PREMIERE´24: Marta Jamsja & Elle Viies

PREMIERE´24

PREMIERE´24 will present the debut performances of Marta Jamsja and Elle Viies this year.

PREMIERE is a professional platform for choreographers to create their first movement-based performances.

Marta Jamsja “Heroina” and Elle Viies “Pastoral” will premiere at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL) as part of the choreographer’s debut series PREMIERE on March 8th, 2024.

Marta Jamsja “Heroina”

Kissing a frog, singing at a well, waiting to meet a pair of eyes to whom you could swear for eternal love… Marta Jamsja’s solo performance “Heroina” floats between fantasy and autobiography, looking back at her childhood dream of becoming a princess.

Through the fairy tale genre and symbols, Jamsja reflects upon the complex relationship between being a woman and the expectations set for women. By turning naiveness and fragility into an advantage, the hope of eternal youth is demystified and space is made for the body and aging. Navigating in the turmoil of modern beauty ideals and gender roles, the performace’s heroina (heroine in English) finds herself by the wishing well, not knowing what she truly desires. The line between fairy tale and reality gets blurred.

Marta Jamsja (b. 1996) graduated from Tallinn University with a degree in choreography and received her second BA in Dance from The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp in 2023. Marta’s work revolves around exploring and experimenting with the image conveyed by the body, delving into topics such as social norms, gender, and sexuality. Through her artistic approach, she seeks to challenge established notions and stereotypes surrounding these themes, inviting viewers to question and reevaluate their own perceptions. In her choreographic idiom, she likes to combine abstract storytelling with movement, text, and voice. By blending these different mediums, she aims for a multidimensional experience that enhances the audience’s ability to relate to her artistic expression. She received the Mait Agu Dance Scholarship in 2019.

Elle Viies “Pastoral”

If you look east from the valley nestled between two mountains, you can see a clearing. There lie a gray meadow and small man-made objects. Let’s say these are houses. If you ascend the right hillside of the valley, a well-trodden path crosses a stream. The ravens say that the stream has started to flow in the opposite direction, up the hill. Let’s assume this is true. The trail continues through the kingdom of the wild boar, a thicket damp with stench. Let’s say the path leads to the house. Let’s say the door is open. This is where we start.

Pastoral is a solo where the admonishing look of a prairie girl rooted in idyll meets the merciless power of nature. What happened is in the past, but at the same time in an endless whirlwind, unable to find peace. The clues are under the viewer’s nose, but buried under the dust of centuries. The room is the witness. The body is the caretaker. The power is in the hands of the Unknown. Pastoral glistens with hope in the dark bosom of this Unknown.

Elle Viies (b. 2000) has a BA in dance from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy. She is interested in eerie forms of being and bodies that are both functional and phenomenal. Viies has performed short-format solo forms at inklingroom events (2022) and at Loora Kaubi’s exhibition One never sees the sun in a dream (2023).

In the media: 

“Noored koreograafid jätsid laigu põrandale” – Kaja Kann, Sirp, 22.03.2024

“Noored koreograafid pakkusid Premiere’il õudust ja kõndisid hea maitse piiril” – Ele Viskus, ERR kultuuriportaal, 20.03.2024

“KIIRKOHTING: ELLE VIIES JA MARTA JAMSJA” – Helena Aadli, Müürileht, 11.03.2024

“Premiere’24-l esietenduvad uute koreograafide debüütlavastused” – ERR Kultuuriportaal, 8.03.2024