Where soft and hard meet, we can all drift apart

YIELDING is a group piece choreographed by Escarleth Romo Pozo for the two dancers Robert Malmborg and Victor Pérez Armero, and the electronic musician Adde Huumonen.
Together, they create a transparent, vibrant dreamscape for the audience to step into.

The audience member is right in the thick of the action, inside the room, surrounded by movement and an enveloping sound that is tangible and intimate. The dancers’ physical expressions are magnified when they are so close that you feel them more than you see them, while the sound vibrates through your body.

In a world ravaged by hubris, two figures take to the streets of forgotten neighborhoods, seeking solace amid a ghostly landscape of our own making. Step into a surreal realm where the boundaries of time blur and emotions and memories distort our perception of time. Two figures explore the tension between power and powerlessness, suggesting that our human condition is not static, but can be stretched, distorted, and reshaped.

Where soft and hard meet, there is a place where we can drift apart.

(Excerpt from a text inspired by the essay “SEEDS” by Felizia Matthews)

YIELDING is an intense, physical work that washes over the audience with its energy. Inspired by Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the movements are defined by strength and submission, and embody the tension between two bodies in struggle and mutual dependence. Romo Pozo places us in a fictional space, searching for portals where the past, present, and future can coexist. In this intuitive trio, bodies intertwine, stretch, break apart, and dissolve in a continuum between strength and vulnerability.

This is Escarleth’s first appearance with one of her own works at the Norrlandsoperan, but the Umeå audience already had the chance to see her in 2021 when she joined us as a dancer in Lisbeth Gruwez’s production *The Sea Within*. We’ve also seen dancer Victor Pérez Armero in Jefta van Dinther’s *On Earth I’m Done * and Sindri Runudde’s production *Cosmetic Demons*, andwe’ve seen dancerRobert Malmborg perform in Robin Jonsson’s virtual work *Alone Together*.

ESCARLETH ROMO POZO

Escarleth Romo Pozo (NI/PE/SE) creates works that reflect on the fragility of human connection. She is fascinated by the ever-shifting levels of resonance and dissonance in the intimate, the hidden, and the invisible forces that bring us together or cause us to drift apart. Drawing on metastable bodily states, Escarleth’s work is a continuous re-examination of moments of resilience, in which she explores the elasticity between resistance and yielding.

Born in Nicaragua, she has lived, studied, and danced in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Switzerland, and currently works in Scandinavia. Escarleth holds a master’s degree in Performance from the London Contemporary Dance School and has worked with a number of choreographers and companies throughout Europe: Isabel Lewis, Compagnie Tabea Martin, Voetvolk/Lisbeth Gruwez, Sorour Darabi, Rósa Ómarsdottir, Pontus Pettersson, Sophia Mage (…).

Tickets go on sale August 11 at 12:00 p.m.!