{"id":75864,"date":"2022-06-28T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-06-28T21:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=75864"},"modified":"2022-06-28T17:00:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T21:00:35","slug":"interview-conversation-norwegian-choreographer-stage-director-playwright-alan-lucien-oyen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/06\/28\/interview-conversation-norwegian-choreographer-stage-director-playwright-alan-lucien-oyen\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | In Conversation with Norwegian Choreographer\/Stage Director\/Playwright Alan Lucien Oyen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Story,
Story, story, die (Photo: Mats B\u00e4cker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norway\u2019s Alan Lucien \u00d8yen, 44, is a polymath whose artistic credits span dance, theatre and opera. Here are just some of the companies and people he has recently worked with: Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Netherlands Dance Theatre, Paris Opera and Paris Opera Ballet, and legendary actress Liv Ullmann. It doesn\u2019t get much starrier than that.<\/p>\n

\u00d8yen keeps busy buzzing around Europe and beyond as a choreographer, stage director for theatre and opera, and playwright. Occasionally, when he wants to do something for himself, he returns to Bergen, and resurrects his company, Winter Guests, by assembling specially chosen dancers and\/or actors from across Europe to create a new piece that crosses the lines between the art forms.<\/p>\n

Currently, \u00d8yen is in Canada with Winter Guests to present his latest work, Story, story, die<\/em>, at Harbourfront\u2019s Fleck Dance Theatre tonight (June 28) and tomorrow (June 29) and, by the sound of it, it is not to be missed.<\/p>\n

Our interview took place over Zoom when \u00d8yen was in Vancouver on the first leg of his Canadian tour.<\/p>\n

I find your given names interesting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My mother loved things British, and found the name Alan in the Great British Book of Christian Names. My father loved the French, so that\u2019s where Lucien came from.<\/p>\n

You literally grew up in the theatre.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true. My father was a dresser, so I was in the theatre all the time. My mother was a pharmacist, but loved singing. She was in choirs.<\/p>\n

You first wanted to be a film director, and yet you trained as a dancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I watched contemporary dance, I\u2019d feel the urge to physically move. It was a visceral reaction. I was taken up by the performance. That\u2019s why I wanted to be a contemporary dancer, even though I was starting to train late. I got into the State School for Dance when I was 16, but soon I was telling myself, I can\u2019t do this, and I asked to change to the theatre department, but they wouldn\u2019t let me, so I was stuck in dance. It turned out to be a good thing. I still love film, though. I was obsessed by Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, and people talking about themselves.<\/p>\n

What about your career as a dancer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I graduated, I joined Carte Blanche, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance. Amanda K. Miller came to set a piece, and even though I was just an apprentice, she cast me in the work. Amanda was one of the original dancers with William Forsythe\u2019s legendary Ballett Frankfurt. At the time, she had her own group called Pretty Ugly Dance Company based in Cologne, Germany. She invited me to join them, and I spent a year there in 2005. I learned so much from her \u2014 articulation, push, precision, delicacy, flashiness. It was a direct link back to Billy Forsythe.<\/p>\n

How did your choreographic career begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though I was a dance student, I always had talent as a writer, so I did writing for people \u2014 like director\u2019s and performance notes, and funding applications. I then realized that I was creating opportunities for others, so maybe I should start rooting for myself, so I wrote grants for me, and when I got them, I had to create work. In a way, I was protected in Norway. I was able to gain experience because I got public funding, and so I could create the work I wanted. After my year with Amanda, I decided to focus on choreography.<\/p>\n

At the same time, you were creating a career in theatre.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started writing plays, and then I began directing at regional theatres, and because I had experience as a stage director, I was asked to direct opera.<\/p>\n

You have created works for some of the greatest dance, theatre and opera companies in the world. How did you get known, coming from a small country like Norway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you know what a slug pile is? It\u2019s the pile of videos that festival producers receive, and you hope that one of them will notice your video and ask you to perform. I spent about 11 years being chosen from the slug pile, doing a lot of one-offs at little festivals. It was a slow and steady progression. That\u2019s how I built my career under the radar.<\/p>\n

Something must have propelled you into the spotlight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was Adolphe Binder who put me on the radar. In 2015, she asked me to come to the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company in Sweden. At the time, it was becoming an important contemporary company in Europe. I was surprised because I was working mostly with actors, but she told me to make her dancers into actors. Other companies started to invite me to set pieces.<\/p>\n

From the Canadian premiere at the National Arts Centre:<\/p>\n