In the Current: An Interview with Vár Bech Árting

Interview by Nicola Mitropoulou

When Waterkind by Swedish duo Land Before Time (Joanna Holewa Chrona & Yared Tilahun Cederlund) arrived in the Faroe Islands this October, it marked more than just another tour stop, but part of a movement within the country’s small but growing performing arts scene. Set against the backdrop of glass walls and a curious lunchtime audience, “In the Current” was one of this year’s Startup Forum proposals curated by dancer and producer Vár Bech Árting, and featured two performances alongside parallel workshops led by Land Before Time. Árting’s proposal was included in the programme of VERK Nordic Stage Days in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, a festival that gathered Nordic artists from the performing arts sector, primarily from theatre, and so raised timely questions about where dance positions itself within that landscape.

LOOKING FORWARD

Tell me about yourself and some of the initiatives you’ve been involved in.

I’m Vár Bech Árting, a dancer from and based in the Faroe Islands. I trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in the UK, but returned home in 2021 due to COVID and Brexit. At first, that was daunting – there wasn’t really a contemporary dance scene here. Usually, Faroese artists work abroad and return only for short projects, so an infrastructure for dance has never been established. When I came back, two other dancers, Rannvá Guðrunardóttir Niclasen and Búi Rouch, also returned, leading to the development of RIVA, the Faroese Dance Company. That felt like the start of something permanent. My shift into producing, programming and curating came naturally and out of necessity. When there’s no infrastructure, you create your own opportunities.

I find a lot of meaning in being useful, and for me, that feels like being in the Faroe Islands. Through RIVA and in co-production with Komma Productions I’m co-organising bydans, a Nordic nomadic biennale dance festival for the periphery. Further, I’ve been part of the Platform Gátt, and through that network, we started an artist-run festival called GÁTT Nordic Art Festival which is biannual and we’ve had two editions now. I’m also one of the co-directors of the North Atlantic Islands Dance Network between Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, which works to share resources. Through that, I connected to Aerowaves. It’s nice when these networks start to work in practice.

Describe  your experience at the Startup Forum and how you chose to present Waterkind.

You get to see a lot of work, which is such a treat – because when you live on an island, it’s rare to see other types of work. As a curator [at Startup Forum], you’re watching with a lens: what works in your context? Sometimes that aligns with what you personally love, sometimes not. Then I talked with the Nordic House, who were launching their new performing arts festival,VERK Nordic Stage Days. I pitched “In the Current”, and Waterkind made perfect sense. It’s Nordic, site-specific, and instead of trying to pull the audience to us, we bring the work to them. Thematically, it fits the Faroe Islands since we live surrounded by water, the movement language and music also make it very accessible.

There was an idea to present it outdoors, but the weather… it’s very windy and cold in October. For the well-being of the performers and the audience, we decided to move indoors to Glasir College, the biggest college on the islands. It has glass walls, so you can still see the surrounding nature. They were very keen to host it, which was lovely. It means we get to present to a young audience who might not know they’re interested in dance. We’ll also run a workshop there. Then we’ll do a second performance at the Nordic House for the public, followed by a workshop for professional or aspiring performing artists.

“In the Current”. What does it mean to you?

“In the Current” [as a curatorial title] works on several levels. In English, it relates to both water currents and the ‘contemporary’. In Faroese, í rákinum means movement – like a cultural trend or moment. It speaks to what movements are happening in our times. Living in the Faroe Islands can feel like being caught in a current, going with the flow, being pulled one way or another, while trying not to lose your direction.

Who are you trying to reach and how do you hope this project will translate locally?

I hope there will be time to make meaningful meetings and connections – both with the audience and between artists and the Nordic House. Maybe also connecting Land Before Time to the Faroese performing arts scene, to create understanding of what it means to work in the periphery and the value it brings. I hope some audience members discover work they didn’t know they’d enjoy, while others deepen their interest in dance. And I hope it’s fun, that it feels part of the bigger festival, connecting to the other Nordic artists who are coming.

LOOKING BACK

It’s been a couple of weeks since Waterkind took place in the Faroe Islands. Can you walk me through how it unfolded?

Friday

The festival started on Thursday 2 October when Joanna and Yared actually arrived, but everything kicked off properly on Friday.

We had a midday performance at Glasir College. We had to do the sound check during their first break so we wouldn’t interrupt classes. After that, Joanna and Yared had about an hour and a half to warm up and do spacing – it’s a big space, with seven floors and a huge open foyer. Then, when the student’s lunch break started, the performance just began, appearing almost like a ‘happening’. Students started to gather as the sound emerged. The performers were in the bottom of this amphitheatre-like space, and it was amazing watching students appear from all sides, leaning over railings, from every floor. Waterekind fit into the architecture so well, and the sound filled the whole building. It felt alive.

After that, we had a quick changeover because the next thing was the workshop with the students of PE classes. You could tell that from their T-shirts – handball players, a few girls from athletics, not youth who typically dance. But they were super-engaged, really curious, and genuinely into it. That was exciting and special, because Waterkind hadn’t really been performed in that kind of youth context before, and we haven’t had much contemporary dance outreach to that age group either [on the islands].

After we wrapped up, I drove Joanna and Yared around so they could see the islands. Betsy Gregory, who joined as the Aerowaves Startup Forum representative, arrived around then too. We picked her up, did a little scenic drive, and then went to the evening festival performances at the Nordic House.

Saturday

A lot of people were gathered at the culture house foyer, deep in intellectual discussions, and then slowly the performance energy took over the space. When Waterkind began, it was raining heavily outside the glass walls [of the Nordic House], and that actually made it quite magical. The audience was super-mixed, mostly the professional participants from the festival, but also lots of people who had just come for brunch in the café and stumbled into the performance.

Afterwards, there was another workshop, this time for performing arts professionals. It was mainly members of RIVA, the Faroese Dance Company who joined. Though we hoped there would be more participants, there was the realisation that festivals are busy, and everyone’s already engaged in other events. Still, for us, the workshop was so valuable, having that focused exchange within our own dance community. Afterwards, we all stayed to mingle. In the evening, there was a performance at the brewery and then a little party after.

By Sunday, Joanna and Yared were leaving. They were only here for two days, but it felt like we got a lot out of it; two performances, two workshops, some connections in between and insight maybe into Nordic cooperation.

How did it feel to bring Waterkind into the Faroese context?

The feeling was very different in the two venues. At the college, there was a lot of anticipation because it’s an audience that isn’t used to watching dance or performing arts. It felt almost like a happening. It was fantastic to see how, even though people were in their daily routine, having lunch, there was curiosity and it blended into their Friday midday.

A special moment was seeing some of my former students there. They came up to me afterwards and seemed proud that there was dance in their school. It gave them a sense of ownership, that this is our thing. Even though only a few students study dance, it felt important to them. Scale isn’t something we consider much here because we are few – but even six students matter, because they are the future.

What have you learned from this experience about curating and sustaining dance practice in a small, evolving landscape like the Faroe Islands?

I think I keep relearning the value of creating spaces for dance and introducing the art form where it hasn’t existed before. It’s wonderful to see how different work functions in our context and to understand what really resonates here. When it comes to presenting work from abroad, it’s different from when Faroese artists perform, there’s familiarity with local creators. Bringing in diverse expressions has great value.

I’ve also felt the importance of claiming our space and becoming a host, rather than going elsewhere. That’s part of curation and part of participating in this festival. Even though we are small and limited by technicalities that keep us out of many European projects, we still bring something valuable into these larger networks.

One needs to remember and insist on the fact that we also have something to offer in the Faroe Islands. There can be equal exchange. Coming from a smaller place, you sometimes feel you’re catching up or being done a favour. But this collaboration with Aerowaves felt mutual. Even though the relationship is new and the structures different, it felt very balanced in terms of work and communication. It’s a huge network of established institutions, and here we are – a small, emerging scene – but it’s been wonderful to meet eye-to-eye. That’s been one of the most fantastic parts of the process.