In a raw exploration of digital algorithms, body ideals, and the invisible communication shaping our reality, three gay men dive into their feeds by looking at what we all look at too much. Through the reflections of our screens, the choreography digs into a mass production of the material that constantly overwhelms us. From this, a choreography is born, three beings baptized in their seemingly random scrolling, abandoned in a place where the only thing they can do is practice their own language. By wallowing in their desires and inhibitions, these images and feelings are explored in a series of scenes that are as fragile as they are intense.
In Haunted Desires, Björn Säfsten continues to delve into humanity’s constant failure in communication and what it does to the individual. In this piece, the gaze is specifically directed at iconography created by men who wish to be desired by other men, as the dancers arbitrarily transform select clips from the algorithms thrown at them in social media. On stage, the autobiographical merges with the fictional, the sought-after with the real, in a flicker of exposed haunted desire. The thing that you desire, perhaps you must become?
Presented by Dansens Hus
Choreography: Björn Säfsten, in close collaboration with Pär Andersson, Philip Berlin and Sam Huczkowski, Marcus Baldemar and Joaquín Collado
Script: Björn Säfsten and Pär Andersson
Dance: Pär Andersson, Marcus Baldemar and Joaquín Collado
Light design: Jonatan Winbo
Set design: Björn Säfsten and Jonatan Winbo
Costume: Björn Säfsten
Construction and manufacturing technician, Dansens Hus: Johannes Fäst
Dramaturgy: Kristina Hagström-Ståhl
Photography: Märta Thisner
Voice actors: Klas Lagerlund och Dan Mclellan
Audio editor: Joakim Lundgren
Intimacy coordinator: Sara Arrhusius
Production: Nordberg Movement
Co-production: Inkonst
Trailer: Jose Figueroa
Created in residence at: Inkonst and La Caldera Centre de Creació de Dansa Barcelona
With support from: The Swedish Arts Council, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, The City of Stockholm and Region Stockholm
Special thanks to: Palmer Lydebrant
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Björn Säfsten is a dancer and choreographer, based in Stockholm. He works in Sweden as well as internationally and has, over the last 20 years, mainly created works through his own business but also for various Swedish dance institutions such as Skånes Dansteater, Cullberg, and Regionteater Väst. Säfsten’s work is always taking its starting point in the field of choreography but includes a variety of media such as movement, text, sound, and song. The themes of the works determine the scenic expressions at hand. Unlike in his early career, when he created works based on various philosophical concepts, Säfsten’s current themes often stem from his own experiences and topics relevant to his own life.
