Conjured by Strømgren as if from a magic hat (which, incidentally, appears on stage), the choreographic piece is woven from afterimages of experiences and phantasms of memories. Built on the order of memory, it allows one to feel the reality of past events, which remain part of personal and collective experience, and thus - although past - live in the present.

- "Out of the Hat" is a long-awaited return to my roots, namely contemporary dance," says Jo Strømgren. - It's a work that comes from the heart instead of the brain," she adds.

The Polish Dance Theater performs in Oslo at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, where Strømgren, a prominent dance artist, author of productions at the intersection of theater and choreography and dance films, and winner of many prestigious awards, including the Norwegian Critics Association Award, is the resident choreographer.

The next performances of "Out of the Hat" will be presented in Oslo on 27.10 at 7:30 pm, 28.10 at 2 pm and 29.10 at 3 pm - you are warmly invited!

The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo (DNO&B) is Norway's first and largest fully professional institution presenting music and performing arts. Each year it is visited by approx. 400,000 spectators. The institution produces 60 premieres a year. Its extensive program includes opera performances, ballet performances, concerts and other cultural events - a total of about 300 events a year. DNO&B has its own ballet school and the UNG National Ballet, an ensemble for young dancers between the ages of 17 and 23, who are given assistance in developing their artistic talent.

The Norwegian National Ballet and the UNG National Ballet, together numbering 70 dancers, form Norway's only professional classical ballet company. However, the institution's repertoire, like PTT's, includes dance theater and contemporary dance productions composed by world-renowned choreographers such as Jiri Kylián, León & Lightfoot and Mats Ek, who, as a reminder, premiered "Half a Day of Midnight" at the Polish Dance Theater in Poznan in 1994.

DNO&B cooperates with the most renowned contemporary dance companies. These include Norwegian dance campaigns such as Carte Blanche, Jo Strømgren Kompani and Nagelhus Schia Productions, as well as the CODA Oslo Contemporary Dance Festival and ULTIMA Festival, which are organized in Norway. A strong relationship connects DNO&B with drama theaters and theater festivals, including the Norwegian National Theater and the International Festival "Festspillene i Bergen." This is the second time that the Polish Dance Theater has collaborated with DNO&B - in 2013 PTT presented "40", directed and choreographed by Jo Strømgren, in Oslo. "40" is still in the repertoire of the Polish Dance Theater - soon, on December 1 and 2 at 8 pm, we will see it at the Polish Dance Theater headquarters in Poznan.

The Norwegian Opera and Ballet in Oslo is the largest cultural facility in Norway. The building covers an area of 38,500 m² and is divided into 1,100 rooms. The Main Stage can accommodate 1,360 spectators. The DNO&B building is located in the center of Oslo on the Bjørvika Bay - it resembles a lump of glacier emerging from the water. In 2008, the building won the top prize at the World Culture Festival, and a year later, in 2009, it also won the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Prize, awarded by the European Union for outstanding architectural achievements.

Honorary patronage of the premiere of the play "Out of the Hat" was assumed by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Poland.

Supported by the state budget - from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and from the funds of the Local Government of the Wielkopolska Region.

The co-producer of the play "Out of the Hat" is Jo Strømgren Kompani.

More about the play "From the Hat"

photo by Andrzej Grabowski