Eclipse of the Heart

Eclipse of The Heart – an intense solo dance performance that explores the eight stages that often precede intimate partner homicide.

The performance is based on the research of British criminologist Jane Monckton-Smith, who has identified eight predictable stages in an escalating cycle of violence that frequently leads to partner homicide.

Through song, text, music, and dance, we follow the female protagonist through each stage, as her inner monologue interweaves with the voices of other women who have been – and are – in the same situation. Step by step, we move from the first dizzying infatuation to the early signs of the partner’s controlling behaviour, through escalating violence, and ultimately to the killing.

With dance and music as its focal point, the performance highlights a serious societal issue – both in Denmark and globally.
Eclipse of the Heart is a new dance performance by choreographer and artistic director Nønne Mai Svalholm. The work is the second in her RED series, which is based on research into violence against women and femicide. The solo is performed alternately by the  internationally acclaimed dancer Hilde I. Sandvold (Norway).

The spoken elements in the performance are in English.

TRIGGER WARNING
Eclipse of the Heart explores the themes of violence against women and intimate partner homicide through a fusion of dance, text, music, and song.
Women exposed to violence and their relatives can seek help and advice from Danner. Call the 24-hour hotline at +45 33 33 00 47.

Nønne Mai Svalholm’s artistic practice explores the deep currents that shape our society and the contemporary world in which we live. She works choreographically with dance, space, objects, light and music, thereby bringing stories to life through intergenerational encounters. Through carefully selected movements, materials, textures and rich, saturated colours, she creates intense, poetic experiences that resonate with the fundamental human condition.

Nønne Mai Svalholm is the artistic director of SVALHOLM and explores deeply felt and sensory spaces of experience, where the fissures in the human psyche and sensibility are allowed to breathe and unfold. Here, hypersensitive, powerful and visually captivating scenes are created, which awaken the audience’s imagination and place them at the heart of a world that is both fragile and moving, yet also full of power, courage and deep existential reflection.

Music is an integral part of SVALHOLM’s universe and functions both as a catalyst for movement and as a nerve that binds the entire experience together. The sounds become an invitation to the audience to surrender and step into a world where, for a moment, one is enveloped and becomes part of something greater.

Nønne Mai Svalholm was selected by the Danish Arts Foundation for the ‘Young Artistic Elite’ programme 2022–2024.

Website: svalholm.dk