Kristian Larsen

Kristian Larsen

Personal Info

  • Known for

    Sound

  • Gender

    Male

Biography

Kristian Larsen is a Tamaki Makaurau based multi-disciplinary artist: dancer / choreographer / musician / composer / writer / researcher / teacher / improviser. Working at the edges of contemporary dance and experimental music in live performance, Larsen’s performances describe relationships between the somatic and the acoustic through creative misuses of dance techniques and audio technologies. His choreographic thinking on bodily agency in an era of hyper-capitalism is filtered through notions of hauntologies of obsolescence, disability, and hope. Larsen’s eccentric practice spans over three decades. His interrogations of contemporary dance have been compelled by radical methods of improvisation and movement sampling. His movement palette scrolls through the nostalgia’s of puritanical ballet and anally retentive 20th century American modernist dance forms such as Hawkins and Limon. Postmodernist darling Contact Improvisation alongside dance somatics such as Skinner Releasing and Body Weather are informed by the vocabularies and principles of interaction from movement arts such as capoeira, boxing, and Cheng Hsin. Larsen is a graduate of three of New Zealand's key dance institutions - UNITEC - PAS, The New Zealand School of Dance, and has a Masters and a Doctoral Degree in dance from the University of Auckland. Larsen's dance performance and collaborations with New Zealand choreographers include Joshua Rutter (Germany / NZ), val smith, forest v kapo (AUS /NZ), Lisa Densem (Germany / NZ), Sean Curham, Malia Johnston, Maria Dabrowska, Julia Milsom, Zahra Killeen Chance, Daniel Belton, Lemi Ponifasio, Cat Ruka
, Raewyn Hill (Aus /NZ), and Alicia Frankovich, (NZ/AUS).

Larsen’s sound making for choreographers include Frank Van de Ven (NE/NZ), Claire O'Neil (Brussels / NZ), Ross McCormack, Alys Longley, Sean Macdonald, Suzanne Cowan, Adam Boonkrabob - Naughton, and Tallulah Holly-Massey. Larsen’s international dance projects include working for choreographers Min Tanaka (Japan), Jerome Bel (France), Ko Nakajima (Japan), Hans Van Den Broeck (C- De La B, Belgium), Kerstin Kussmaul (Austria), and improvisers Magpie Music Dance Company (Netherlands).

Crew