Translation from VLT news paper article in Swedish

An emerging dance company in Västerås

Erik Jersenius
19 June 2018

Scenography for Kristin Westman Elorza's dance work consists of Robert Ferm's images. He has previously photographed dancers who then dance to the beat of his images and the music.
Photo: Robie Törnell

Soon Kristine Westman Elorza and Robert Ferm will travel with four dancers to the big dance festival in Pietrasanta, Italy. Under the name Compasíon Dance Company, a foundation is now being laid for a professional regional dance company in Västerås.

VÄSTERÅS. Six years ago, the American world choreographer Jana Hicks visited Västerås and worked with the dance students at Västerås Kulturskola. Dance enthusiast Robert Ferm read about the visit in VLT and realised that it was Kristine Westman Elorzas who had invited Jana Hicks. He contacted her and that was the beginning of a long and creative friendship.

Kristine Westman Elorza and Robert Ferm are now laying the foundation for a regional dance company in Västerås.
Photo: Erik Jersenius

Kristine Westman Elorza is a dance teacher and choreographer for the advanced dance courses at the cultural school. In recent years, she has let artist Robert Ferm to photograph her students performing her work. What characterises his images is that he does not try to realistically capture the dancers' bodies, but rather paints and sculpts them with the camera using light and a long shutter speed. Robert Ferm chisels out other dimensions of dance in his images, which are a kind of abstraction that emphasises the movement and emotion of the dancers' expressions.

‘Something magical happens when my dance and Robert's images meet. I want to convey a message and do something meditative, and he manages to capture the feeling and the mystery of the dance’, says Kristine Westman Elorza.

She grew up in Västerås and danced at both the cultural school and the dance aesthetics programme at Carlforsska secondary school before moving to Gothenburg to study at the Ballet Academy. As a professional dancer, Kristine Westman Elorza was mainly active in Spain before returning to her hometown seven years ago to work with pedagogy and choreography. What characterises her as a choreographer is that she combines the styles of jazz, contemporary and lyrical dance in her work. For her, dance is therapy and she places great emphasis on the music and the connection between music, movement and expression.

The scenography for Kristine Westman Elorza's dance work consists of Robert Ferm's images. He has previously photographed the dancers who then dance in time to the images and music. Photo: Robie Törnell (översta bilden)

Together with Robert Ferm and four dancers, she is now travelling to the major dance festival DANZA in Arte in Pietrasanta in Italy on 23 June. Pietrasanta has just over 20,000 inhabitants and is located a few miles north of Pisa. For a couple of weeks, the small town will be filled with professional dancers, musicians, groups and dance companies as there will be numerous performances and workshops.

From the cultural school, Kristine Westman Elorza brings with her three students Michela Bonetti, Johanna Frimmel and Karolina Holmqvist. Professional dancer Carolina Larsson will also be joining them.

For the students, the trip will be a unique opportunity to meet the very best in dance in the world, but they will also perform "Downfall" and "Departure of Vision", two of Kristine Westman Elorza's works. For these, Robert Ferm has created the scenography, which consists of the images he has previously taken of the dancers performing the works. The art photos will be projected in the background during the performances in time with the music and dance. Robert Ferm will also make a film documentary about the preparation and journey to Pietrasanta, which will be used for teaching and inspiration.

Kristine Westman Elorza and Robert Ferm have chosen to call the dance group and collaboration "Compasíon Dance Company" and they see that the foundation for a professional dance company in Västerås and Västmanland is now being laid.

’I have long wanted to start a dance company together with Robert, he is the right person to do it with. Västerås is a great dance city, there are a lot of young skilled dancers from here, but when they have trained at the Ballet Academy or the Dance Academy, it is a pity that there is no context for professional dancers to return to in Västerås’, says Kristine Westman Elorza.

Robert Ferm has been running the Ozone Gallery in the Gallerian mall for a couple of years now, where he exhibits his own art in the form of art photography and sculptures. His background is both artistic and technical: he has a degree in engineering and a has been doing PhD studies in computer science, but has also attended National College of Art an Design in Dublin. Robert Ferm runs an interaction design company for various IT systems and invests part of the company's income in his artistic projects, which include exhibitions in the Gallerian mall and his temporary public exhibitions of sculptures, as well as publishing his art photo books. Four years ago, together with Kristine Westman Elorza, he published "Motion Emotion" as print on demand book, with art photos taken from her dance works, including her interpretation of the Nobel Prize winner in Literature Tomas Tranströmer's poem "C major", which was performed at the Tranströmer Prize ceremony in 2011.

Now Robert Ferm is hoping to secure funding for a dance company. The Swedish Arts Council has shown interest in providing funding.

’The Swedish Arts Council is keen for Västmanland to have a regional dance company and is prepared to provide half the funding. ‘I'm now working on a way to finance the second part and I'm almost there’, says Robert Ferm.

‘We've both been busy with everything else we do, and I have a full-time job at the cultural centre. But imagine what we will be able to achieve if we can spend more time on a dance company together’, says Kristine Westman Elorza.

Kristine Westman Elorza combines jazz, modern dance and lyrical dance in her choreography.
Photo: Robie Törnell

She sees that such a dance company could also make contacts abroad and become part of the international dance scene.

‘I have danced professionally in Spain and Italy in particular. I'm still a household name there and still have my contacts’, says Kristine Westman Elorza.

For Kristine Westman Elorza, dance is therapeutic, something she wants to express in her work.
Photo: Robie Törnell

They think a professional dance company is part of the cultural life of a city as big as Västerås is becoming.

’Everyone wants the city to grow, but much of the debate is only about densification and housing. It's as if people are just going to eat, work, shop and sleep here without any idea of what kind of city we want to live in. We need to invest in culture because it is the kit of society’, says Robert Ferm.

Magic happens when Kristine Westman Elorza's dance meets Robert Ferm's images.
Photo: Robie Törnell

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