There is no recipe for dance (2023)

In original choreography, commissioned by CODA and the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet for the Oslo International Dance Festival’s 20th anniversary, choreographers Marc Brew and Georgie Rose conceived un-be-known – a performance starring disabled and non-disabled dancers, exploring movement from differing perspectives. Centering partner-work, in and out of the wheelchair, the production called upon dancers Kadar Khristan and Victor Olivares, cast among local talent and Nordic artists, drawing on Brew’s experience of dance using a wheelchair, and Khristan’s entry into the dance world following an attack that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Interpreting the performance on film, Oslo-based filmmaker Emilie Norenberg directs there is no recipe for dancing – reflecting the constant push and pull between accepting and resisting change. Its narrative shaped by Khristan’s personal story, finding dance as a means of self-expression and regaining control of his body, Brew and Rose’s choreography emerges as a stark reflection of the inner dialogues that arise in moments of conflict, and the role of dance as a conduit through which to strengthen connection.

“Diversity on screen is something I care deeply about – in order to feel less alone, you really need to see your experience mirrored somewhere. Society unfortunately has quite a narrow relationship to the dancing body, but there is no recipe for dancing, just as there’s no rules to how you should live your life.”

The result of an intense 3-week making and production period, in which the cast learned to work safely and creatively with each other's bodies, Norenberg translates the choreography into an honest portrait of personal and physical growth. Navigating moments of reflection and contemplation, alongside partner-work sequences mirroring the relationship between dancer and movement, there is no recipe for dancing profiles the power of dance as an artform without boundaries, in a CODA first demonstrating the creative freedom found through the medium.