La Traviata At Folkoperan - Finally!!!

Last year I told you I would be part of the opera La Traviata at Folkoperan (The People's Opera) here in Stockholm. We rehearsed for about a month. But since Folkoperan got severely water damaged and had to spend all of last fall drying up, we had to wait a whole year to actually be able to put it all on stage. Now the time has finally come though, and last week we started rehearsals again! I'm one of the nude models in act one - but clad in a transparent black dress in act two. This will be a crazy, wonderful, powerful mix of nakedness, drag queens, fabulous singers, sex, death and emotions. I can assure you La Traviata has never been done like this before... I'm really proud to be able to work with all the amazing people working so hard together to create this opera. The director, Mellika Melouani Melani's ideas are incredible, and I don't think I have ever laughed so much during the creation of anything on stage before! Like for example when Mellika told a few of us nude models to sit down on a bench, and then burst out the idea presently in her brain: "Imagine a fuck-tree. Now we're going to try to create a fuck-tree!" Haha!

As your faithful reporter I decided to sneak around the opera and take some pics to show you a bit what it looks like backstage. The bottom pic is taken by someone else though, and shows part of the second act. Last year a little trailer was also shot while we rehearsed. This one was removed from nudity-shaming Facebook though, but I've put it at the end of this post so you can see it here! The opera premieres September 16, and 17 (yes, there are TWO premieres). To read more about it, see what days it runs, and get tickets, please go here!

The stage looks really good with it's simple, yet very stylish scenery. This is the mechanical horse used in act one. Riding it naked makes me feel like Lady Godiva!

This is the hair and makeup room. We models and the drag queens do our makeup ourselves, but we get help with our hair and wigs. The pink wigs in the pick are used by the drags in the second act.

In the costume atelier you find many treasures... Here are the drag queens' shoes, and a detail of one of their costumes for act one - the white act.

After last year's water damage, the dressing rooms got a new look. The second mirror to the right is my place!

And here is a pic from the second act! The fabulous drag queens don't just entertain the audience, but also the rest of us on stage. I love this moment in the opera! And then we have the - according to Facebook - very provocative trailer... I think it's beautiful though! Enjoy...

Amforta

In Stockholm lies Folkoperan (The People's Opera). Folkoperan wants to show people there are different ways of looking at opera as an art form, and for the last three years they have created something called Opera Showroom, when people can come and experience newly created works for free during two days.

One of the operas that was part of Opera Showroom was Amforta, and after two auditions I was happy to hear I had been chosen to be one of six ballet-girls in the piece. Amforta is a new work created by Mellika Melouani Melani and Bengt Gomér, directed by Mellika, and with music written by Jonas Forssell - one of Sweden's biggest opera composers. Amforta is a very strong, and a bit scary, work that mixes opera, ballet, and the reading of texts written by women who has been through hard times and being treated very badly by the people who were supposed to help them when they really needed help. The work is very feminist in the way it confronts the symbols of male dominance in our society, and asks the question whether it would be possible to replace the male heroes with female ones. Can the wounds of Jesus and Amfortas be carried by female bodies?...

Here is me trying on my costume, and after that we set to work! We had only three and a half day to put all this together before the premiere, and I'm very impressed over the fact that we actually did it! But everyone, from director Mellika, to all the people on stage, and the wonderful people behind it worked amazingly well together, and everyone were so nice! No opera divas here... Haha!

During the whole dance sequence we were supposed to shake like aspen leaves, reaching for the audience for help, before we very cruelly pushed away one after one of us and shot our fellow ballerinas to death...

After dying on our battlefield, the Valkyries came to bring our fallen bodies to the afterlife in Valhalla. In Nordic mythology this is the place the valkyries brought the male heroes that died in battle, and where they then spent the afterlife partying. 

We were all lifted from the ground with the help of balloons fastened around or wrists. And off to Valhalla we went! 

Here is me wondering what the hell the valkyries are singing about, trying to get the party started. And yes, that's a beer in my hand! After a while we released our balloons and relaxed though, after which we indulged in the buffet rolled out on stage, eating chips, popcorn and other goodies like we had never eaten before. Then came la grande finale, and it was over...

Ballerina group pic after the second show! After working so closely and intensely together for five days, it was sad to say goodbye after only two shows... But the audience really loved it, and some people reacted so strongly to it they had to leave in tears before we had come even halfway through the show... But with my "little" pain problem, and thinking I might never even be able to walk normally again nine years ago, I'm so happy I have come so far I was able to actually dance ballet at an opera! A bit achy now though. But it was so worth it!!!

To learn more about Folkoperan, and upcoming shows, please visit their website here, or their Facebook page here! 

PS. Next fall I'll be back at Folkoperan as a nude model in La Traviata...

All stage photos by Markus Gårder.