BodyCartography Project

'''BodyCartography Project''' is a dance performance duo composed of Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad. Their work is influenced by their studies in dance, performance, film and Body-Mind Centering®, a somatic movement approach. The pair have been collaborating since 1998. creating performance works for different contexts, public spaces, theaters and museums,<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2013/09/s2s-stpaul-gallery/ "Barefoot Dancers, Pro Skaters, and Punk Legends Make Music in the Twin Cities"]. ''Wired'', Douglas Wolk 09.13.2013.</ref> stage productions,<ref>[http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/71304364/touch-compass%E2%80%93doing-things-differently-in-dance "Touch Compass - doing things differently in dance"]. ''Stuff'', Adele Redmond August 26, 2015</ref> film, and installations.<ref>{{cite web|title=MN Original|url=http://www.mnoriginal.org/episode/413-heidi-hoy-isis/bodycartography-project-2/|website=mnoriginal.org|publisher=Twin Cities Public Television|accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref> BodyCartography Project cultivates approaches and tools with somatics, dance, and choreography to support our collective evolution in this moment of planetary crisis. BodyCartography Project engages with the vital materiality of bodies, minds, and the more than human world, to co-create live experiences to generate re-enchantment, relationship, and presence. <ref>{{cite web|last1=Bieringa|first1=Olive|title=BodyCartography Project Mission & History|url=http://bodycartography.org/home/about/short-history/|website=www.bodycartography.org|publisher=BodyCartography Project|accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref>

==History== Olive Bieringa, originally from New Zealand, studied dance at European Dance Development Center in the Netherlands. She went to the US to study with Lisa Nelson and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Otto Ramstad grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and began studying with Suzanne River, when he was seven years old. Bieringa and Ramstad started to work together in 1998 in San Francisco. They moved to Minneapolis in 2001.In 2017 They moved to Oslo, Norway in 2017 where they are currently based.

In 2001 and again in 2002 and 2003, Body Cartography Project participated in the New Zealand Fringe Festival, winning the Outdoor Award each year and the Pelorous Trust Creativity Award in 2003. The pair were well received at the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland in 2004.

In 2005, BodyCartography Project won the Dance for Camera prize at the American Dance Festival. In 2006 and 2008 they won the Minnesota Sage Award for Outstanding Performance.<ref>[http://www.sageawards.org/4th-annual-minnesota-sage-awards-2008/ "4th Annual Minnesota SAGE Awards (2008)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040942/http://www.sageawards.org/4th-annual-minnesota-sage-awards-2008/ |date=2016-03-04 }}. ''Sage Awards website''</ref> They were presented with a Brooklyn Arts Exchange Passing It On Award in 2006, and became Public Art St. Paul Sustainable Arts Fellows in 2007. City Pages named them Artists of the Year in 2007, and they won a McKnight Fellowship for Choreographers in 2010.

In 2012, they presented ''Super Nature'' at the Walker Art Center, with music by Zeena Parkins.<ref>[http://www.startribune.com/review-bodycartography-s-wild-kingdom/175972831/ "Review: BodyCartography's wild kingdom Twin Cities dance troupe explores human behavior and the psyche in a bold, smart world premiere."] By Caroline Palmer, ''Star Tribune''. October 26, 2012</ref>

Super Nature was performed at American Realness Festival in 2013, receiving a positive review from the ''New York Times''.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/arts/dance/bodycartography-project-at-american-realness-festival.html?_r=0 "Maybe Naked, Curvy or Clumsy, and Probably Socially Unorthodox: BodyCartography Project at American Realness Festival"]. ''New York Times''. By Alastair Macaulayjan. 17, 2013</ref> They also performed at the newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival in 2015.<ref>[http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theater-dance/2015/05/10/Newmoves-festival-continues-to-inspire/stories/201505100200 "New Moves Contemporary Dance Festival continues to inspire Pittsburgh arts scene"]. May 10, 2015 By Jane Vranish / ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''.</ref> They were named the area's best dance company of the year by ''City Pages''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Best Dance Company Minneapolis 2013 - The BodyCartography Project|url=http://www.citypages.com/bestof/2013/award/best-dance-company-2779633/|website=www.citypages.com|publisher=City Pages|accessdate=2 October 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928195651/http://www.citypages.com/bestof/2013/award/best-dance-company-2779633/|archivedate=28 September 2014}}</ref>

In 2015, they received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Art. They presented "closer" in various venues in the Twin Cities,<ref>[http://www.startribune.com/spotlights-old-log-s-whorehouse-lawnboy-and-park-square-s-illusion/306992781/ "Spotlights: Old Log's 'Whorehouse,' 'Lawnboy' and Park Square's 'Illusion'"]. ''Star Tribune'', June 11, 2015</ref> beginning as a series of one-on-one dances and winding up with a full-length production at the Red Eye Theater.<ref>[http://www.startribune.com/top-dance-of-2015-dazzling-moments-here-there-and-everywhere/362873341/ "Top dance of 2015: Dazzling moments here, there and everywhere"]. By Sheila Regan ''Star Tribune'' December 20, 2015</ref><ref>[http://www.startribune.com/in-bodycartography-s-closer-the-audience-becomes-a-dance-partner/321887651/ "In BodyCartography's 'closer,' audience becomes a dance partner"]. ''Star Tribune'', Sheila Regan August 14, 2015</ref> They also sold these one-on-one performances at the Walker Art Center Shop as part of the Intangibles Collection.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2015/05/walker-art-center-intangibles/ "A Gift Shop That Sells Snapchats, Avatars, and Voicemails"]. ''Wired'', Liz Stinson 05.01.2015. 05.01.15</ref><ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/museum-gift-shop-sells-art-cant-hang-wall "This museum gift shop sells art you can't hang on the wall"]. ''PBS Newshour'', May 27, 2015</ref>

There recent work includes [https://bodycartography.org/portfolio/resisting-extinction/ Resisting Extinction], Lineage, a collection of fluid spaces and [https://bodycartography.org/portfolio/circling-the-line-black-box-oslo-may-14-2024/ Circling the Line].

== References ==

== External links == * [http://bodycartography.org/ BodyCartography Project] * [http://www.bodymindcentering.com/ Body-Mind Centering] Category:Dance in Minnesota