Ibsen's
Ghosts

It is not often that a Norwegian dance production receives as much international attention as the Norwegian National Ballet’s production of Ibsen's Ghosts, which has toured to Houston, Berlin, Vienna, Shanghai and, last fall, to Hongkong.

"The dancers pull off jaw-dropping physical feats," wrote China Daily. "The Norwegian National Ballet’s starkly powerful production of Ibsen's 1881 play Ghosts was suitably harrowing, distinguishing by outstanding choreography and superb performances," wrote South China Morning Post.

Dark secrets

Norwegian audiences now have a new opportunity to experience the dance drama in a venue created especially for it, the Main House of the Oslo Opera House. This is where the Norwegian National Ballet dances the dark secrets of the past in scenes that are both harrowing and tender. The result is an intense experience in which Ibsen’s story directly impacts our emotional state through the language of dance – to the accompaniment Nils Petter Molvær’s music, which he performs personally on stage.

Dance thriller

“A powerful experience,” wrote the Norwegian newspaper VG after the original premiere of Ghosts in 2014. The magazine Dance Europe called the production “an extraordinary accomplishment” and proclaimed it the best premiere of the season.

“Ghosts is a genuine thriller in which the characters learn increasingly more about their own history. It’s about how the unspoken can grow and become insurmountable. It takes considerable courage to confront a lifelong lie and sometimes it is too late,” says Director Marit Moum Aune, who created the performance together with choreographer Cina Espejord.

Signature piece on film

Moum Aune was nominated for the best libretto in the renowned Prix Benois de la Danse, while Espejord received the Norwegian Dance Critics Award for the choreography. Ghosts was also made into a movie by the French film company Bel Air and has been shown at several international film festivals.

Ibsen's Ghosts is being performed in the Main Stage right before Hedda Gabler. Both were created in close collaboration with the dancers and both are signature pieces for the Norwegian National Ballet.

• Free introduction in Norwegian one hour before the performance.
• Theatrical smoke is used during this production.