SPRING: Sweet Spot 2
Harald Beharie

SPRING: Sweet Spot 2
Harald Beharie

In the dance performance Sweet Spot, six dancers transform a traditional Norwegian chain dance into a wild, hypnotic whirlwind. The starting point is the leikarring, a folk dance where dancers form a circle hand in hand. Beharie pulls this tradition apart, allowing the chain dance to culminate in a possessed ritual where all control is surrendered.
The performance is based on legends of dancers possessed by demonic melodies; think of the myth of the red shoes that never stop dancing. It is a feat of endurance where the dancers balance between explosive eruptions and tender abandon. In this work, Nordic folklore is not treated as a fixed reality, but as something to be bent and stretched.
This approach is also reflected in the music. Composer Ingvild Langgård processes the sounds of the traditional Hardanger fiddle into a compelling, modern soundtrack. Visual artist Karoline Bakken Lund designed an environment in which objects and materials sometimes support the dancers and at other times work against them.
About the maker: Harald Beharie
Harald Beharie (he/they) is a Norwegian-Jamaican performer and choreographer based in Oslo. His work often emerges from the tension between the everyday and the extreme, with the transformation of the body and space as a central theme.
Beharie explores how the body and queerness can function as a site for resistance and ecstasy. He prefers to work from the vulnerability of the unknown, using a raw DIY mentality. In his choreographies, the body is the motor: a force in itself that constantly changes form through movement. In previous works, such as Batty Bwoy and Undersang, he uses themes like pleasure and excess to seek out empowerment and liberation.
His work is presented internationally in museums, galleries, and at festivals. Beharie has won several prestigious awards for his work, including the Hedda Award for best dance production and the Norwegian Critics' Prize.
Over SPRING
SPRING Performing Arts Festival is een tiendaags internationaal festival met vernieuwende dans, theater, performances en meer in de stad Utrecht. Je vindt SPRING in het theater, op bijzondere locaties en in de openbare ruimte. Op het festival zie je ruim 25 avontuurlijke en urgente voorstellingen van zowel dichtbij als ver, die vragen durven te stellen over de staat van de wereld. Je kunt je laten verrassen door nieuwe artistieke vormen en je laten inspireren door andere manieren van kijken naar de wereld om je heen. Tijdens SPRING ontmoeten makers en een nieuwsgierig publiek elkaar voor uitwisseling, discussie, inspiratie en plezier.
About SPRING
SPRING Performing Arts Festival is a ten-day international festival with innovative dance, theatre, performance and more in the city of Utrecht. You will find SPRING in the theatres, at special locations and in public spaces. At the festival you will see over 25 adventurous and urgent performances from both near and far that dare to ask questions about the state of the world. You can be surprised by new artistic forms and inspired by other ways of looking at the world around you. During SPRING, makers and a curious audience meet for exchange, discussion, inspiration and fun.



