Joint initiative supports the development of dance in Norrbotten

Choreographer Jenny Schinkler from Luleå has been granted the Regional Production Residence Norrbotten for work on the dance production Project Omega with stays in Jokkmokk and Luleå. Jenny will develop the dance performance together with musician Magnus Karlsson, both living and working in Norrbotten.

The regional production residency is a joint initiative initiated by the dance consultant within Region Norrbotten and Dansinitiativet. The residency is carried out in close collaboration with municipalities in Norrbotten, where Jokkmokk is a collaboration municipality during 2026.

Project Omega is an interactive dance performance for children aged 7–12. Throughout the performance, the audience is in control. With a portable black box, the venue is transformed into an immersive cyberpunk garage where the line between technology and humans is blurred. At the center is Omega XG5, an AI uploaded into a human body. The children are invited to calibrate the system and control the dance, but suddenly a glitch occurs. When the security barriers fall, it is the audience's choice that determines how the performance ends.

– This is our absolute final phase and all eyes are on the premiere at Dansinitiativet in Luleå! During the residency, we connect newly written music with the choreography and let the technology really take its place. In Jokkmokk we find the artistic depth, and in Luleå we step into the environment where the work will finally meet the world. It is a thrilling and intense time where every detail falls into place before the premiere night, says Jenny Schinkler.

Project Omega. Choreographer Jenny Schinkler and technician/music producer Magnus Karlsson.

What does it mean to you as a choreographer to be able to develop a production together with artists who are active in Norrbotten?

– It means everything. Being able to develop a production with a team that is locally rooted is a luxury that shows the strength of Norrbotten. Norrbotten is a place for groundbreaking performing arts. By creating the work here, we can ensure that it will be something that really speaks to our audience throughout the region, from inland to coast.

In the meeting with the residents of Jokkmokk and Luleå, she looks forward to testing the technology together with the children. Their curiosity is a must to see how it works in practice.

– Their input is invaluable, they become our co-creators. It is in the meeting with the children, both in Jokkmokk and Luleå, that we get the answers to whether we have succeeded in creating the magic we are aiming for before the premiere, says Magnus Karlsson.

The performance will premiere at Dansinitiativet in Luleå in November and is expected to tour Norrbotten in 2027.

Voices about the dance residency

Cultural coordinator Anna-Karin Aira, Jokkmokk municipality:

– Jokkmokk Municipality has had a regular residency program for artists in the visual arts for several years. This year we want to expand it with a collaboration with the dance consultant and the Dance Initiative so that those active in the dance field will also have the opportunity to discover Jokkmokk Municipality and thus enrich our cultural life.

– It will be exciting to see whether our municipality, which is far from the big stages and what is the "normal" geographical home of dance, can still provide dance artists with a safe and inspiring place where they can develop their production and at the same time perhaps also learn from the small local community. We believe that it is important for local cultural life that cultural practitioners from other places and countries come here and hope that the residency will provide an exchange of inspiration and ideas that goes both ways.

Rebecka Strand, dance consultant in the Norrbotten Region:

– It feels great that through the residency we can support the production of dance in Norrbotten and that we do it with joint efforts and in close collaboration. It has also been very rewarding to design the concept together with the municipalities and lift them in their role as dance organizers and enablers.

Erika Pekula Pettersson, producer/project manager Dansinitiativet:

– This initiative shows collaboration in its best form, that we as several actors can come together and together generate more resources and strengthen the conditions for independent choreographers and dancers to produce in Norrbotten is fantastic. It is also extra nice that this year we get to work with a production that comes entirely from the county and which will also have its premiere with us at Dansinitiativet after the residency period.

Connectors

Rebecka Strand, dance consultant, Norrbotten Region
rebecka.strand@norrbotten.se

Erika Pekula Pettersson, producer, Dansinitiativet
erika@dansinitiativet.se

Anna-Karin Aira, cultural coordinator, Jokkmokk Municipality
anna-karin.aira@jokkmokk.se

Jenny Schinkler, choreographer
jenka.schinkler@gmail.com