Tyra Wigg

Tyra Wigg is a dancer, performer and choreographer born and based in Stockholm, Sweden. She studied dance at Balettakademien Stockholm, choreography courses at DOCH School of Dance and Circus in Stockholm and mime acting at StDH Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts. To feed her curiosity in various artistic movement practices she regularly participates in workshops, seminars, residencies and creative processes in Sweden and abroad.

Since 2017 Tyra is performing in the internationally touring piece Crowd by Gisèle Vienne, and since 2018 in Everything that Happened and Would Happen by Heiner Goebbels. Previously Tyra has been performing in a wide range of contexts, collaborating with artists such as Marina Abramovic, Éva Mag, Alexandra Pirici, Marie Fahlin, Dorte Olesen, Anna Källblad/Helena Byström, Virpi Pahkinen, Tove Sahlin, Stefan Metz, and the activist group Pussy Riot.

In December 2019 Tyra is premiering her current choreographic project NAPS at Weld in Stockholm. NAPS is a collaboration with musicians Aram Abbas and Siri Jennefelt.

Tyra immerses herself in meditation and movement practices with focus of muscular release and reinforcement of the endless capacity of corporeal awareness. In her choreographic work Tyra investigates how these practices can interfere with and propose surprising directions to her habitual patterns of moving and thinking.

Tyra is driven by a strong urge to improve the economic infrastructure for freelance artists. Together with the dance department in the Swedish union for stage and film, she is talking in the seminar “Dansare oavsett villkor?” as well as being an active part in discussions aiming to impact the social security systems for professionals in the performing arts field in Sweden.

Contact Tyra

Photo: Snezana Vucetic Bohm

WHAT DOES THE SITE RESIDENCY ENABLE YOU TO DO?
A solid physical place where I can observe, structure and develop the information I receive on the scattered places I move in between.

I am very much looking forward to a long term exchange of knowledge and support with Emelie, Ann-Sofie and the other residents at SITE. The proximity to KKV and artists working with other media and materials I consider a valuable resource. Daily encounters with other professionals are helping me to both share and challenge what I am working with.

The studios at SITE have the technical requirements I need for involving sound and light in my working process. As the studios are not far from the office here, I consider it a privilege to be able to move from theory to action and from administration to physical play so seamlessly.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT?
I am in the process of making a stage piece of NAPS, the project that I have been accumulating during the past two years. NAPS is digging into and out of my relation to different notions of achievement. I like to work with the achievement topic in the performing arts and stage context, as this “business” is very much affected by the imperative to achieve success and recognition by maximized productivity and exposure. At the same time, performing arts possesses the potential to dissolve exactly these ideals.
In NAPS I am drawing references to the classic rockstar who plays simultaneously on the peak of achievement and on the edge of collapsing. I am also intrigued by the contemporary influencer on social media, who is multitasking the virtual making and representation of the “self” with the unavoidable stream of colloquial doings.
I am collaborating with the musicians Aram Abbas and Siri Jennefelt in NAPS. They are very skilled at bringing their amazing musical identities to the work, that is very much carried by the fusion and confusion between body and sound.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO FURTHER DEVELOP DURING YOUR RESIDENCY AT SITE?
I want to give time to finding a solid, yet flexible format for my project to meet an audience in a longer perspective. I am so far the producer of my own work and I aim to develop contact with venues and learn more about the different parts of a production process.

As I feel inspired by social atmospheres, I plan to invite other artists to the studios for collective sharing and challenging of our individual practices. Together with others I also want to explore the great potential for alternative audience meetings that the many beautiful spaces at SITE carry.

A further goal would be to explore methods of collaborating with colleagues who are geographically far from me, in order to decrease my frequent travelling. I am convinced that the performing arts field can increase its sustainability, both economically and environmentally.

The residency aims to enable artistic and organizational development, through free access to office space and studio time as well as counselling. Please contact Anne-Sofie Ericsson for more information.