"The unique language of Sang Jijia is fluid like water, which at any moment, unexpectedly, can transform from calm liquid into a disruptive tsunami."
Bruno Heynderickx
With Not Here / Not Ever, Carte Blanche is the first European company to commission a work from one of the most important Chinese choreographers of our time, Sang Jijia. Co-produced by Bergen Festspillene and Théâtre de l’Onde in Vélizy, Paris, Not Here / Not Ever combines the talent of the Tibetan-Chinese choreographer with the musical mastery of sound artist and composer Dickson Dee, as well as the Nordic culture of the Norwegian company. The dancers on stage provide a bold encounter between Norwegian and Southeast Asian cultures, merging Sang Jijia’s background into a universally comprehensible movement language.
The performance, set against a backdrop of contrasting blacks and whites and driven by the industrial sounds of Dickson Dee, is divided into a series of sequences all culminating in a sort of “blackout,” giving rise to a succession of creations that, performed to shifting rhythms, evoke metaphorical turning points and changing states of mind.
Carte Blanche, founded in Bergen in 1989, is the Norwegian national contemporary dance company. Its repertoire includes performances by some of the best and most celebrated national and international choreographers, as well as representatives of the new generation of choreographic art.
Under the direction of Belgian Bruno Heynderickx since 2008, the company aims to be at the forefront of the development and dissemination of contemporary dance, both in Norway and abroad, through its eclecticism and distinctive creativity.
The award-winning choreographer of Tibetan descent, Sang Jijia, is currently an artist in residence at Beijing Dance/LDTX and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. With a background as a dancer and choreographer in companies from around the world, trained by William Forsythe, of whom he was an assistant and dancer, Sang Jijia is interested in exploring the influence of cultural differences on artists’ work. His works present a distinctive mix of performing and visual arts, architecture, and multimedia, conforming to an Eastern aesthetic.
