Pia Arke Performance: SOIL mit Sarah Aviaja Hammeken

Her background brings with it a wealth of opportunity and while she embraces both cultures at different times, she is also sometimes left with the feeling of not belonging to either of them.

Often Hammeken’s contemporary dance performances poetically addresses the conflict of not being able to fully grasp your own languages, rituals, or traditions. Mirroring shifts in translation and self-perception, they ask when are you accepted into a culture and whose acceptance it is you are seeking. In particular, the language of Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) and the ongoing process of learning it is central to Hammeken’s ongoing development of SOIL, which is a bodily inquiry into communication, its power and ploys.

 

SOIL is Hammeken’s first performance in Germany. The new piece is commissioned by KW Institute for Contemporary Art and premiers during the Berlin Art Week 2024.

 

Sarah Aviaja Hammeken was born in Copenhagen, with a mix of Danish and Greenlandic roots. After graduating from The Ballet Academy in Stockholm in 2015, she became a part of Compagnia Zappalà Danza’s youth company, CZD2. Sarah Aviaja established herself as a professional dancer on the global stage, working with various international choreographers and companies. In 2019, she founded AVIAJA Dance, a platform where she explores and develops her choreographic practice. Her artistic journey is driven by a profound interest in how the physical body and dance intersect with society, often drawing inspiration from her Greenlandic heritage. In 2023, after spending several years abroad, she brought her latest creation, SILA, to life at The National Theatre of Greenland, followed by its Danish premiere at Dansekapellet, marking her return to the Danish art scene.

Her journey earned her a spot in the ‘The Young Artistic Elite’ career program for 2024–2026, by the Danish Arts Foundation. Additionally, she was selected for Emerging Artists & Producers Program at CPH Stage 2023/2024.

The exhibition at KW is supported by the New Carlsberg Foundation.