Sámi Teáhter Searvi (STS) and Scandinavia House join together for a two-day festival to celebrate Sámi culture and address topical political and social issues expressed through theater and dance, storytelling, traditional joik, poetry, and films from leading Sámi artists.
Lecture and Yoiks
Speaker Mary Sarre presents a lecture about yoik or traditional Sámi chanting.
Short Film: The Yoiking Hand/Juoigangiehta
Directed by Elle Sofe Henriksen (Norway, 2011). A short documentary and dance film by choreographer and filmmaker Elle Sofe Henriksen that provides brief insight into Sámi culture. The Yoiking Hand features the unrehearsed movements of three traditional Sámi yoikers and their thoughts about why the hand moves in a certain way while yoiking.
5 min. | In Sámi with English subtitles.
Poetry and Visual Art Performance: Terrain
A 15-piece collection of collages, paintings, photographs, and poetry from writer/artist Hilde Skancke Pedersen. Existentialism as interpreted through human surroundings and situations provide the running theme of Pedersen’s work.
Monologue: Ii dát leat dat eana
Directed by Harriet Nordlund and based on the Sámi writer Inga Rawdna Eira’s poem, Ii dát leat dat eana – performed by actress Anitta Suikkari – is as a provocative cry for help and awakening to save Mother Earth. Audiences meet the Sámi Goddess Uksáhka who descends to Earth and consequently suffers a global “hangover.”
Humoristic Storytelling: Biiga – the Madie
Directed by Thea Stable and performed by writer and actress Sara Margrethe Oskal, Biiga – the Madie is based on storytelling and yoiks about a girl of a marrying age, but who doesn’t want to follow the rules of proper Sámi girls. Biiga is also part of the award-winning show The Whole Caboodle.
Short Film: The Wind Whispers There Is Someone Behind the Tundra/Biegga savkala duoddariid duohken lea soames
Directed by Ken Are Bongo & Elle Sofe Henriksen (Norway, 2006). As dancers travel through time and space, enjoying the wonders of the sky, they find different objects that connect them to their Sámi ancestors and reveal a belief in the powers of nature. Choreographed by Elle Sofe Henriksen/Johtti kompani, the silent film’s impressionistic imagery is inspired by the poem Biegga savkala duoddariid duohken lea soames by award-winning Sámi poet Synnøve Persen.
10 min.
Storytelling & Guitar: The Daughter of the Sun
The Daughter of the Sun tells the story of the Sámi Creation myth, told by Harriet Nordlund, accompanied by guitarist Erik Steen.
About Sámi Teáhter Searvi and the presenting artists
Sarakka Gaup is from the Sámi village Guovdageaidnui (also known as Kautokeino) in Norway. She works with theater and Sámi culture as a stage performer. Gaup is the recipient of several art scholarships from the Norwegian Culture Council and the Sámi Parliament. She has also worked as an actress for the Sámi National Theatre – Beaivváš. Gaup is currently studying Sámi language and literature.
Elle Sofe Henriksen is from Guovdageaidnui, Norway. Henriksen works with dance, choreography and films. She engages her work to impart Sámi expression to a wider audience through dance and film. Henriksen holds a Master’s degree in Choreography from The Norwegian National Academy of the Arts and a Bachelor’s degree in Dance from The Laban School in London. Her films and performances have been shown in China, Greenland, Russia, Canada, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden.
Kenneth Hætta is a photographer and playwright. His first play is being produced this year at the Sámi Theater in Sweden. He has also been working as a musician, collaborating with other Sámi artists. Thematically, he often works with tradition in conjunction with modernity. He will be documenting the festival and its programs at Scandinavia House.
Ada Einmo Jürgensen is a choreographer and stage director and served as the former theater manager and co-founder of the South Sámi Theater for 20 years. She creates works of contemporary dance and performances, fusing traditional Sámi yoik, languages, and other traditional expressions into contemporary/avant-garde stage performances and outdoor theater. She is also the Holder of the Norwegian Art Councils Grant for Dance Artist until her retirement and is the Chairman of Sámi Teáhter Searvi. Jürgensen is also the host of the festival at Scandinavia House.
Matyas Le Brun is a Breizh (a minority people from western France) film-maker, photographer, author, and translator. He has worked in feature films in France and abroad, writes poetry and novels, and directs movies and projects from an indigenous point of view. Le Brun also translates essays, poetry, and books in English, French and Brezhoneg (the Breizh people’s Celtic-based, endangered language). He continues to contribute toward the development of his culture’s artistic and literary field.
Harriet Nordlund is from Jokkmokk, Sweden. She is an actress, playwright, and director and has worked in theater and music since she was 17-years-old. Nordlund is currently directing a family performance of Faust and acting in the performance The Daughter of the Sun about the Sámi creation story.
Sara Margrethe Oskal is an actress, performance artist, writer, and filmmaker. She received her Doctoral degree in Performing Arts from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Oskal has performed in multiple theater and film projects and is also an established writer having written scripts for television and theater and published several books of poetry. She has also directed theater performances and recently released her first short film.
Hilde Skancke Pedersen works as a visual artist, set and costume designer, and a writer and playwright. In all these genres, she has been influenced by the mental and physical marks that human beings leave behind and the signs of life that can be found in barren regions. The Sámi National Theater has performed two of her plays. Pedersen’s visual art can be viewed as the commissioned focal art-piece in the Sámi Parliament building in Karasjok, Norway.
Ingá Márjá Sarre is a television, film, and theater actress and a yoiker and storyteller from Guovdageaidnui, Norway. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Acting from Nord-Trøndelag University College and has also studied storytelling and yoik at the Sámi University College. Since 2000 Sarre has participated as an actress in several plays for Beaivváš – The Sámi National Theater.
Marte Fjellheim Sarre is from Karasjok, Norway and works as a freelance dancer based in Bergen. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Dance and Teaching from the University of Stavanger. Sarre attended Yoik Movement – a symposium organized by The Sámi Theater Association, worked as a dancer in Jorggáhallan by Elle Sofe Henriksen, and has the leading role as Njuorju Niilá in the play of the same name at Beaivváš – The Sámi National Theater.
Mary Sarre is a Sámi stage and film actress and a singer/yoiker.
Hailing from Sweden, Erik Steen has worked as a composer and musician since 1980. Having worked with some of the most renowned flamenco artists from around the world, in 1989 Steen started his own company – Erik Steen Flamenco Fusion. The group has recently toured Croatia, Mexico, Holland, and Colombia. Steen was invited as a soloist at Suma Flamenca – the largest flamenco festival, held in Madrid, Spain.
Anitta Suikkari was born in Finland as a descendant of an evacuated family from southern Karelia, a town now belonging to Russia. As an actress and sometimes director, she works in various theaters, groups, and projects throughout Norway and Sweden. Suikkari has been nominated for the Norwegian Amanda Film Award and the Norwegian Huda Theatre Award for her acting and has performed in several award-winning productions. For the past 18 years, Suikkari’s work has concentrated on Sámi issues and theater.
Ánne Mággá Wigelius is an actress that has previously worked at Beaivváš – The Sámi National Theater and is on a world tour with Philippe Genty’s successful production Forget Me Not. She also works on her own creations in partnership with theater director Indra Lorentzen.
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MON – 5-11-2015 – 6:00 PM
$15 ($10 ASF Members); Festival pass: $20 ($15 ASF Members)