Jo Strømgren: Doors

◊ 2018 Golden Stage Cross. Best Choreographer – Jo Strømgren ◊ 2018 Golden Stage Cross. Best Supporting Actor in a Drama – Rytis Saladžius ◊ 2018 Golden Stage Cross. Best Set Designer – Goda Palekaitė ◊ 2018 Golden Stage Cross. Best Lighting Designer – Vilius Vilutis

Jo Strømgren: Doors

Doors separate “here” from “somewhere else”. There is a very strong belief that there will always be something better on the other side. This belief makes people move. Somewhere in Europe, in a land divided by national borders, languages, religions and geographical barriers, migration has always existed. It is a way to survive and a way to resist, an opportunity to start life anew, and also to burn bridges and leave everything behind.

In the performance Doors, movement and dance take us through different historical periods and regions so that we can see the patterns that have always existed, the reasons for migration, and how it changes among different peoples. People are always constrained by their surroundings—their home, school, workplace, country, the restaurant they can afford to visit, the person they love or pretend to love. Belonging to a particular environment is wonderful, especially if your neighbour cannot afford to go to restaurants. Such things make us smile. But when one day another neighbour comes home with a canoe on the roof of their car, we start to feel miserable. And when we recognise that smile on our neighbour’s face, we, of course, start wanting a canoe. Even if we really dislike being outdoors.

Through a naive and associative look at a group of people separated by a wall, the performance Doors seeks to reveal the most disappointing and destructive traits of human beings. Since everything always looks more interesting on the other side, a narrow door becomes an important threshold to change. But since no one is satisfied with what they have, the search for something better becomes an endless process. Are we free people, perhaps even charming and creative, or are we hopelessly chained to our habits, like Pavlov’s dogs?

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Biography of Jo Strømgren

Born in Norway, Jo Strømgren (b. 1970) is one of Scandinavia’s best-known choreographers. As the Jo Strømgren Kompani website says, Jo’s childhood was typically Norwegian: he grew up surrounded by wilderness, social democratic values and frightening stories about trolls. Born in Trondheim, in the central part of the country, the choreographer spent a considerable amount of time in the tropics, where his parents moved for work. This early enrichment of his local identity with the experience of travel influenced his professional work, both in its themes and genre variations, as well as in his interest in different languages. After finishing school, Jo could not decide what to study: chemical engineering or Russian. However, an application to the National Ballet School in Oslo, submitted almost by chance, was accepted, and Jo made an impulsive decision. Because of his scepticism towards academic methods and very poor attendance, Jo