In “Figure a Sea”, Cullberg Ballet brings together 18 dancers in an artistic master meeting between two of the performing arts very greatest: the choreographer Deborah Hay and composer Laurie Anderson. Within “Figure a Sea”, the dancer and the stage are considered a sea of endless possibilities. The choreography moves between technical proficiency and minimalistic expression. Nothing happens by chance. Hay challenges, without diminishing, the dancer’s intelligence, beauty and speed. Ease, accuracy, visibility, ambiguity and uniformity are the key words for this work. Hay describes “Figure a Sea” as a meditation on seeing: Seeing music, fleeting incidences, synchronicities, collectivity and surprise. For her, it is a space for self-reflection: a space for seeing oneself seeing.

Deborah Hay is one of the most radical and influential post-modern artists, who still expands our perception of dance. Here, she joins forces with another pioneer Laurie Anderson, performance artist, musician and film-maker, to create a delightful experience of the music, sound and choreography.

Cullberg Ballet has performed all over the world and is an important contributor to the international presentation of contemporary dance. The company also engages in national outreach through its tours within Sweden. Cullberg Ballet collaborates with a variety of national and international choreographers and performing artists who create works for large as well as small stages. Cullberg Ballet’s activities encompass different projects and productions including collaborations with dance training programs. Cullberg Ballet was founded by Birgit Cullberg in 1967 under the auspices of Riksteatern – The Swedish National Touring Theatre, of which it still is a part. The company currently has 16 dancers from nearly as many countries. Since its inception, the stage personalities, creativity and technical strength of its dancers have been Cullberg Ballet’s defining characteristics. Gabriel Smeets is the artistic director since 2014.

American icon dancer, choreographer and author Deborah Hay was born 1941 in Brooklyn. She trained with Merce Cunningham and Mia Slavenska, and she danced with the Cunningham Dance Company in 1964. Hay was part of the Judson Church Movement in New York in the 1960s which became one of the most radical and explosive postmodern 20th century art movements. She focused on large scale dance projects, and later almost exclusively on rarified and enigmatic solo dances based on her experimental choreographic method. She has also choreographed a duet for herself and Mikhail Baryshnikov, ” Single Duet” in 2000. Deborah Hay is the recipient of numerous Fellowships and Endowments. In 2009, she received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Dance from the Theater Academy in Helsinki, Finland. After a two year research collaboration with Motion Bank, a project of the Forsythe Company, an online interactive website was dedicated to Hay’s choreographic aesthetics. “Turn Your F*cking Head” is a documentary made in 2012 by British filmmaker Becky Edmunds. Deborah Hay’s new book “Using the sky: a dance” was launched, September 2015.

Laurie Anderson (born in 1947 in Glen Ellyn) began her career as a sculptor and performance artist in the late 1960s. Early in her career she worked as an illustrator and art critic. She is a pioneer in electronic music and has written both popular and art music and collaborated with, among others, William Burroughs, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed. Since 1975, she has recorded seven albums. Anderson plays several instruments, variations of the violin being her main one. “O Superman” from 1981 is one of her most famous songs which also reached as high as second place in the British charts. Her film “Heart of a Dog” was screened at The Venice Film Festival 2015.