Interview: Lene Boel, TRANSHUMANIST
Ahead of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, we’re chatting with a range of creatives who will be heading to the city over August to find out more about their shows. Today we’re chatting with Lene Boel about TRANSHUMANIST.
Can you tell us a bit about you and your career so far?
Educated as a dancer and choreographer at London Contemporary Dance School, in New York City and at European Dance Development Center in Holland I have worked with dancers from various street styles, contemporary dancers, and acrobats in NEXT ZONEs productions since 2001. Some pieces have been performed over 250 times both in Denmark and internationally.
For each new NEXT ZONE production, I am looking to develop the language of the body which portrays the theme of each piece in the most precise and exciting way so it will communicate directly to the audience of all ages with no words. TRANSHUMANIST was developed in 2022 with two Danish popping dancers Malthe Ørsted and Martin Karlshøj. The Idea and Choreography is created by Lene Boel, the music by Rex Casswell and the light by Jesper Kongshaug.
What is your show about?
TRANSHUMANIST is about the increasing fine line between the human body and the artificial body, the human mind, and the optimized mind.
It also deals with the relationship between two strong characters who are navigating the boundaries between artificial and human together and alone. The atmosphere of the performance is both light and dark transitioning through these states from beginning to the end.
What was the inspiration for Transhumanist and what’s the development process been to get to this stage?
Transhumanist’s main motivation is the question of how human is human, how this is happening now, how it will develop in the future, and how this will affect the society we all live in.
It presents the audience of all ages with thought provoking images to be acted upon and to be inspired by.
The show was developed in February and March 2022 and has since toured in Denmark, Germany, Canada and Japan and Greenland.
What made you want to take Transhumanist to the Fringe?
In summer 2023 TRANSHUMANIST was selected to perform in the curated program for an international audience at Copenhagen Stage and DANCE BASE invited the company to do 21 performances during Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
What’s your top tip for anybody heading for Edinburgh this summer besides seeing Transhumanist?
To see as much dance as possible!
Why should people book Transhumanist?
Because it is a show without dialogue which can be instinctively understood by a wide audience of all ages and in which the overriding theme is more relevant in today’s world more than ever.
TRANSHUMANIST is both funny, serious, and thought provoking and only 40 minutes long with two great dancers, newly composed electronic music, and light design by probably Denmark’s most famous Light designer Jesper Kongshaug.
The piece uses only five battery driven lamps, all placed on floor and is extremely sustainable to tour with.
When and where can people see Transhumanist?
AT DANCE BASE Studio 3 from AUGUST 2 until AUGUST 25 AT 2.30 PM EXCEPT ON MONDAYS
