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First performance for “I mellan”

By on February 28, 2019
John Jamal Gille Columbus

Unruly Gang gives the audience a vibrant dancehall performance about strength, siblingship and belonging. With love, attitude and energy, they share the power of being a third culture kid – taking the best of both worlds and creating a third. In the premiere of “I mellan” you meet five dancers in choreography of two of the country’s premier danechall choreographers, Imenella Mohamed and Rut Roos.

After the first performance at Dansens Hus, the performance goes out in the country on a large Riksteater tour that visits Vara, Hudiksvall, Jokkmokk, Örebro and Motala. The tour will give audiences around the country the opportunity to meet a different type of dance than you might have seen before. Dancehall is an experimental and creative dance style, influenced by many styles that have emerged in nightclubs in Jamaica.

Rut Roos says that dancehall has become something of a women’s movement because most practitioners are women and their interpretation of culture has emerged in a sisterhood.

– Dancehall is special because it is a dance style that allows very much expressivity emotionally. It has become a popular style especially for young girls, because there is an opportunity to express aggression in the dance, something that as a girl usually does not get to express. And then I mean a positive aggression, to get to take a clear place in the room, says choreographer Rut Roos.

Rut Roos remembers when she herself tested dancehall for the first time.
– I felt like cool. My first meeting with dancehall was very aggressive and tough. I got to wave pistol fingers and as a fourteen year old I think it was very liberating, says Rut Roos and laughs.

I mellan is about how to define yourself in a society that would like to identify one based on how you look, how you are or where you come from. Choreographer Imenella Mohamed took over the dance floor in 2018 with her debut single Chagga. She recently won a grammy for this year’s newcomer and was previously nominated for the future artist on P3 Gold. Along with the close colleague Rut Roos, she is now lifting the strength of being “third culture kid”.

– Being a third culture kid is to be anything and everything in between! says Imenella Mohamed, choreographer.

Unruly Gang “I mellan”
March 6, 2019, Dansens Hus Big Stage

Helena Olofsson, Culture & Music | Norrmalm
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