Ofelia Jarl Ortega – StM

In the frame of the Creative Crossroad activity, Ofelia Jarl Ortega was selected by MDT Stockholm to receive a 2 years structural support by the LLB network, to work amongst others on her latest production "StM".

The 2 years structural support includes a co-production share as well as a residency in September 2020 at STUK Leuven, a teaching experience and research opportunity in Budapest with Workshop Foundation, a Performance Situation Room attendance offered by Uferstudios Berlin as well as a performance presentation at MDT Stockholm.
Further her performance "Shredder" was presented within the network.

View her experience reports in the upper right column.

About "StM":

In StM the border between performer and spectator is not a divide but an opening. Here the borderland is a place to talk about the evasive. It is a space that pulses, yields and gives the spectator’s gaze a body.

StM is a solo by Ofelia Jarl Ortega from 2019, where she examines the dramaturgy of the gaze as choreographic material, where the dancer’s voluntary objectification questions the participation of the observer.

In StM – a version, she approaches the topic from another body, still confirming the gaze’s potential as a tool of power. In StM – a version, the same format is at play when the dancer Paolo de Venecia Gile brings new power dynamics at stake, triggering additional readings to the work. By insisting on the format, the core inscribed in the original piece is translated from one performer to the other, allowing new dynamics and interrelations to arise on different surfaces.

Credits
Concept, choreography, music, set design: Ofelia Jarl Ortega
Dance, choreography: Paolo de Venecia Gile
Costume: Erik Annerborn
Lighting design: Christoffer Lloyd, Ofelia Jarl Ortega
Dramaturge: Frida Sandström (StM, 2019)
Music advisor: Tami T
Photo: Natan Gullström
Producer: Terry Johnson (Johnson & Bergsmark)

About "Shredder":
Shredder by Ofelia Jarl Ortega together with composer Patrik Patsy Lassbo and dancer Alexandra Tveit, is a staged exploration of voluntary objectification as a subversive weapon in a hypersexualised world.

Shredder is a performance where power and desire produce a potent, alluring and at the same time unpleasant atmosphere. Suggestive glances and erotic undertones create a space for three bodies, surrounded by pulsating light and music, to orient themselves in the concept of post porn.

Through her interest in the conditions for productions of desire and eroticism in contemporary society, Ofelia Jarl Ortega invites a broadened understanding of pleasure.

Choreography, dance, concept, idea: Ofelia Jarl Ortega. Music, light, concept: Patrik Patsy Lassbo. Dance, choreography, concept: Alexandra Tveit. Producer: Sara Bergsmark & Alexandra Olsson. Produced through MDT. Co-production: Black Box teater (Oslo). Supported by: Stockholm Stad, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Konstnärsnämnden, Norsk Kulturråd. A part of the project [DNA] Departures and Arrivals.

Residency at Workshop Foundation in May 2022

Ofelia Jarl Ortega is a Chilean-Swedish choreographer and performer based in Stockholm. Her work centers around vulnerability and femininity, often with a suggestive erotic aesthetic; where questions around power and group dynamics are at the core for her investigations.

Ofelia has spent an artistic residency at Workshop Foundation, Budapest. During her stay, she was working on her new work, Bien y Mal. Bien y Mal deals with group dynamics and relationships between the characters on stage. It's a game between fiction and reality, how these characters relate to the room and each other, the ordinary and extraordinary. In the piece, five characters are facing the same fate, dealing with it in different ways. The space with its music and lights is fictitious, melodramatic and pompous. The characters are dramatic and overindulging, lost or indifferent. The new piece is in close collaboration with dancers and performers: Ewa Dziarnowska, Gergö Farkas, Paolo de Venecia Gile, Dolores Hulan and Karina Villafan.

During the residency, Ofelia has also made an opne work-in-progress showing. Workshop Foundation has created a Facebook event and made a promotional campaign to get audience. The showing was in SÍN Arts Center, participants got an insight into the work of Ofelia. The showing was followed by a feedback circle, where participants and artists discussed the general remarks, creating a feedback loop, very useful input for the newly created piece and its continuation. Involving SÍN as avenue has provided added value to the event. Ofelia and the artists got to know another cultural hotpoint in Budapest and got to know the directors of SÍN. Before the open showing, Workshop Foundation has created for Ofelia a “stakeholder map”, a list containing the important decision-makers, artists, producers, festival organisers  from Budapest, Ofelia sent an email invite to them with the intention to show her work and possibly make connections for future touring in Budapest.

Resideny at MDT Stockholm February 2021:

MDT first planned to present the solo "StM" by Ofelia Jarl Ortega in March 2020. It was the first activity they had to cancel when the pandemic hit. Back then, MDT thought it safe to pay the performance fee and postpone the presentation one year later – as they know now that was not enough. When it became clear that they had to cancel the public presentation once again, they initiated a conversation with Ofelia about what she wanted/needed in the artistry related to the piece. MDT landed in transforming the planned presentation into a one week residency, where she had the opportunity to re-work the material into what would work in a short dance film. The piece is exploring the audience and Ofelia’s gaze, and she found new angels on that work with making it into a short film. During the residency she worked with the material for the short film, and took part in an online conversation about her work with colleague Tova Gerge. The film and talk was created with the support of The Swedish Arts Grants Committee. The film was later presented at Leopold Museum in Vienna during the Performance Situation Room “ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE...”.

Teaching Residency in Budapest 2019:

In the framework of the Creative Crossroads program, Ofelia Jarl Ortega took part in a teaching experience and research opportunity at Workshop Foundation Budapest between 4-9. November 2019.
During her stay she has been working with a varying group of local artists (six artists in total), with whom she has been researching practices connected to the topic of the gaze, femininity and vulnerability. The workshops went well, creating a great atmosphere between the artists. Both Ofelia and her company appreciated each other and the opportunity.
The experiences of the five workshop days were then shared at an open presentation on the 9th of November, where Ofelia and two artists from the group presented those practices, techniques and the results of the sessions, and the audience could also join in to one of the practices/exercising. The other artists from the group could not be present because of illness, travelling and other performances.
There were only 7 audience members due to the late advertising and the busy weekend filled with other dance performances. The advertising could not start before that exact week as the artists decided together along the way about the possibility of a public presentation. The sharing was closed with an exciting talk between the artists and the audience.
View her experience report in the upper right column.