VISION SEPTEMBER BEIJING 2008
Give Body to the Future
Text: Liu Ying, VISION, YOUTH MAGAZINE BEIJING SEPTEMBER 2008:
Monica Emilie, one of the most experimental dance & performance artists in Norway, is demonstrating for students with her performance how to communicate with space via body language. This performance comes from ”Past Is Simulation”, the sub-title of “The Lady of the sea vs. Nora, And Other Stories Of the Society ”, inspired by the writings of Henrik Ibsen, Susan Sontag, and Elfriede Jelinek. The course she directs - On Body and Context - aims to sharpen the students' perception and the awareness of differences between live performance and the projected being.
The traditional stereotype of the photographer waiting, choosing and recording a visual moment has been left behind by contemporary photography. Contemporary photography, instead of entering into the art checklist alongside painting, installation and performance, has turned itself into a multi-functioned platform open to all the art mediums which conjunct all the art forms and keeps bringing out new meanings. As for Monica, a dance & performance artist, the collaboration with photo artists has always been an important aspect in her creation. “The photographs of my performance is produced as powerful imagery that also function independently as herStay photography in addition to documenting an event,” Monica said, “and with the students of photo art I often get a fresh feeling and a fresh brain,” which makes her even more creative.
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A 3 page photo & interview presentation on Monica Emilie Herstad, herStay
VISION YOUTH MAGAZINE BEIJING, SEPTEMBER ISSUE 2008
BUYERS: 300 000 IN EDITION MONTHLY, THIS IS A SOLD OUT ISSUE

September 1st 2008 Peter Brook presented a lecture in Norway. Listening to his voice, inspired Monica Emilie Herstad with an immediate remembrance of her performing on stage at Setagaya Theater in Tokyo, that was greatly commented upon by Peter Brook, as he as an invited guest entered the space, standing close to her and commenting to the audience upon her as "Beautiful concentration, Wonderful concentration", he said, as he was invited to observe Min Tanaka´s works during Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts in 1997, indeed a memorable moment.

2008, January 7th - 15th, herStay i New Delhi and Mumbai;
herStay in New Delhi at LTG Auditorium the 11th of January at 2.30 and 6 pm, and in Mumbai, at Nehru Centre, the 14th at 6.30 pm, all at The India Theater Festival (Bharat Rang Mahotsav) at NSD, with the herStay performance Past is simulation:

"Monica Emilie Herstad is bringing a new discourse to stage"
- Ajit Rai, Jansatta/ Indian Express January 12th, 2008

"A study of the postmodern woman on the stage"
"To escape the feeling of unease, a woman flees to the seashore, repeatedely. For hours she gazes at a flying bird. As another female character seems to search for reason, in the darkness, through dance gestures. While leaving, a third is suddenly startled. The fourth attempts a suicide. The fifth shudders abruptly with fear. The sixth, the seventh, the eight, and, in similar manners, innumerable women appears, with patterns of actions since times immemorial. For example: doing housework, loving someone, rearing children, quarrel with husband, being whipped, or shedding tears.
These female characters, who emerges out of the dramas of Norway’s famous dramatist Henrik Ibsen, came together on stage in the presentation directed by Monica Emilie Herstad in her Past is Simulation: The Ladies of the Sea vs Nora and other Stories of the society. The staging took place at the ninth day of the India Theatre Festival at the LTG Auditorium. Enacted in New Delhi and Mumbai, and with generousity of the Norwegian Embassy, this play is important from several points of view. The woman director searches for a new stage language by new ways of acting, light-designing and presenting music, for the dance performance. It succeeds way beyond words. This is not Physical Theatre, where, through the agency of body language and the language of gestures, a script assumes shape in a formless manner.

This is a total experience of dramatic art beyond words.

The audience sees a new kind of dance performance in a new space. It comprises the full potential for a transformation of the imaginativeness of the audience.

The performance is so attracting, that one is not getting aware of the time at all.

This is a postmodern global text on stage.

Monica Emilie Herstad is – instead of promoting a rather acerb image of the women or of showing protest – performing a deep examination, from the ingress into the innermost core.

She is creating an ironic disguise of the texts of Ibsen’s dramas. It is exactly this ironic disguise which develops into a comment on the images of women in the present milieu.
Her actresses appear on stage with high heeled shoes, contemporary hair-do, and hyper-modern dresses. They show in ironic disguise different matters of concern of the women, and their emotional expressions and body movements, in deep, white, faint light, together with mystical music. These matters of concern are selected from the lives of Ibsen’s women.

The performance has its background mainly from the lives of the protagonist Ellida and her two coeval stepdaughters Hilde and Bolette, from the drama Lady from the Sea, and of the heroine Nora from A Doll’s House.
An evaluation of Ibsen’s texts is done by the German feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek in her book What happened after Nora had left her Husband, including the text Pillars of Society. In one scene it is the aura of the unforgettable world famous author Susan Sontag, in which she presented the character of the heroine Ellida of Lady from the Sea.
The performance with its latent meanings raises, however, several questions at the level of script and style. On the one hand she disturbs the acerb images of the biographies of the women of the dramas, but at the other she succeeds to overcome the acerb images on the stage by employing the medium of artistic explanation. Words are not presented here. And the music appears slightly segregated. Together with an examination of the relevance of Henrik Ibsen for the present times, the performance investigates in addition the question whether our world has really changed for women during the one hundred years after Ibsen. The decision rests with the audience."
- Ajit Rai, Jansatta/ Indian Express, January 12th, 2008

"The play opens with a complete surprise, with a mechanical bird winging its way over the proscenium, and hovering the dancer on the large stage.
The tantalising conjectures are woven around the splendid solists, who seem to express the ambivalent emotions of Ibsen´s women when their bodies move, fall, strech, and bend.
Dancing as mirror-images, or the captivating trio moving in unison, they bring out rich associations with Nora, or the steph-daughters Hilde and Bolette, of Lady of the sea, or the eponymous heroine of Hedda Gabler, or even the youthful Hedvig of The Wild Duck." - Dr. Utpal K Banerjee, Pioneer, New Delhi, January 15th 2008

"From the European segment of the festival, two were dance theatre performances — Pina Bausch’s “Bamboo Blues” and Monica Emilie Herstad’s unwieldily titled “Past is Simulation: The Ladies of the Sea vs Nora and Other Stories”.
Dance theatre works around themes rather than stories. The immediate impact is sensory. One movement follows another working to an unwritten script that the audience must grasp as best they can. The Norwegian performance piece was dense with references which became significant only if, besides Ibsen, you also knew the work of the director Elfriede Jelinek and the late Susan Sontag’s reading of “Lady of the Sea”. Otherwise what you saw [in Past is simulation] were incredibly flexible female bodies that posed, contorted, writhed and grew slack to express a whole spectrum of emotions, dark to bright, between male-constructed women and women as they are and want to be.
- Shanta Gokhale, The Hindu Magazine, February 10th 2008

"Regarding your performance in New Delhi of Past is Simulation - The Ladies of the Sea vs Nora and other stories]
Hello There, Greetings from India.
I'm a software professional based in New Delhi. Today I happened to view your performance 'Past is simulation - The ladies of the sea vs Nora, and other stories' at LTG theatre.
I have been watching theatre for almost 10 years now and I must admit that I have never before seen such a unique poetic artistic creation. A performance that keeps on coming back and striking one's mind again and again.
Right from the start, from the airplane movements, one is gripped by the slow meaningful expressions of the performers, their perfect synchronization and subtle motions. So much is conveyed in so simple terms with minimal sets, costumes and very appropriate light design.
The simultaneous movements of the twins, the picturization and lighting of the echo scene, the whip aspect all express the message they are intended to convey. Finally the coming together of the three performers, the sea and tranquility give an pertinent climax to the excellent performance. The use of the airplane, the chairs and the small duck convey a deep message with minimum effort. The captivating music matches the equally powerful performance. The best part is that the universal message of the play gets conveyed without any language barriers.
My congratulations to herStay, the director, all the performers, the music compiler, the light designer and the makeup and styling artists.
It was indeed an unforgettable presentation. I hope and wish that you people soon come back again to India with more of your artistic productions.
With warm regards and thanks again,
God Bless You all.
Rajan."

2008, January 17th - 18th
at Patravadi Theatre, Garden Theatre, opening the Bangkok Fringe Festival, in Thailand:

Monday, January 21, 2008
"PHANTOM PERSONA OR MONICA EMILIE HERSTAD:
--Last Friday I went to Patravadi Theater to see some performances, including PAST IS SIMULATION -- THE LADIES OF THE SEA VS. NORA, AND OTHER STORIES OF THE SOCIETY, directed by Monica Emilie Herstad from Norway. The performance is inspired by the writings of Henrik Ibsen, Susan Sontag, and Elfriede Jelinek. I like it a lot. It is now one of my most favorite stage performances of all time. I don't know how to describe it. I think I can say that its power is like the power of PHANTOM LOVE (2007, Nina Menkes) mixing with the power of PERSONA (1966, Ingmar Bergman).

This is a clip from PAST IS SIMULATION:
http://vids.myspace.com/herStay
This is a short film called THE LITTLE CHAOS (1966, Rainer Werner Fassbinder).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDh0gF2ExA"
- Celine Julie, Thailand 2008

herStay - THE UNFORGETABLE PERFORMANCE
NRK Radio, P2, Scenerom January 2nd, 2007

herStay performance Past is simulation - The ladies of the sea vs Nora, and other stories of the society, is pointed out as The theater experience of the year, described as the performance that NRK/ P2 Scenerom conciders worth of remembrance, from the year 2006, for it´s excellence in performing elements
- Knut Hoem, NRK Main Radio, P2,Scenerom, January 2nd, 2007
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/sider/scenerom/

Kunstkritikk, December 8th 2006
Read the exciting review Feministic Melancholy, on Monica Emilie Herstad´s oevre Past is simulation, The ladies of the sea vs Nora, and other stories of the society
(...) "Herstad is herself performing a solo as the entrance of the performance, in communication with a motorized paperplane, circling in the air. Her movements are like locked-up in an unfree body, in strong contrast to the liberatedly performing airplane. It is a poetic and heartbreaking start, a comment on the female situation in today´s society"(...)
-Elisabeth Leinslie, http://kunstkritikk.no/article/11415

Review on herStay´ 2006 production on Ibsen, Past is simulation - The ladies of the sea vs Nora, and other stories of the society, in Norsk Teater & Shakespeare Tidsskrift issue no. 1, 2007:
“Monica Emilie Herstad, herStay` Past is simulation is a unique contribution to the Ibsen Year 2006. (…) The choreographer Monica Emilie Herstad is confident with style, creating a performance on the faith of these female characters. (…) Herstad uses a source material enriched with feministic approaches and suggestions. This suits the profoundly defined herStay expression well: feminine expression, feministic view, stylish appearance, and butoh inspired movement. (…) Herstad is interpreting analytically the female characters of Ibsen, and his plays, in a visual and physical language, rather than critizising his characters radically. (…) The movements represents immediacy, longing, resignedness, and naïvity. She draws scetches of Nora, Ellida, Hedda, and maybe even of Hedvig or Hilde. (…) Herstads scenography is simple and powerful, the stage is shared between the mystique of nature, and the conventions of the society. In an athmosphere of twilight, and a sheer, green textile, associating sea and fjords, enframed with some tired, still elegant, chairs along the wall.”
- Melanie Fieldseth, January 2007

Aftenposten, Oslo 30.april: herStay tolker Ibsens kvinneskikkelser

NRK1 Lørdagsrevyen, herStay filminnslag, 29.april, 2006

January 2006, FAVORITE ACTRESS, Limitless Cinema, arts blog Bangkok
1.MONICA EMILIE HERSTAD—SLOWFLY/V.I.C.T.O.R.I.A.
2.MISSING YOU
3.ISABELLE HUPPERT—THE LACEMAKER+ AMATEUR
4.ELINA LOWENSOHN—AMATEUR http://drumz.best.vwh.net/Hartley/Images/Fullsize/amasnd03.jpg
5.MAGGIE SMITH—KEEPING MUM
6.KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS—KEEPING MUM
7.AVA GARDNER—THE KILLERS http://www.leninimports.com/ava_gardner_gallery_1.jpg
http://celinejulie.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_celinejulie_archive.html

August 2005, Le Monde Diplomatique:
"In her choreography the ideal body of classical ballet meets the introspective quietness of the dance of Min Tanaka"
-Truls Lie, Le Monde Diplomatique

Brown University, US/ PS International Conference, March 30th - April 3d, 2005, Becoming Uncomfortable/ Troubling Dance:
”Herstad has developed her choreography into a form of self-analysis, a hyper-responsive mode motivated by decisions to move. (…) I think of her dance as a form of “deep play,” a term from Victor Turner, to describe an activity invested in spontaneity and profoundly meaningful to the participants. Within a frame of choreography, Herstad explores her unconscious and responds with clear choices. Like psychoanalytic practice, Herstad focuses awareness upon the immediate moment and repeatedly responds to the space, the sound, the audience, the video screen. (…) Rather than a dancer’s body representing an idea or metaphor, Herstad’s body in performance investigates that immediate time and space. (...) Consequently, there is no one answer to how her movements interrelate; the dance generates an analytic experience for the audience – without an answer, the meaning lies with the questioner and his/her formulation of questions and interpretations. This matter of interpretation, however, is shaped greatly by Herstad’s exploration of an idea of femininity and style”
-Leah Garland, Eugene Lang College, New School for Social Research, NY in her paper on Feminism and Fashion?: The Choreography of Monica Emilie Herstad, March 31, 2005

Portrait interview by The National Television, NRK 1, Safari, February 2004:
"The dancer and performance artist Monica Emilie Herstad is representing innovation within her field through several years. As her artistic fundament is expressed at the crosspoint of classical ballet and butoh, she creates her own, genuin expression with video art, dance and music. We meets her just before her performance in N.Y. in December 2003 " -The National Television, NRK 1, Safari 2004

"She is teached from the origin by the butoh master Min Tanaka through several years. Butoh is a Japanese performance expression. Still deeply connected to this tradition, she adds renewal to the tradition, its ritualism and monotony, with a just as eastern orientated hipness and surface esthetics. " - Jon Refsdahl Moe, Morgenbladet, 2003

"Border breaking Artists:
herStay and Kreuzer kompani, are two of the ensembles that in the recent years brought the art of dance into new directions.
Gaining large respect, in international media for their way of integrating new media into stage expressions, which makes them efficient for being the first to be portrayed in our new serie on successful artists. A young, innovative and border breaking generation, is entering the stage. This stage is not neccesarily Norwegian, and - as you see, there are others than Jo Strømgren to be represented here. " - Jon Refsdahl Moe, Morgenbladet, 2003