In a special effort to raise awareness about the Braswell Arts Center Virtual Benefit Gala, we are proud to present this years featured artists.

Who are you and a bit about your training and experiences?

Lisa Horten-Skilbrei, from Oslo, Norway. Shortly summed up I’m a graduate from Oslo National Academy of the Arts with a bachelor in Jazzdance, before that I represented Norway on its national team in Disco Dance for many years, and between those two very different things on my personal timeline I jumped from trying one dance style to another, did some singing, some work in tv, lots of traveling participating in different workshops, researches, and trainings. Whatever looked fun, hard and interesting, I wanted to try. Martial arts, neuroscience, functional movement, pushing limiting beliefs, getting to know oneself a little bit more for each new step on each new day are things that have always inspired me. For the last five years, and continuing, I’ve been a member of Ballet Basel performing works by many great choreographers and their teams. Besides working at the theater, I teach weekly yoga classes, I study, I do creative collaborations and remain curious about diving into new projects.

What inspires you?

Open-ended questions about the many mysteries of existing in this body, on this planet, in this huge universe.

Tell us about the work you are presenting or dancing in?

Simple, honest expressions on tape, creating a timeless memory of being alive. No agenda, no achievements. Peeling down, remembering. Being present where feet are planted. Allowing oneself to release, express and feel. Everything is constantly changing, the gradual transformation of life can’t be paused, but it can be embraced. This is 2 minutes of a life as Lisa, filmed and edited by Skjalg Bøhmer Vold, dedicated to life as it is right now, and the beauty of all its transitions, from one millisecond to another.

Who has been the most influential person/people in your life? or Career? and why?

My parents and my inner child. I’ve always had a strong feeling within, and it was especially pure before I met the bigger world. I remind myself of the feelings, ideas, questions and dreams that I naturally sat with as a little kid, they were not taught to me by anyone or pressured by any comparison to society, they were just always there. My parents have definitely been the most influential people in my life, inspiring me to harvest this inner connection and build upon it.

Hardest part of your job?

To find a personal balance of diversity. By that I mean, I’m thinking, that being pulled in equal in opposite directions creates some sort of stable ground for creativity. Disconnecting with one thing where I normally have most of my attention, gives room to connect with something different or new. Later, this swap of awareness brings the chance to reconnect with my main passion even deeper with a fresh, expanded perspective. I find this process of connecting/disconnecting/reconnecting so healthy, giving, growing and inspiring. To make the time for this isn’t always easy, it’s often easier to keep on driving and accelerating where I’m already at, especially when there’s a tight theater schedule to follow, but I know for myself that I crave to explore and a tiny little break is always great to keep on building from a vision of the biggest picture, which for me is very important.

Something you like to do other than dance?

Yes. Screen acting, directing and choreographing on big groups of people. Expressing more of my inner life in different ways, and vice versa getting to know more of my inner life through these external explorations. (And then there’s a bigger long-term dream that’s not yet ready to be talked about;)

Your wildest dreams for the dance world?

To keep on exploring, daring to be ahead of time and connect the “dance world” even more to the global world. The changes we wish to see in the big world, we have to also practice in the “dance world”, and we can use creative tools to inspire this growth.

Something you would change in the REAL world?

More focus on what connects us, rather than what separates us. It’s healthy to see and acknowledge our differences, but healthier from a root knowing that we’re all in a way the same? As I think of it now, we’re the same in not being the same, we’re the same in the wider perspective of things, and we’re the same in the simplest seed of things.

Our common home, birth death transformation, having or having had a mother, father, siblings, having dreams, wishes, feelings, needs, etc. Somehow, in some way, in all of us, I think. Carrying this recognition, this sense of oneness, might also carry a more common love for people, and cause less conflict and more understanding for each other.

Please help us raise awareness about the Braswell Arts Center Virtual Benefit Gala, we need your support to reach our campaign goal for the new Braswell Arts Center at Aeschenplatz. Join us if you can!