The Labyrinth, by Danish choreographer Marie Topp, is a work that encapsulates the sense of time passing and accelerating.
It’s a work that draws on personal experiences of being equally close to the birth of children as to the death of loved ones. Where the reality of time is pushing you forward.
The audience meets three characters, all embodying different emotional states of time. They move in a blurred, yet alluring landscape of light, all immersed in a soundscape of fantastical voices calling the listener.
The Labyrinth is created by Marie Topp in close collaboration with a dedicated artistic team. The piece merges sound, light, costume, and movement into one immersive whole.
“The Labyrinth” from 2022 is a masterpiece that grips the audience in the gut and gives form to the essence of life” Statens Kunstfonds Legatudvalget for Scenekunst 2024
“Sometimes you see a work that reminds you how incredible art can be — in that way where it feels like the world opens up, everything becomes alive again. Not because it’s entirely pleasant to experience, but because it strikes the deepest chords of what it means to exist as a human being. For me, The Labyrinth by Marie Topp is such a work.”
— Bastard Blog, February 2024
“The Labyrinth is a quintessential example of Marie Topp’s choreographic approach, which, with understated strength and searing presence, manages to express the existence of a single human being — or of the entire world — within an hour.”
— Iscene.dk, January 2024
THE ARTISTIC TEAM
Marie Topp is a choreographer, born and based in Copenhagen. She has collaborated with artists such as Julia Giertz, Mårten K. Axelsson, Igor Dobricic, Margret Sara Gudjonsdottir, Eric Andersen and others. She is affiliated with the Milvus Artistic Research Center and has worked with organizations including Dansehallerne, MDT Stockholm, Bora Bora, Dansk Danseteater, Aaben Dans, Sydhavn Teater, Inkonst, K3 Tanzplan Hamburg, Kampnagel, Atalante, Moving in November, and Dansstationen. She graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2009 and has been the artistic director of Visible Effects since 2019.
Igor Dobričić is based in Berlin and works as a dramaturge and artistic advisor. As a teacher and mentor, he has a long-standing collaboration with the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in Amsterdam. He collaborates with choreographers such as Alma Söderberg, Nicole Beutler, Meg Stuart, Quarto, and Arkadi Zaides.
Alen Nsambu is a choreographer and dancer, educated at the Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2022. Alen has worked with choreographers and companies such as Sonya Lindfors, Hanna Brotherus, Miles Greenberg, Fallon Mayaja, and Helsinki City Theatre.
Julia Giertz is a composer, music producer, and sound engineer based in Stockholm. With a background in choreography, she now develops her artistic practice as a composer. Her works have been presented at the Venice Biennale, Unsound, Intonal, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, MDT, and K3 Hamburg, among others. She works as a sound engineer at Elektronmusik Studio (EMS) in Stockholm.
Emilie Gregersen is a choreographer and dancer based in Copenhagen. Since graduating from the Danish National School of Performing Arts, she has created several choreographic works, including Touch, Caresses, and Trixter. Emilie is a co-founder of Dance Cooperative – an artist-run space and platform led by 16 artists.
Johanna Chemnitz is a dancer and physiotherapist. She has toured worldwide with Mette Ingvartsen and Margret Sara Gudjonsdottir, and has also worked with choreographers such as Eszter Gál and Sasha Waltz & Guests. She has collaborated with artists including Henrik Vibskov, Annika Nilsson, and Anne Sophie Malmberg. As a choreographer, she has created several projects, including Reflections of the Performance of Rage and Femininity.
Maria Folkmann Ipsen is based in Copenhagen, where her costume work focuses on how materials and textures move with and through the body. She has a background in fashion design and is a former dancer. Her collaborators include Roy Assaf, Sebastian Kloborg, and Rachel Tess.
Mårten K. Axelsson works as a lighting designer and scenographer. He has designed lighting for over 70 performances and scenography for 10 theatre, dance, and opera productions – primarily in Denmark, but also in Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and the USA.
