Unchained Melody

A seascape of movement and love songs.

In Unchained Melody, Mette Ingvartsen uses love songs from different eras as a musical anchor for the choreography.

The movement follows the logic of water: ripples spread between the dancers, undercurrents draw them in new directions or into a swirl before calm returns and the surface settles.

The dancers sing as they move, and this puts the breath into play: the voice shifts, the tone breaks. The Danish choreographer works deliberately with strong emotions, and in the meeting point of song and dance, the performers navigate an ever-changing emotional seascape.

For Ingvartsen, love is more than a feeling; it is a social and political force that can erode what is hard or loosen what once seemed fixed. Unchained Melody is a performance in which song and movement flow into one another like waves on the sea.

Carte Blanche is the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance. Based in Bergen, the ensemble tours worldwide. Unchained Melody also has a family friendly performance Saturday 30 May where audiences of all ages are welcome.

Photo: Linn Heidi Stokkedal