Gerousia: A Dance Group for People Aged 65+

Gerousia is initiated by Ingri Fiksdal. She is in charge of leading the weekly sessions in collaboration with Therese Markhus and Brynjar Bandlien. Stine Janvin will give the group occational voice workshops, and Øyvind Aspen will follow the project through photo and video.

Ingri Fiksdal (b.1982) is a choreographer based in Stavanger, Norway. Her work develops choreography as a site for critical thinking and knowledge production grounded in embodied, affective and material experience. Following her PhD project Affective Choreographies (Oslo National Academy of the Arts, 2013–2019), her research has increasingly examined how dominant epistemological frameworks determine which bodies, histories and forms of knowledge are granted value, and how choreographic practice can generate alternative ways of thinking about social and ecological relations. Within CoFUTURES (University of Oslo, 2020–2024), Ingri has developed the long-term research trajectory Coeval Dancefutures, using choreography as a form of speculative fiction to investigate hegemonies of knowledge and power within dance-as-art from decolonial and post-anthropocentric perspectives. Across this work, practice and theory are treated as mutually constitutive: choreography does not primarily illustrate existing theory but operates as a research practice through which concepts and critical perspectives can emerge from bodily, sensory and material experimentation.

Ingri’s work is presented in contexts for both performing and visual art, including The Bentway in Toronto, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Kunstnernes Hus and MUNCH in Oslo, Obscene Festival in Seoul, Homo Novus in Riga, Kunstenfestival in Brussels, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Santarcangelo festival, Beijing Contemporary Dance Festival, Sommerszene in Salzburg, Reykjavík Art Museum, brut-Wien, Teatro di Roma, Harbourfront Centre Toronto, Contemporary Art Center Cincinnati, BUDA Kortrijk, Tanzhaus NRW in Dusseldorf and Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz.

Ingri´s work is supported by Arts Council Norway - Etablerte kunstnere.

Brynjar Åbel Bandlien (b.1975) trained ballet in his native Norway (1991-1993) and at the Hamburg Ballet (1993-1995.) After his graduation Bandlien worked for three years as a dancer for Netherlands Dance Theatre 2 in Den Haag, Holland, with which he toured Europe, the US and South Africa. In 1998 he started to work as a freelance dancer in the contemporary dance scene in Scandinavia, Europe and the US. Bandlien has worked with artists such as Manuel Pelmus (RO/NO), Jennifer Lacey(US/FR), Heine Avdal(NO/BE), Phillip Gehmacher (AT), Vera Mantero (PT), Raimund Hoghe (DE), Florin Flueras (RO), Heather Kravas (US) and Antonija Livingstone (CA) a.o. In the period 2004-2010 Bandlien had his base in Bucharest, Romania and took part in establishing Centrul National al Dansului-Buchuresti (CNDB.) He has acted, danced and choreographed in several films by the Norwegian filmmaker and author Dag Johan Haugerud, and two queer art films by the Stavanger-based artist Anette Gellein. Bandlien was a PhD fellow of artistic research at Oslo National Academy of Art in Norway in the period 2016-2019, and since 2020 he is a professor of dance at the department of performing arts at the University of Stavanger.

Therese Markhus (b.1978) trained as a dancer and choreographer at London Contemporary Dance School (2000) and the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam (2003). She began her career as a dancer with Impure Company, led by Hooman Sharifi. As a freelance dance artist, she has worked both nationally and internationally. In collaboration with composer and bassist Per Zanussi, Markhus has choreographed Simultaneously Involved (2005), Returning (2006), Reflection (2006), Her Shadow is Named Susan (2010) and Body Memory (2021). With visual artist Ingrid Toogood, she has created the performance works Memories for a Garden (2014), You are Beautiful. You are Alone (2015) and L Longed for it (2019), the latter presented as part of Jeg kaller det kunst at the National Museum in Oslo.

Markhus was choreographer for The Mute – A Silent Love Story, which won the Hedda Award for Production of the Year and Best Set Design/Costume Design in 2019. Her choreography for Rogaland Theatre includes Pan, directed by Arne Nøst; Tønes, directed by Anders Dale; and Rekviem, directed by Erlend Samnøen. She has also choreographed works for TaDa, the talent company in Rogaland: When I was you, and you me (2021), When my heart is happy (2022) and Mothers (2023). From 2011 to 2018, Markhus was the director of Regional Arena for Samtidsdans (RAS). She is currently working on the trilogy CLOSE(D), with the solo I do because I live, I live because I do and the duet Wo(o)lf Women premiering in 2025.

Stine Janvin (b.1985) is a vocalist and performance and sound artist whose work explores the flexibility of the voice in relation to visual elements. Her practice focuses particularly on costume, lighting and movement, as well as the spatial qualities of sound. She investigates how these elements can be used to channel sound's physical properties, materiality and sensory effects. Often drawing inspiration from electronic music, folk music and popular culture, Janvin creates audiovisual works and live performances for a wide range of venues and contexts, including theatres, clubs and galleries, as well as websites and digital platforms.

Janvin has presented work at Kapittel 26, Wiener Festwochen, MACBA Barcelona, Mattatoio in Rome, during the opening week of the Venice Biennale, and at MUNCH in Oslo, Performa Telethon and Issue Project Room in New York, Rokolectiv in Bucharest, and Kunsthall Stavanger. Her work Chords for Calling has also been broadcast on Deutschlandradio Kultur. Janvin also performs in other artists' works, most recently appearing in two films by Anette Gellein included in the exhibition Tender Endings at Kunsthall Stavanger. As a composer, Janvin has recently created music and sound design for the theatre production Veggen (2026), the dance performance Wo(o)lf Women (2025), and KNØ, which won the Hedda Award for Dance Production of the Year in 2023.

Øyvind Aspen (b.1983) was born and raised in Nordmøre, western Norway. He studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and has exhibited at venues including Malmö Konsthall (Sweden), the Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (Serbia), Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) (Lithuania), Galleri F15 in Moss, and Galleri RAKE in Trondheim. He is also one of the founders of Tidens Krav, an artist-run exhibition space in Oslo.