Deborah Hay
Deborah Hay, born 1941 in Brooklyn, has achieved icon status among choreographers. Her work was formulated in 1960s experimental Judson Dance Theatre in New York, one of the most radical and influential post—modern art movements. Hay’s dances center on undoing the body’s reliance on learned behavior by enlarging the field from which a dancer can resource movement. She spent many years choreographing solo works for notable artists including Mikhail Baryshnikov. The choreographer William Forsythe helped influence her international career after seeing the premiere of her quartet The Match in 2005 at the Montpellier Dance Festival. She has been awarded many grants and awards including the inaugural and groundbreaking Doris Duke Artist Award in 2012. On May 5, 2015 France’s Minister of Culture and Communication awarded Hay the title of Chevallier de L’Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres.
In 2015, Deborah Hay created the work Figure a Sea directly for Cullberg with music by Laurie Anderson. The work has been highly acclaimed by audience and critics all over the world, toured in the US and all over Europe and been presented at prestigious festivals such as Montpellier Danse and the International Festival of Contemporary Dance of the Biennale di Venezia in 2018.
Minna Tiikkainen
Lighting Designer Minna Tiikkainen born 1969 in Helsinki, Finland, started her experiments with light while studying fine arts. Her fascination with the immaterial quality of it led her to enrol in the Theater Academy of Finland, from where she graduated with an MA in Lighting Design. Since moving to Amsterdam early 2000, she has been working mostly within the field of performing arts and contemporary dance both in The Netherlands and abroad. She has also created several set designs as well as lighting designs for exhibitions. Her work is described as strong in its simple minimal approach and is especially appreciated for its significance for the totality of the performance. She received “SÄDE AWARD for best lighting design in 2012“ from the Finnish Association of Lighting Designers for her work on GRIND.
Graham Reynolds
Based in his Red House Studio in Austin, TX, Reynolds balances scoring work with album production, community endeavours, and live performance. Reynolds has been composing for dance for more than twenty years. Frequent collaborators include Stephen Mills and Ballet Austin as well as Allison Orr and Krissie Marty of Forklift Dancevvorks. His work is featured in the Silver Docs award—winning Trash Dance. Reynolds has scored over seventy films and TV episodes. His collaborations with Richard Linklater include the films Last Flag Flying, Bernie, Before Midnight, A Scanner Darkly, and the film Where’d You Go Bernadette, starring Cate Blanchett.
Behnaz Aram
Behnaz Aram was born 1978 in Iran and came to Sweden at the age of 7. She had an early interest in drawing and fashion design and studied at the London College of Fashion and later Middlesex University where she graduated with a BA Fashion Design Degree. When she returned to Sweden, she started her own brand Behnaz Aram and worked as a costume designer and stylist. From 2006 – 2011 Behnaz was head of the women’s collection at Whyred and since 2011 she is a concept designer for HBM’s 8Other Stories. Behnaz has styled artists and music videos and created costumes for several Swedish stage productions, among them, at the Royal Opera, Folkoperan, Riksteatern, Wermlandsoperan, Drottningholms Slottsteater, Goteborgs Stadsteater, Judiska Teatern, Norrlandsoperan and Jernverket in Iggesund.