For one night only in June, MUNCH is proud to present a site-specific performance with acclaimed performer and choreographer Harald Beharie. Seven performers generate a guttural choir against the backdrop of a pared-down Festsal. Using their breath and movement, they create a rhythmic, rumbling performance ritual.
Practical information:
Please note that the starting point of the performance is not at the museum.
The performance lasts about 2 hours: 1 hour of walking beforehand + 1 hour after arrival in the Festsal.
The performance is intended for an adult audience.
Starting point Sportsplassen 20:00:
We meet at Kongsveien kindergarten at Sportsplassen tram station (trams 13 and 19). From there we will walk for about 50 minutes to the museum. The tour includes hiking on a forest trail, so we recommend that you wear suitable footwear.
Accessibility:
Alternative starting point is Middelalderparken kl 20:45 by the tram station (trams 13 and 19). The group leaving from Sportsplassen will pick up those who start at Middelalderparken for a joint final leg of the walk to the museum.
Do you need any assistance? Please contact the museum.
The ticket checks will be carried out at the starting points.
There will be easily visible MUNCH crew at both starting points.
The performance starts when everyone has arrived at the Festsal, seating will be available, and it lasts for approximately 1 hour.
Undersang (MUNCH) is a development of the award-winning outdoor performance Undersang created by Harald Beharie in collaboration with Karoline Bakken Lund, Veronica Bruce and Christian Beharie. Undersang (MUNCH) develops the questions that were explored in the initial Undersang performance. By weaving together African- and Asian Nordic diasporic narratives, Undersang (MUNCH) plays with the terms nature and dissonance, and raises questions about cultural fictions and what it means to belong.
Harald Beharie writes: “Undersang creates a space for collective complaint and renewal, a ritual where questions of belonging, loss and healing are addressed through somatic intensity and vibrating dissonance. Through captivating repetitions and insistent syncopations, the performers open up for the musicality of breath, the power of the body and the potential of shared energy. A dispersed landscape of voices coalesces to a common pulse that challenges received notions of the uncontrollable, the sensuous and the raw.”
Harald Beharie is a Norwegian-Jamaican artist and choreographer based in Oslo. They question normativity and representation with a queer and critical, yet playful perspective. Friction, longing, deep listening and presence are being explored through the work – how small «glitches» can disrupt our perception and open up unforeseen ways of moving and being together. The unpolished and the vulnaribility of staying in the unknown are important themes of exploration in Harald’s practice.
Harald Beharie’s work has received wide-spread acclaim, and has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. The project Undersang won the Norwegian Critics' Award for 2023/24 and Batty Bwoy received the Hedda Award for "Best Dance Production" the same year. Their work have, amongst other, been shown at Mumok - Impulstanz (Vienna), Santarcangelo Festival (Italiy) Gessnerallee (Zürich), MDT (Stockholm), Fabbrica Europa (Florence), Theaterfestival Basel, Zodiak (Helsinki), Salmon Festival (Barcelona), Actoral Festival (Marseille), Sophiensæle (Berlin) Fierce Festival (Birmingham,) FTA (Montreal) Dansehallerne (Copenhagen) Stavanger Kunstmuseum, BIT-teatergarasjen (Bergen) og Trondheim Kunstmuseum.
Choreography: Harald Beharie
Performers: Loan Ha, Mariama Slåttøy, Carlisle Sienes, Jens Trinidad, Nosizwe Baqwa, Amie Mbye, Harald Beharie
Music/composition: Christian Beharie & Harald Beharie
Costumes and artistic collaboration: Karoline Bakken Lund
Producer: Kristina Melbø Valvik
Undersang©Chai Saeidi
