The Still Dying Swan + The The

Two international guest performances, with three extraordinary dancers (ex Ballet Frankfurt/Forsythe and Cullberg) reinventing the rules of what a dancer can be and who refuse to let convention define them. Followed by a post-show talk and supported by Swedish Sign Language.

Too old to dance?!

In this double bill, three remarkable dancers reinvent the rules of what a dancer can be. Amancio González in his own solo The Still Dying Swan, and Jone San Martin and Emma Lewis in William Forsythe and Dana Caspersen’s The The, showcase the artistry and presence forged over long and distinguished careers, and their refusal to let convention define them. After the performance, join the artists in a post-show talk with choreographer Gwyn Emberton.

The Still Dying Swan

With warmth, humility, and humour, Amancio González invites us into his story: the youngest of eight, growing up in hand-me-down clothes and carrying a secret childhood dream of ballet that he dared whisper only to a friend. A Russian woman’s sudden arrival at the dance studio he was training in opened up his world — literally — as he took his first-ever flight to join a ballet company in Scotland.

Decades later, at 49, he finally fulfilled that dream by slipping into a pair of pointe shoes, training with a Russian ballerina, and preparing to perform a century-old solo that's traditionally reserved for women.

At Skånes Dansteater, Amancio brings this bold, heartfelt act to the stage in The Still Dying Swan. Wearing pointe shoes, he performs The Dying Swan, originally choreographed by Mikhail Fokine for Anna Pavlova in 1907, set to Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals. His version is deeply personal, blending history with his own journey, making the invisible visible and the impossible possible.

The performance includes spoken text in English which will be supported by Swedish Sign Language.

The The

Jone San Martin and Emma Lewis perform William Forsythe and Dana Caspersen's The The, a choreographic work that explores the relationship between movement, music, and spatial awareness. Emphasising a detailed, almost algorithmic approach to movement that demands the audience’s attention on the dancers' interactions, with space, and each other, and on their indomitable skill and technicality.

The The performed by San Martin and Lewis is a richly articulate knot, wound by two women. Thinking intently through the curves and tensions of their bodies, the women engage in a conversation of limbs, expressed in a precise, tangled dialect of beauty.

The The premiered in Frankfurt on October 20 1996, as part of the evening Six counter point. It is a rare treat to see this work here in Sweden.

Meet the dancers

In this post-show talk, directly after the performance, you are invited to stay and meet the dancers who you have just seen performing on stage. Listen to Amancio González, Jone San Martin och Emma Lewis reflect over their careers so far and their visions for the future of dance. The talk is moderated by Gwyn Emberton, choreographer, dancer and project manager.