Winter Guests (Norway)

winter guests

winter guests is an international touring company performing works by Alan Lucien Øyen from Bergen, Norway. They tell stories of the contemporary world with words, video, music and movement. The works are based on real life experiences, including original text, transcribed recordings and improvisations. The company often inserts its own reality into the subject matter of the piece – resulting in rich and eccentric performances in a constantly shifting format. winter guests presents their avant-garde theatre and dance in both independent venues and in the context of opera stages.  

They have won several awards and gained international acclaim while touring over 20 countries for performances and residencies at places such as The Watermill Center, New York Theatre Workshop, Théâtre National de Chaillot, and Banff Center for the Arts and creativity among others. among others. winter guests presents their avant-garde theatre and dance in both independent venues and in the context of opera houses.  

Besides winter guests, Alan directs and creates work for theater and dance companies world wide, including the Paris Opera, Gothenburg Opera’s Dance Company, Det Norske Teatret and The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet where he is currently associated artist.

Alan Lucien Øyen is one of the most exciting artists from Norway today, whose work as writer, director and choreographer has been highly acclaimed in his home country and abroad.

As the son of a dresser, Alan grew up in a small theatre, Den Nationale Scene, established by Ibsen himself, in the town of Bergen, Norway. Here he would watch theatre religiously from the age of 7 – classical productions as well as contemporary masterworks like the very first world premieres from Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse.

At the age of 17 he went on to study Ballet with Hungarian ballet master and Mariinsky Theatre graduate Peter Tornev, whom he studied with for two years before being accepted into the State School of Art in Oslo where he graduated as a dancer in 2001.

Alan spent his first years as a dancer with The Norwegian National Contemporary dance company, Carte Blanche, where he met American choreographer Amanda Miller, he later went on to join her company Pretty Ugly in Köln in 2005.

Alan choreographed his first piece “excerpts of citation without context” in 2004, a solo dealing with the over- exposure of information in modern day society based on Jean Beudrillard’s essay “Ecran Total” (Screened Out).

By 2006 he’d already established his own company winter guests – a multidisciplinary company bringing together actors, dancers, writers, set designers and technicians, touring theatrical works in English for the international stage. Since 2009 his plays for winter guests have been written and developed together with British playwright and director Andrew Wale.

Whether it’s theatre, dance or film, Alan’s works have a highly emotional and dramatic drive. His choreographic language is complex and technically challenging. His works are informed by the world around him which allows him to draw inspiration from a myriad of sources including high art and popular culture as well as personal conversations and experiences – always in pursuit of a sincere and human expression.

Alan has won several awards, both for his choreographic works as well as his theatre productions. His six hour long play “Coelacanth”, (co-written with Andrew Wale), won him the prestigious HEDDA Award, (Norwegian Theatre Awards), for Best Original Play, as well as three other nominations including Best Director and Best Play. 

Besides his work for winter guests, Alan is also commissioned internationally to create work for opera houses, contemporary dance companies, and stage plays for regional theatres. He was one of the first two guest choreographers commissioned to create a full-length piece for the renowned Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, which premiered June 2018 and is currently touring the world.

As associated artist at the Oslo Opera House since 2013, Alan is given the space and freedom for himself, and his company winter guests, to make groundbreaking theatre and dance performances in the stunning new Norwegian Opera House. Alan was awarded the 2018 Wilhelmsens Opera og Ballettpris Award for challenging the traditional opera and ballet context with his original theatre works.

Olivia Ancona

Olivia Ancona was born in the USA and studied at the Juilliard School.  She was a member of the Batsheva ensemble and a founding member of Sharon Eyal’s LEV. After a season at the royal Swedish ballet she returned to Batsheva dance company. Olivia has worked in Sidi Larbi’s Eastman, as a guest with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Örjan Andersson Dance, and with Sasha Waltz at the Staatsballett Berlin. She joined winter guests for the creation of ‘Story, story, die’ in 2019. Olivia is a certified Gaga teacher and gives workshops internationally.

Scott Jennings

Scott Jennings is a British born dancer, performer and teacher. He studied dance and theatre at The BRIT School, Croydon and then went onto receive a BA (Hons) degree from London Contemporary Dance School. Scott has performed and collaborated with artists such as Lloyd Newson, Robert Wilson, Matthew Bourne, Maxine Doyle, Alexandra Waierstall and Suzy Willson. From 2012 – 2018 he was a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, performing seminal roles in works such as Nelken, Café Müller and 1980, amongst others. As a guest dancer for the company, he also created an original role in Dimitris Papaioannou’s Since She. Alongside performing, Scott regularly teaches creative workshops and classes at schools, institutions and festivals throughout Europe.

Yi-Chi Lee

Yi-Chi Lee was born in Changhua, Taiwan. He finished his education at the Taipei National University of the Arts from 2009-2016. In 2018, he joined Dance Company Theater Osnabrück where he danced until joining Staatsballett Berlin (under the direction of Johannes Öhman/Sasha Waltz) as a demi-soloist contemporary dancer in August of 2019. In 2021, he joined Winter Guests for the current creation ’The American Moth’ 2021 and ‘Story, story, die’ tour in 2022. He is now a freelance dancer/performer based in Berlin.

Waldean Nelson

Waldean Nelson, originally from Brooklyn, New York, received his training from the Dance Theater of Harlem, The Ailey School, Bryn Mawr College, Jacob’s Pillow, Philadanco and Springboard Danse Montreal. Waldean received his B.A. in Growth and Structure of Cities (conc. Architecture) and a minor in Dance from Haverford College in 2009.

Waldean has had the pleasure of working with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Jose Navas, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, The 605 Collective, & Kate Wallich/The YC.

Waldean joined GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in 2015 under the direction of Adolphe Binder. Since joining he has created many original works and roles with choreographers such as Marina Mascarell, Alan Lucien Oyen, Saburo Teshigawara, Marcos Morau, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Yoann Bourgeois.

Outside of his work at the opera, Waldean has also had the opportunity to be featured in various commercial campaigns such as Kronaby and Decent Bangla. He also was a featured dancer in the music video ‘Lakan’ by Newkid.

Jacob Francis Thoman

Jacob Thoman spent his childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio and Manila, Philippines, where he trained and performed with Exhale Dance Tribe, following Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard, and received additional training at The School for Creative and Performing Arts, and at Cincinnati Ballet. Graduating from The Juilliard School in 2019, under the direction of Larry Rhodes and Alicia Graf Mack, they have performed works by Roy Assaf, Crystal Pite, and Stefanie Batten Bland. Jacob has worked with Benoit Swan Pouffer and Alexandra Damiani at Cedar Lake 360 Intensive, as well as with Alexandra Wells at Springboard Danse Montreal. In Summer 2019, Jacob performed in the inaugural production of Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise at The Shed, choreographed by Akram Khan. This season, Jacob has appeared in Alan Lucien Øyen’s Story, story, die, through a multi-faceted artistic alliance between winter guests and Gibney Company. This is Jacob’s third season with Gibney Company.

Tom Weinberger

Born in Israel. Upon graduation Tom joined the Batsheva Ensemble in 2005 and the Batsheva Dance Company in 2008. In 2012 he began freelancing and became a founding member of Sharon Eyal and Guy Behar’s Company, L-E-V. He has danced with the Gothenburg Ballet and was a guest artist with Michael Keegan Dolan’s-Fabulous Beast Dance Theater and with the Forsythe Company. Since 2014 Tom has been choreographing his own work in companies and schools through out North America and Europe. He is a certified Gaga teacher since 2006 and teaches Gaga and a variety of repertoire around the world. In 2019 Tom joined winter guests as part of “Story, story, die.”

Cheng-An Wu

Cheng-An Wu, a contemporary dancer from Taiwan, graduated from Taipei National University of The Art. He has worked extensively in Europe including for Ultima Vez (Belgium) and Gothenburg Opera Dance Company (Sweden). He has danced for Free Steps by Wei-Chia Su, Kodak by Alan Lucien Øyen, Sacre by Roy Assaf, In Spite Of Wishing And Wanting by Wim Vandekeybus, and Long River by Wen-Chung Lin. He also develops his own work including Mayfly (2018) and Schrodinger’s Whale (2017). Being trained in Taiwan, but highly influenced by many European cultures, his work is layered with multi-cultural qualities. Cheng-An joined winter guests in 2019 as part of “Story, story die.”

Martin Flack – Set Design

Martin works as both managing director and technical director of winter guests. He has a background as light designer, sound technician, light technician, stage manager and production manager. Martin has worked together with Alan Lucien Øyen since 2004 and with winter guests since it was founded in 2006. Besides his work with Alan, Martin has also worked at Festspillene I Bergen, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Grieghallen, Assembly Theatre, Carte Blanche, Oktoberdans Festival, BIT Teatergarashjen, and Borealis Festival among others.

Daniel Hones – Technical Director

Danny Hones is a Theatre Technician with over 40 years’ experience. After formative years in the UK at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, The National Theatre, and Glyndebourne Opera he started working as a freelance technician and as such has since worked for theatre, dance and opera companies in 41 countries on six continents. He has worked directly for many arts festivals including 33 years for the Edinburgh International Festival. He is now resident in New Zealand where he was Technical Operations Manager for the New Zealand Festival and is Technical Manager for the Festival of Colour in Wanaka. He has been involved with a number of winter guests shows over the last few years both in Norway and on tour.

Ana Maria Lucaciu – Rehearsal Director

Ana Maria Lucaciu is a freelance choreographer and performing artist based in New York City.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Ana Maria graduated from the National Ballet School of Canada and joined Canada’s National Ballet immediately after. She went on to dance with the Royal Danish Ballet, Augsburg Ballet (Germany), The Portuguese Contemporary Dance Company (Lisbon) and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (New York), where she danced for seven years.

Ana Maria has performed and created works with contemporary dance’s foremost choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Hofesh Shechter, Jiří Kylián, Jo Stromgren, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and many others. As a freelance performer she has collaborated with New Dialect, Zoe/Juniper, Bryan Arias and Aszure Barton & Artists. She assisted Crystal Pite on her Polaris project at New York City Center, and regularly assists Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman with new creations and stages his work around the world. 

Ana Maria is a choreographer in her own right and her work has been presented by the Norwegian National Ballet, New Dialect, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, OZ Arts Nashville/ Becca Hoback solo show, Terminus Modern Ballet Theater, Ballet Finland, Battery Dance Company. In 2020 she was commissioned to create a short solo work by Swedish TV. She also created a full-evening duet with Nathan Griswold that has toured the US and Europe. Her work will be presented by Philadelphia Ballet and Dance Aspen in the spring of 2022.

Ana Maria joined London’s Rambert 2 company as a rehearsal director for the spring of 2021. She will be joining Alan Lucien Øyen’s Winter Guests as rehearsal director for their 2022 tour. 

The holder of a BFA in dance from Empire State College, Ana Maria teaches ballet, contemporary, and improvisation workshops at professional programs and dance companies across the US, Europe and Asia. She is a 2018 TedX Bucharest speaker.

Gail Johnson

Gail Johnson is a Vancouver journalist who first started covering dance in 1996. She is co-founder and co-editorial director of Stir.

Janet Smith

Janet Smith is a cofounder and editor at Stir, a digital site devoted to arts journalism in Vancouver. She’s been writing about this city’s thriving dance scenes for close to three decades, across local and national publications.

Nordic Bridges is a year-long initiative led by Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre fostering cultural exchange between the Nordic Region and Canada. Working with partners across Canada, Nordic Bridges will present multidisciplinary contemporary art, culture, and ideas throughout 2022.

Built on shared values of creativity, innovation, inclusivity, resilience and sustainability, Nordic Bridges will serve to connect the Nordic Region – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland – and Canada through collaborations between artists, innovators and thinkers.

From January to December 2022, this national initiative will highlight contemporary Nordic art and culture in a range of disciplines, including performing arts (dance, theatre, circus and music), visual and digital arts, craft and design, literature, film, and culinary arts.

As one of Canada’s leading contemporary, multidisciplinary arts and culture institutions, Harbourfront Centre will lead the programming of Nordic Bridges, working with cultural organizations across Canada. The initiative will spark dialogue between Canadian audiences and artists while highlighting Nordic innovation.

This exciting initiative is seeded by a grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to Nordic collaboration.

As the Norwegian Ambassador to Canada, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to tonight’s performance, Story story die, by winter guests and the acclaimed choreographer and director Alan Lucien Øyen. The production is presented by DanceHouse in partnership with Nordic Bridges – a yearlong cultural collaboration between the Nordic region and Canada, taking place from coast to coast to coast throughout 2022. —Jon Elvedal Fredriksen, Ambassador of Norway