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The Winter War
-a sKI BALLET ON ROLLERSKIS




THE WINTER WAR - A Ski Ballet on Rollerskis

 
BRAVO TOGA presents an outdoor radio drama about intergenerational healing, post-memory, and the Finnish-Soviet Winter War—on rollerskis.

From a camouflaged tent, with binoculars and headphones, the audience follows the therapeutic aftermath of the Winter War of 1939-40.
By listening to the fictional radio channel “Post Memory Radio,” the audience hears authentic interviews on epigenetics, personal post-war memories, and more poetic reflections from the cold.

With the audience seated on the edges of a field in a public forest - amid everyday public life - two performers, dressed in white snow camouflage, bring history into the present.
Using therapeutic and choreographic methods, The Winter War explores inherited traumas, national mourning processes, and the effects of collective war memory. By addressing our current period of military defense build-up, this performance tunes to the war history of the Nordic region.

With a deliberately failing attempt at performing ski ballet on roller skis, The Winter War is a unique combination of immersive outdoor radio drama and a new genre: ski theater.

This is what happens when ski ballet meets roller skiing and our (invisible) inherited war history.


REACH OUT AND GET US TO YOUR FOREST-PARK!

    - We speak english 
    - Duration: 1 hour 
    - It´s an outdoor performance!
    - Watch the full documentation video
  •     

  • “Touching, beautiful, special, and expressive”


 “I get chills on my arms“

“This is exactly what BRAVO TOGA excels at“



  • CALENDER
  • 2025
       ATALANTE, Göteborg
       28th of august at 18:00
       www.atalante.org

       SYDHAVN TEATER, København
       2nd of september at 18:00
       3rd of september at 18:00
       4th of september at 18:00
        www.sydhavnteater.dk
  • 2024
  •     INSTITUTET FESTIVAL , Vitsaniemi
  •     10th of august at 14:30 - sneak-peek PREMIERE
  •     11th of august at 11:00
  •     www.institutet.eu

  •     TURTEATERN, Stockholm
  •     1st of september at 18:00 - PREMIERE  
  •     3rd of september at 18:00
  •     5th of september at 18:00
  •     7th of september at 18:00
  •     8th of september at 18:00 (extra show)
  •     10th of september at 18:00
  •     11th of september at 18:00 (extra show)
  •     www.turteatern.se




press

“BRAVO TOGA’s signature ability
is to place their audience in situations where you wonder what is reality and what is theatre.”
“This is exactly what BRAVO TOGA excels at
– moving in the in-betweens (...) allowing the audience to become a perspective in itself”
 
“ a truly unique ability this trio possesses
- while we think we are sitting safely, looking out at a performance, the performance is at the same time looking back at us“

Iscene
“Vinterkrigen naturen som fredsmægler blandt vildmarkens traumer” - review


“Touching, beautiful, special, and expressive.”

“...the dancers give it their all.”

“I get chills on my arms
- when one of them dances with a pregnant belly and a researcher explains how women during the war passed on genes and trauma”

NORRLÄNDSKA SOCIALDEMOKRATEN
“Balett på Vitsaniemi ängar – en del av en växande festival”- review



“...a ski ballet with everything turned up to eleven”

“The hardships of the Winter War are most clearly illustrated through the simple act of skiing through relentless terrain”

“classic show dance moves are mixed with poses suggesting bodies torn apart by bullets”

DAGENS NYHETER
“Vinterkriget” blir vårt igen i rullande skidbalett” - review


SVERIGES RADIO
“Balett på rullskidor dansar om finska vinterkriget”- interview



credits & funding


CONCEPT, DIRECTING, CHOREOGRAPHY, DRAMATICS, SCENOGRAPHY, COSTUME-DESIGN, PRODUCING: Lena Bruun Bondeson, Anna Kuusamo & Sara Ribbenstedt;
BRAVO TOGA

CO-CREATOR & CHOREOGRAPHY: Mandi Tiukkanen

ON STAGE: Lena Bruun Bondeson & Mandi Tiukkanen

SOUND-DESIGN: Bernt Karsten Sannerud

SOUND-EDITING & TECHNICAL COORDINATOR: Walter Berge

ROLLERSKI INSTRUCTOR: Jacob Wisén

POSTER & CONTENT CREATOR: Ana Stanisic

PR & PHOTOGRAPHY (poster): BRAVO TOGA

PHOTOGRAPHY: Leonard Stenberg

VIDEOGRAPHY: Mali Dönmez

PRODUCTION & ADMINISTRATION: Interim Kultur Kooperativ

PRODUCTION RESIDENCIES AT:

INSTITUTET (Vitsaniemi), TURTEATERN (Stockholm) & ÅBNE SCENE (Aarhus)


VOICES, SOURCES & SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Aarhus Skiklub, Adam Bencard (Associate Professor at Copenhagen University and curator at Medical Museion), David Pepe Birch, Ditte Bondeson, Ritva Huttunen, Sara Dybris McQuaid (Associate Professor at Aarhus University), Arsanios Mikael, Siri Nyke, Mattias Tor Petterson, Olle Perttu, Heli Saarne, Taija Salonen-Tiukkanen, Antti Samppa (psychiatrist, EMDR specialist) and Anne-Mette Bruun Svendsen.

WITH SUPPORT FROM
The Swedish Arts Council, Nordic Culture Contact & The Längman Culture Foundation, City of Gothenburg, Københavns Kommune
BRAVO TOGA is a nordic performing arts collective consisting of Anna Kuusamo from Finland, Lena Bondeson from Denmark and Sara Ribbenstedt from Sweden. The group has been active since 2016 and creates contemporary performances in the conceptual, experimental, practice-based and interdisciplinary field between dance and theater. BRAVO TOGA works collectively, in collaborations with other artists, in co-production with stages and as members of the performance productions cooperative Interim Kultur and KOMMA Performance Productions. BRAVO TOGA was established during Lena and Sara’s BA in (Physical) Acting from Stockholm University of the Arts 2012-2015 where Anna did an exchange from the MA program in Acting from Tampere University (NÄTY) in Finland (2009-2014). Lena also did a MFA in Performing Arts (Directing) from The Danish National School of Performing Arts (2019-2022).