h2dance

Type of work
Dance theatre with a live art edge

Company Policy 
h2dance (formed in 1999) presents the joint choreography and direction of Artistic Directors Hanna Gillgren (Sweden) and Heidi Rustgaard (Norway). Their work addresses political and gender issues with humour and irony to create dynamic and thought-provoking performance work. h2dance borrows its aesthetic from popular culture and combines movement with text, song and video, which directly communicates with an audience.

Review Extracts
To Die For (2007)
''A persuasive and dangerous work whose sprawling energy never lets up ... undeniably powerful.'' Daily Express, 2007

''In To Die For, we hear echoes: of the corporate criminality of the Enron conspirators, the excesses of Abu Ghraib, the mind-bending techniques of those who dispatch men and women to kill for a cause. Our greatest vulnerability, the piece tells us, lies in our need for acceptance.'' The Observer

Two (2000)
"Tantalising questions performed with a blunt, raw and quite engaging honesty" Dance Europe, 2000  

"A determinedly defiant and forceful piece of 21st-century dance theatre - that follows in the footsteps of Pina Bausch" The Guardian

"An audacious piece of dance theatre from a patently talented company keen to engage with the times in which we live." Time Out

Production highlights
To Die For (2007)
Part performance, part social experiment, the darkly humorous To Die For features four dancers stripped down to their psychological essentials in a gladiatorial battle to define winners and losers.  Convincingly cast as a diabolical ringmaster whose 'sadistic pleasure is enough to chill the blood' Daily Express, Hanna Gillgren leads her victims through a series of fast-paced playground games which become increasingly alarming in character. Showcasing h2dance's characteristic combination of dynamic movement and text and borrowing its aesthetic from popular culture, To Die For provokes questions about brainwashing in everyday life and asks how far we'd be prepared to go to feel like we really belong. To Die For is co produced by Hedmark Teater in Norway, with support from Swedish Arts Council, Värmlandsoperan in Sweden, LABAN and gDA in London.

Past productions
Touring work includes Faked (2003), a duet based on the surreal and grotesque world of circus, Buttefly Belly (2002), which explored the search for happiness and Ostrich (2000) about fear and insecurity. In 2004 they collaborated with Donald Hutera on Choreographus Interruptus, commissioned and produced by Guardians of Doubt, and Rachel Davies on Gold, an Arts Council Capture film which won the prestigious IMZ Dance on Screen Award 2005.   h2dance were Associate Artists at The Place in 2001/2and in 2004 the company was selected as British representatives on the Junge Hunde network with performances in Antwerp, Copenhagen, Meiningen and Paris.  2005 saw h2dance making På Gränsen, a new work for Värmlandsoperan in Karlstad, Sweden in celebration of the independence of Norway from Sweden in 1905. The company recently toured the UK with their duet Silent Movie. h2dance was selected to participate in a residency at Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan July/ August 2007, working with local dance artists.

Coming soon
Spring 2010 h2dance will carry on developing Choir Project during residencies in Sweden working with two choirs leading up to performances in Abundance Festival, Karlstad, at Union Scene, Drammen, Norway and in London at Laban working with students from Laban and Trinity. h2dance is collaborating with composer Sylvia Hallett, who is writing a new choral score for the production. h2dance are currently looking for a lyricist to collaborate with from January onwards. The UK premiere of Choir Project will take place in the NICE Festival in Manchester in November 2010.

Education
h2dance offers energetic, fun workshops for all ages and abilities, in both education and community settings.  The company has developed a distinctive outreach and education programme that fuses the key elements of their work.  By exploring relevant subject matter, the participants develop a range of skills including dance, theatre and social skills.

Members of h2dance has created work on Ludus Dance Company, and hosted workshops including:
- training residency for young African dancers in Nairobi Kenya
- collaboration with film-maker Nic Sandiland and a group of young teenagers in Mile end, London to create a short dance film/documentary.
- Choreography for 3rd year students at Laban Centre
- Choreography for Brighton and Hove Youth Dance Company
- Choreography for 2nd year students at London Studio Centre
- Choreography for EDge09, London Contemporary Dance School.

Co artistic directors
Hanna Gillgren
Heidi Rustgaard

Current performers
Darren Anderson
Laura Doehler
Gareth Green
Nicholas Lawson
Hanna Gillgren
Heidi Rustgaard

Contact
www.h2dance.com

Contact for touring:
Sarah Trist Dance Management Agency Ltd
11 Beaufort Road
Kingston upon Thames KT1 2TH
+44 20 8541 5399
sarah@stdma.com
For more information on the company and tour dates, please check www.h2dance.com

Contact for H2Bworkshops (previously called Beyond the box and now renamed h2bworkshops): www.h2bworkshops.co.uk