OuterVision 2010: the first Nordic dance festival in Greenland

Thursday, 26 August 2010 08:00

Outervision 2010 from Kulturkontakt Nord on Vimeo.

Thursday August 12th Greenland’s culture house Katuaq opened its doors for Greenlandic polka, drum dance and mask dance followed by ballet, tango and hip-hop. OuterVision 2010 is Greenland’s first dance festival.

Here professional dancers from Norway’s famous dance academy Bårdar were taught the traditional Greenlandic performances while Greenlandic children and youth attended workshops in ballet, hip hop, funk, contemporary dance and jazz.

More than 200 children and young people participated in the workshops that took place for four days. During the evenings adults were invited to a tango workshop that was accompanied by Spanish tapas and white wine, all in all a romantic introduction to the fiery tango.

“We hope that the festival will inspire Greenlandic children and young people to study dance. During one week they have been introduced to a variety of dance types and they have had the chance to meet top professional dancers from other Nordic countries”, says technical adviser for OuterVision 2010 Ruth Montgomery-Andersen.

The famous choreographer Chet Walker, known from ‘Chicago’ and ‘Sweet Charity’, created the dance show ‘Jazz on Jazz’ especially for OuterVision 2010. Friday august 20th Katuaq in Nuuk proudly presented the World opening of ‘Jazz on Jazz’. After performing twice in Greenland, Bårdar will tour with the show in Norway.

The dance festival has been supported by Nordic Culture Point, Nordic Culture Fund, the Greenlandic government, NAPA – the Nordic institute in Greenland and the Greenlandic culture house Katuaq.

Text: Katja Nyborg

Video made by Boas Møller