The artists of Melo each add to the creative pool. Through well-organized collective work the performers end up with added say-so. At Melo, any one of the members may take to the stage. Photo: Melo

Within the Melo collective, every member is involved from the outset and has the same weight in decision making, from conception to final performance. They feel that different art forms should be considered equally. On their website they explain how their performances deal with issues like “equality, power, individual versus collective and a playful questioning of the given social and artistic roles.”

Although they work as a team, Melo’s individual members are powerful characters, driven together by a shared ambition for artistic growth and originality. Melo member Josef Palm says: “It’s fascinating to put in different art forms and give them equal value.”

The result is work that fuses varied art forms into arresting new concoctions. The downside is that the process can be time-consuming because discussions are seldom short-lived. Melo’s Olle Svensson says: “Some things take longer in a collective and it can be hard to remain patient.”

Dancing pioneers

Melo has been active since 2005 when Melina Mastrotanasi and Sara Soumah worked together at Sweden’s Theatre for Modern Dance (Moderna Dansteatern). They were selected to work on a pioneering venture called the Torpedo Project. This initiative was created to offer much needed space for artists to create fresh work.

Christina Molander, Head of Theatre at the Theatre for Modern Dance, says: “The scheme provided the artists with funding and studio space to experiment and rehearse in, without the pressure of producing a final performance piece.” Asked about her general views on art, she says, “The best art communicates on many levels and captures a moment in time.”

At the outset, the collective comprised 13 members, including dancers, musicians, lighting technicians, architects, a costume maker and an artist. Since then, the size of the group has fluctuated and it now revolves around six core members. Melo’s first work from 2005 was appropriately titled This Power is Called Imagination. Following initial success, they developed Tie Me to this World and have recently collaborated on a new production, entitled C/O.

At a Melo performance you can expect to take in a great deal more than dance; the collective combine various art forms in each performance. Photo: Dan Forsberg 

Best of both worlds

Melo’s performances generate a feeling of sensuality. Every movement, sound and lighting effect expresses their relation to one another. One moment they are gentle, rhythmic and fluid, while the next they are reaching, sharpening, grabbing and contorting.

They shift from working in unison and dancing in pairs, touching and holding each other, to standing alone, in bare isolation at the center of an empty stage. The work is precisely choreographed yet improvised, and it is hard to separate where the two elements blend, because the stark humanity of each element of the performance binds the work together to create a raw unity.

The process of collaboration is often long and difficult, but for Melo it always begins in the same way, by choosing a common theme that unites the group. The theme is then developed both individually and collectively. The theme can be anything – an art work, expression, political situation or text. Melo dancer Anders Jacobson says: “We simply set up a subject and we speak.”

Power to the dancers

Melo’s work methods challenges the conventional approach to choreography, where a hierarchical structure gives the choreographer a great deal of power. By working without a single director, Melo enfranchises the dancers.

“To take the step to make our own performances depends on many things,” Jacobson says. “It could be our own ideas that never got expressed under other choreographers, and a will to express our own artistic perspectives and ambitions, or simply to test ourselves.”

Melo continue to test out new directions. As member Sara Soumah says: “In the future we hope to do many things: exhibitions, concerts, perhaps a film and maybe even a book.”

“It’s hard to predict what will happen,” Palm says. Melo, however, has undoubtedly contributed to a wind of change rustling through the performing arts; they have made their mark and their creative appetite is not showing any signs of dwindling.

 

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Katarina Horrox is an Anglo-Swedish writer and commentator based in
London. Her work has been widely published by websites and magazines
such as Art Review, Saatchi and the Encyclopedia of Scandinavian Culture.

 

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Classification: A223EN