Bio & Texts – Mountains

Jefta van Dinther is a choreographer and dancer working between Stockholm and Berlin. His work is characterized by a rigorous physical approach and always implies a staged research of movement itself. The moving body is centerfold in his work but belongs to and interacts with a body of light, sound and materials that constitute an environment of perception and sensation. The dancers work and dance their way through various environments: their processes exhibited live on stage become performances. Jefta’s works deal with notions of illusion, the visible and the invisible, synesthesia, darkness, labor, the uncanny, affect, voice and image. They often play with formats of presentation, and range from traditional dispositive to installation like settings as well as from smaller intimate performances to large scale productions. His work includes the performances Dark Field Analysis (2017), Protagonist (2016) for Cullberg, As It Empties Out (2014), Plateau Effect (2013) for Cullberg, THIS IS CONCRETE (2012), GRIND (2011), The Blanket Dance (2011), Kneeding (2010), The Way Things Go (2009) and IT’S IN THE AIR (2008). Jefta van Dinther has also created the choreography for and dances in the music video
Monument (2015) by Robyn & Röyksopp and has also organized and curated the festival LIAISON (2015) in Stockholm. In 2012 van Dinther was awarded with the Birgit Cullberg Grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Van Dinther received the Swedish Theatercritic’s Danceprize 2013 for Plateau Effect, which was also selected for the Swedish Biennial of Performing Arts 2015. GRIND was awarded the Säde prize in Finland for best lighting design and received three prizes during Favoriten Festival in Dortmund, 2012. Van Dinther graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (MTD) in 2003 and was thereafter engaged as a dancer and worked with several choreographers such as Mette Ingvartsen, Frederic Gies, Kristine Slettevold, Keren Levi, Ivana Muller, Leine&Roebana and Xavier le Roy. Van Dinther teaches choreography at various international centers and educational programs. He was appointed Senior Lecturer and Artistic Director at the MA program in Choreography at DOCH (University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm) between 2012-2014.

David Kiers (born 1977 in Amsterdam) graduated from the Sonology degree program at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, the Netherlands. In the recent years his main focus as an image and sound artist has been on the collaboration with Gideon Kiers and Lucas van der Velden under the Telcosystems moniker. Their search for a personal language in the world of abstract computer generated image and sound has produced a string of performances, installations and short films, which have been shown and nominated for awards all over the world. Sonar/Barcelona, de Appel/Amsterdam, International Short Film Festival/Oberhausen, Boijmans van Beuningen/Rotterdam, ArsElectronica/Linz, Cyberarts Festival/Boston, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Transmediale/Berlin and Wood Street Galleries/Pittsburgh USA, to mention a few. In 2009 Telcosystems received the Gus Van Sant award for best experimental film for their short film Loudthings. Besides this David Kiers has composed music for various theatre and video productions, among them his many collaborations with Jefta van Dinther, including the creations for Cullberg Plateau Effect in 2013 and Protagonist in 2016.

Jontan Winbo received his Masters in Fine Arts from the Valand Acedemy at Gothenburg University 2009. He started his career with installation art prior to focusing more on working as a lighting designer. Jonatan has worked with theatre, dance, new circus, music and performance, together with Cullberg, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Strindbergs Intima Teater, Teater Brunnsgatan 4, Backa Teater, Teater Galeasen, TinCanCimpany, My Wild Flag, Eleanor Bauer, Thiago Granato, Fever Ray and KIKI, among others.