Carte Blanche: by carte blanche at Den Norske Opera & Ballett

A performance in which dance meets live music – from Carte Blanche. This is what the performance by carte blanche gives us, making the title a literal fact: Everyone here is an owner, and everyone creates. By removing the name of the rights owner, Norway’s national dance company for contemporary dance challenges both accepted behaviour and tradition in the world of dance. Not only does the unsigned group-created choreography open for new interpretations of concept and aesthetics, it also has a political dimension.

Both the dancers and the audience are exposed to the unpredictable in by carte blanche. In the living dialogue that arises between the audience, the company and various musical guests, different experiences are created from one performance to the next, from one town to the next.

Carte Blanche visits the Opera House once a year, and the event is often sold out. Their guest performances have often created more debate under their current artistic leader Hooman Sharifi than was previously the case, while the quality of the dancers’ performance and expression continues to delight. “Top-quality dancers…demonstrate not only eminent solo dancers but also precise and disciplined ensemble dancers,” wrote the national newspaper Dagsavisen after the performance of Edvard in the winter of 2015. “The dance was, as usual, perfect out to the tips of their toes,” agreed Natt & Dag.