A grand and messy choreographic investigation
In *Works and Days*, experiences from a trip to ancient Greece are interwoven with fragments of a fifteen-year-old performance. With a blend of humor and seriousness, Gunilla Heilborn attempts to untangle how all the disparate episodes she has gathered are connected and whether it is truly possible to understand the world better by reading both the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey*.
*Works and Days* consists of two parts. In one, we encounter grand tableaux with titles such as “A Place That Is Harsh in Winter, Cruel in Summer, Never Pleasant” and“The Rose-Fingered Dawn.”
In the second part, Heilborn herself navigates through her earlier works in search of a beginning. Drawing inspiration from the stories of the ancient poets, a recent trip to Greece, and her earlier work *This is not a love story* from 2011, she tries to see if it’s possible to link one event to another—or if perhaps it’s the lack of logic that characterizes everything we do.
The Norrlands Opera has previously staged several works by Gunilla Heilborn, including *Åtjärn Stories* (2006), *The Five-Year Plan* (2009), *This Is Not a Love Story* (2014), *The Knowledge* (2016), *Boken* (2018), and *Merkurius* (2022). Several of these have been produced in collaboration with the Norrlands Opera.
Norrlandsoperan is 60% owned by Region Västerbotten and 40% by the City of Umeå. We receive grants from the Swedish Arts Council.
Many thanks to all our donors, sponsors, and partners.
Cast and Creative Team
Gunilla Heilborn is a choreographer and filmmaker based in Stockholm. She is obsessed with research and spends most of her time reading about memory techniques, medieval cities, or ancient oracles. By combining text, movement, video, and imagery, Heilborn creates a fascinating and captivating form of expression—one that both entertains and challenges her audience.
Her artistic career began with studies in radio and film, as well as choreography at DOCH in Stockholm and under Anna Halprin at the San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop. Since then, Heilborn has enjoyed great success in both the performing arts and film.
Ludvig Daae is a choreographer and dancer based in Oslo and Stockholm. He has a penchant for long-term collaborations, unconventional performance spaces, and references to popular culture. His works often straddle the line between the personal and the conceptual—often with a touch of self-deprecating humor, glitz, and meticulous research.
After studying dance at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and touring extensively as a dancer for artists such as Deborah Hay and Mårten Spångberg, he has created works for, among others, Cullberg, Norrdans, and the Royal Swedish Ballet School. His solo performance MM has been performed in over 100 shows in ten countries and was named one of the best performing arts productions of the year in Portugal in 2014.
Ludvig Daae has previously toured with Dansnät Sverige, presenting his own works *The Meaning of Life* in collaboration with Tove Berglund (2023 and 2024), as well as *The Viral Dance* (2020) and *Hyperfruit* ( 2017), both in collaboration with Joanna Nordahl. All of these works have been performed at the Norrlandsoperan.
Sophie Augot is a dancer, actress, and choreographer based in Stockholm. She trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, the University of Dance, and the Stockholm University of the Arts, and has worked closely for many years with choreographers Björn Säfsten, Cristina Caprioli, Kenneth Kvarnström, and Örjan Andersson. She has also participated in projects by Anna Koch, Sidney Leoni, Mari Carrasco, and Anna Källblad, among others, and has worked as an actress at the Helsingborg City Theater, the Riksteatern, the Stockholm City Theater, the Blekinge Kronoberg Regional Theater, and the Turteatern.
In 2023, she created the work *MISS* together with Philip Berlin. She is currently in the early stages of developing her own artistic language and is working on the solo piece *Kiddo*, which will premiere at Turteatern in 2026.
Concept & Direction: Gunilla Heilborn
Text & Choreography: Gunilla Heilborn in collaboration with the performers
On stage: Ludvig Daae, Gunilla Heilborn, and Sophie Augot
Set & Costumes: Katarina Wiklund
Lighting Design: Minna Tiikkainen
Music & Sound Design: Kim Hiorthøy
Image & Video Projections: Mårten Nilsson
Artistic Consultant: Veronica Hejdelind
Sound Engineering: Jonas Holst
Producer: Johnson & Bergsmark
Preview Photo: Mårten Nilsson
Portrait Photo: Märta Thisner
Production: Norrlandsoperan Workshops
Running Time: 110 min., including intermission
With support from: the Swedish Arts Council and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Residency: Västra Götaland Region, Vitlycke Center for the Performing Arts
Co-producers: Dansnät Sverige, Norrlandsoperan, Dansens Hus, and Kunstencentrum BUDA