After creating two big scale productions for Cullberg the past years, Jefta van Dinther returns to the company to work on a solo for one of the dancers; Suelem de Oliveira da Silva, to be presented on a big stage. One person, a big stage, music, light, and dance. The solo will be a portrait of Suelem by Jefta. In every new piece Jefta wants to find a new kind of body. In GRIND it was the worker’s body, in As It Empties Out the transcendental body and in Protagonist the animal body. With Solo for Suelem it will be the first time Jefta creates a solo on another body.

As Jefta explains:
“I want to share more than just skills. I want to work from the bodies’ knowledge, from care for this planet, from questions about how it is to exist on this planet. What does it mean to be a human being? On a personal level I have a strong interest in what humanity is going through right now. I want to delve into the intelligence of nature and of (other) cultures, as well as into the technology of the body. I want dancers on stage to be much more than only skilled human bodies. To be contextualized as an extension of this world, or vice versa.”

Jefta van Dinther (SE/NL) is a choreographer and dancer working between Stockholm and Berlin. He was born in Utrecht, and grew up in Sweden, after which he moved to the Netherlands and graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD) in 2003. Jefta makes performances, both alone and in collaboration with other artists. Among his works: Dark Field Analysis (2017), Protagonist for Cullbergbaletten (2016), Plateau Effect for Cullbergbaletten (2013), THIS IS CONCRETE (2012), made in collaboration with Thiago Granato, as well as GRIND (2011), in collaboration with lighting designer Minna Tiikkainen and sound designer Davis Kiers. His other works include The Blanket Dance (2011), made in collaboration with Frédéric Gies and DD Dorvillier, Kneeding (2010), The Way Things Go (2009) and IT’S IN THE AIR (2008) in collaboration with Mette Ingvartsen.

Jefta has been engaged as a performer with various choreographers including Mette Ingvartsen, Xavier Le Roy, Ivana Muller, Frédéric Gies, Kristine Slettevold, Keren Levi and Leine&Roebana. Jefta teaches in choreography, sharing his methods of work and practices. He was artistic director of the MA program in Choreography together with Frédéric Gies at the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm.

In 2012, Jefta was awarded the Birgit Cullberg Grant, and in spring 2013 The Swedish Arts Council and The City of Stockholm allocated him a three year production support. In 2013 he was awarded The Swedish Art Critic’s prize for best production Plateau Effect that was also selected to The Swedish Biennial for Performing Arts in Malmö 2015.

Cullberg is the national and international repertoire contemporary dance company in Sweden, continuously co-creating to make cutting edge dance relevant for the many. Together with choreographers from all over the world, we are exploring ideas on how dance can be defined, produced and presented. Those explorations are the pillars of a company that is constantly in motion at the heart of the international arena. 2019-2021, Cullberg works exclusively with three associated artists: Alma Söderberg, Deborah Hay and Jefta van Dinther. The core of the company consists of 17 extraordinary individual dancers with a central role in the creations. Cullberg is led by artistic director Gabriel Smeets and managing director Stina Dahlström. Cullberg is part of Riksteatern – The Swedish National Touring Theatre.