – a multidisciplinary company touring theatrical, dance and hybrid works in English for the international stage. Since 2009 Alan has been working closely together with the British playwright Andrew Wale. He has been a resident choreographer with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet since 2013, where he most recently created “The Hamlet Complex” – a reworking of Shakespeare’s classic for actors, dancers and children.

Alan has won numerous awards for his work as a choreographer, director and playwright. In 2018 he was invited to work for the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. In 2020/21 Alan will also create new full-evening works for Paris Opera, Opera Flanders and Staatsoper Berlin.

Company
winter guests

winter guests is an international touring company performing works by Alan Lucien Øyen from Bergen, Norway. They tell stories of the contemporary world with words, video, music and movement. The works are based on real life experiences, including original text, transcribed recordings and improvisations. The company often inserts its own reality into the subject matter of the piece – resulting in rich and eccentric performances in a constantly shifting format.

winter guests presents their avant-garde theatre and dance in both independent venues and in the context of opera stages.    

They have won several awards and gained international acclaim while touring over 20 countries for performances and residencies at places such as The Watermill Center, New York Theatre Workshop, Théâtre National de Chaillot, and Banff Center for the Arts among others. In 2014 they won the HEDDA award, the most distinguished award for theatre in Norway, in the category best written stage-play, for their epic 5 ½ hour long play Coelacanth. The piece also earned them nominations for best play and best director.

In 2018, Alan was one of the first two guest choreographers commissioned to create a piece for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, which is currently touring the world. 

The company receives annual funding from The Norwegian Arts Council.