Artist in Residence at The International dance program in Stockholm, March–May 2025

Rebecka Hansson is a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her artistic practice is rooted in the exploration of physical tools and narrative structures to raise awareness around themes of coexistence. Her motivation for creation lies in the belief that our individual and collective imagination is an essential and powerful tool in the actualization of a better world, both on stage and beyond.

Rebecka Hansson

Rebecka has worked as a performing artist in Sweden and New York since 2016. During her time in New York, she worked with companies such as Elisa Monte Dance, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Keigwin+Company, New York Dance Project, and VIM VIGOR DANCE, as well as independent choreographers like Clifton Brown. In 2019, she participated in Springboard Danse Montréal, where she performed works by Johannes Wieland and La Tresse Collective. Between 2020 and 2024, Rebecka was part of the ensemble at Regionteater Väst, where she contributed to numerous creation processes and performed in works by Mari Carrasco, Jo Strömgren, Nicole Neidert, Björn Säfsten, Anna Pehrsson, Heidi Viertahler, Fernando Melo, and Maria Ulriksson.

Rebecka is currently in the process of deepening and shaping her own artistic vision. While educated and working within the contemporary dance field, her current practice draws inspiration from relational and ritual approaches to co-creation. Her art emerges and takes shape in response to the space, people, and time within which it exists, fostering an invitation to engage with complexity and subjectivity in response to the experience.

Building on the body’s physiological responses, Rebecka combines physical dance, emotional states, and narrative elements to portray realities that are both grounded and at times distorted. Her work insists on trusting the intelligence and agency of the audience, as it aims to create spaces where performance art becomes the starting point for unique encounters in which participants challenge, negotiate, and set boundaries together. The act of participation explores themes such as consent, behavior, and identity, using art as a playground for personal exploration and awareness. Her art is characterized by visually composed dreamscapes, where performativity and dance are liberated from traditional constraints.

During the residency at IASPIS, Rebecka will focus on research for a concept centered around creating a meeting place where people, through guided narratives, can practice their capacity for empathy in interactions with others. The research will explore both theoretical and physical aspects of empathy, coexistence, and the bodily experience of isolation and closeness. Can we develop a practice that fosters greater tolerance for vulnerability in our interactions with one another?

For more information: www.rebeckahansson.com