Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer based in Brussels. Mette’s work also crosses over in to writing and research, holding a PhD in choreography from UNIARTS, Lunds University in Sweden. Mette established her company in 2003 and has since toured throughout Europe, US, Canada and Australia

Mette’s work often combines choreographic practices with theoretical backgrounds related to human interaction and perception. As a result her work is a combination of dance movement and other disciplines including visual art, technology and theoretical frameworks. This interview particularly focuses on The Red Pieces; a body of work that explore the history of sexuality, ideas of nudity, pornography and privacy. In these works the body becomes a site of exploration and inquiry. The works that make up this series include 69 positions (2014), 7 Pleasures (2015), to come (extended) (2017) and 21 pornographies (2017).

to come (extended), photo by Jens Sethzman

4. to come (extended)_c) Jens Sethzman.jpg

69 positions questions the boundaries between private and public. Placing the naked body among the audience. 7 pleasures examines seven notions of pleasure. The third piece to come (extended) is based on to come (2005), an early work for five dancers. to come (extended) is revisited with 15 dancers, and explores the relationship between the private and public space. 21 pornographies looks at the ways in which pornography is thought about in society, including in structures of power beyond sex.

This interview covers a range of topics including the role of sexuality in society, #MeToo, relationship between dancer and audience, nudity and desire, power and ways in which dance can be used to question common narratives and systems (including heteronormativity and the patriarchy).