"Man is not a 1. It is not possible to live in individual isolation. You are formed by the way you dance with your flocks".

What Per Fugelli says here about what it means to be human, turns Ali Omar into a dance performance about interpersonal interactions in everyday situations. Norwegian society consists of many flocks. Although difference and diversity in theory is a normality in Norway today, we still have great challenges in meeting different groups (even simple differences such as sexuality, culture, gender or age). The normal and ordinary, abnormal and unusual are relative quantities. People have varying backgrounds and experiences.

Flokk is first and foremost about the relationship between the individual and the herd. It is about diversity expressed in speech and body language. Ali Omar himself has felt on his body how communication plays into the encounter with another culture, and what it means to adapt to a new flock. Two flocks have been central, the Norwegian and the Kenyan-Somali, both with their distinctive social and cultural norms and rules.

Sulekha is a trained dancer from the Oslo Academy of the Arts, and has worked for choreographers such as Ingun Bjørnsgaard and Mia Habib. With her in this work she has young, but very experienced and reputable Ida Wigdel and Ludvig Daae.

Flokk premiered at BIT, Teatergarasjen in Bergen (NO) 2015.

Credits

Artistic director, choreographer and dancer: Sulekha Ali Omar
Dancers: Ida Wigdel, Ludvig Daae
Sound: Tore Gjedrem
Producer: Amanda Øiestad Nilsen
Supported by: Norwegian Cultural Council, Bergen Municipality and Fund for Performing Artists