Heavy is the head
Heavy is the Head by Marie Topp premiered October 30 2026 as part of Rachel Tess series Flipside
Rachel Tess is an internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer with an extensive career spanning some of the world’s leading stages. She has worked with renowned companies including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and Cullberg Ballet. Now, she returns to Trelleborg with Flip Side.
Credits:
Choreography: Marie Topp
Music: Julia Giertz
Dancer: Rachel Tess
Production: Visible Effects
Producer: Carlos Calvo
Rachel Tess is an internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer with an extensive career spanning some of the world’s leading stages. She has worked with renowned companies including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and Cullberg Ballet. Now, she returns to Trelleborg with Flip Side.
Flip Side – Rachel Tess
Concept: Rachel Tess
Choreography: Anna Pehrsson, Pontus Pettersson and Marie Topp
Flip Side is an international dance project in which ten Swedish and international choreographers each create a solo work for Rachel Tess. Developed over several years, the project now comes to life inside Axel Ebbe Art Hall.
Commissioned by Tess as a dance anthology, the series takes its name from the B-sides of music albums – the lesser-known tracks where the unexpected and experimental often find their place. Through the distinct artistic expressions of ten choreographers, we encounter Rachel Tess and dance from new perspectives. A meeting of different artistic voices, brought together in one body.
Concept: Rachel Tess
Choreography: Anna Pehrsson, Pontus Pettersson and Marie Topp
Flip Side is an international dance project in which ten Swedish and international choreographers each create a solo work for Rachel Tess. Developed over several years, the project now comes to life inside Axel Ebbe Art Hall.
Commissioned by Tess as a dance anthology, the series takes its name from the B-sides of music albums – the lesser-known tracks where the unexpected and experimental often find their place. Through the distinct artistic expressions of ten choreographers, we encounter Rachel Tess and dance from new perspectives. A meeting of different artistic voices, brought together in one body.
Credits:
Choreography: Marie Topp
Music: Julia Giertz
Dancer: Rachel Tess
Production: Visible Effects
Producer: Carlos Calvo
Material:
Eurorack
V-synth
Supercollider/Superclean
Fire
Cabbage
Wings
Dragons
Eurorack
V-synth
Supercollider/Superclean
Fire
Cabbage
Wings
Dragons
About the artists
Marie Topp and Julia Giertz have been collaborating for ten years and have created a number of works. Their artistic practices meet at the intersection between choreography and sound art. Together with lighting designer Mårten K Axelsson and dramaturgist Igor Dobričić, they have formed a distinctive expression through intentionally crafted minimalism that holds space for the movement of time.
About the Artistic Collaboration
“The music by Julia Giertz and the lighting design by Mårten K Axelsson. Music, light, and choreography are not merely woven together, but play together like a jazz band, giving space to each other as equal partners. There are layers of narrative that we cannot see, but sense as inner images and dream visions in a blend of movement and light.” – Iscene.dk on The Labyrinth
Their works have been shown at MDT (Stockholm), Dansehallerne, Inkonst Malmö Takkelloftet/Operaen (KBH), and Kampnagel (Hamburg) amongst others.
About Rachel Tess
Rachel Tess (b. 1980) is an American dancer and choreographer based in Sweden. She has enjoyed an extensive international career, performing with companies including GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and Cullberg Ballet.
Today, she directs MARC (Milvus Artistic Research Center), an artist residency centre for dance and choreography in Knislinge, Sweden. She has also created works for companies including Skånes Dansteater, Norrdans and Danish Dance Theatre.
In recognition of her work developing dance in rural communities, she was awarded the Birgit Cullberg Scholarship (2019) and the Region Skåne Culture Prize (2023).
Flip Side is part of an ongoing collaboration with MARC, through which we explore and deepen our understanding of contemporary art by highlighting the sculptural qualities of dance and choreography at Axel Ebbe Art Hall.
Milvus Artistic Research Center was founded in 2014 and is an artist residency centre for dance and choreography based in Knislinge, Sweden. Throughout the year, artists are invited to stay and develop their artistic practice at the centre.
Supported by: Statens Kunstfond and Milvius Art
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