VÅRSKRIKET 2026
Vårskriket 2026 is a rambunctious explosion of dance and music from across the world at Knislinge Folkets Park. This year, the festival boldly makes space for many voices — from returning favorites like dancer Frédéric Gies (who could forget last year’s performance featuring a giant inflatable foot and booming beats by DJ Fiedel), to an operatic dance with Rachel Tess — fy fan, jävla mög, yes, we’re doing it again — and Anna Pehrsson building mountains out of bodies.
We also welcome the long-awaited return of Knislinge’s jam band Bird Spencer, Americana straight from the U.S. with singer-songwriter Mathew Paige, Sweden’s acclaimed dance company Norrdans, love letters to your town, and — wait for it — EPA-dunk meets reggae with JeppsoN and General Knas.
Here we are, Knislinge. No town is ever just one thing — one opinion, one perspective. Join us at MARC as we welcome spring with a gigantic Ronia the Robber’s Daughter scream from the park.
TICKETS
PROGRAM APRIL 24
April 24, 18.00 - 18.30
FRÉDÉRIC GIES / Tribute to Kurt Jooss’ Green Table
Concept and choreography: Frédéric Gies and Manuel Pelmuș
Performance: Frédéric Gies
Music: Fiedel
Lighting design: Thomas Zamolo
Costume: Grzegorz Matlag
Manuel Pelmuș and Frédéric Gies revisit Kurt Jooss’s seminal antiwar ballet The Green Table (1932) on the futility of diplomacy in the face of fascism and war. Their tribute—performed as a solo by Gies in reference to Jooss’s original concept—enters into a critical dialogue with the piece, engaging with its choreographic vocabulary and political urgency. The tradition of the danse macabre, where Death dances with members of all classes, plays a central role in this. Pelmuș and Gies address today’s fractured global order, where peace negotiations often serve as performances of control rather than paths to resolution.
ABOUT FRÉDÉRIC GIES
Frédéric Gies is a Malmö-based dancer and choreographer. Blending structured composition with raw physical intensity, their work explores dance beyond language. Drawing from ballet, 90s contemporary dance, techno club culture, and somatic practices, they merge diverse dance forms.
Since 1996, they’ve created 30+ works presented globally. They’ve danced with major artists, led the MA in choreography at DOCH-SKH, and developed the influential practice Technosomatics.
April 24, 18.40 - 19.20
RACHEL TESS / Visualizing the woman I want to become in the mirror
Choreography: Frédéric Gies
Dance: Rachel Tess
‘At the origin of this solo is a meme, which I randomly gleaned on social media and which became a recurring message in my online communication with Rachel, as a humorous way to channel our anger in the face of situations that upset us. The meme, which gives the title to this solo, depicts a feminine looking, barbie-like doll, looking at herself in the mirror but it is the face of the terrifying queen of the Alien franchise that appears as her reflection. This solo embraces the stigma of the mad, angry woman trope, turning it around with bravura, poetic precision and rigorous composition in the shape of an operatic choreography.’ - Frédéric Gies
ABOUT RACHEL TESS
Rachel Tess (b. 1980) is an American choreographer and dancer based in Sweden, leading MARC in Knislinge. She holds a BFA from The Juilliard School and an MA in choreography from DOCH. She has danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, GöteborgsOperan Danskompani and Cullberg Ballet.
She has choreographed for repertory dance companies such as Norrdans, Skånes Dansteater, and Danish Dance Theater. Tess received the Birgit Cullberg Award (2019) and Region Skåne’s Culture Prize (2023) for her focus on producing dance in the countryside.
FRÉDÉRIC GIES / Deflecting Misfortune and Averting the Evil Eye
Choreography and dance: Frédéric Gies
Music: Fiedel
Costume: Grzegorz Matlag
Deflecting Misfortune and Averting the Evil Eye proposes to translate the anasyrma, the ancient ritualistic practice of exposing one’s buttocks or genitals into a dance. The anasyrma, linked to various ancient religious cults, is a practice that fulfills a protective magic function. This practice has also been appropriated by diverse contemporary forms of protest. Paying tribute to various dance or feminist performances, the performance puts to the forefront the relationship between the poetic and the political.
ABOUT FRÉDÉRIC GIES
Frédéric Gies is a Malmö-based dancer and choreographer. Blending structured composition with raw physical intensity, their work explores dance beyond language. Drawing from ballet, 90s contemporary dance, techno club culture, and somatic practices, they merge diverse dance forms.
Since 1996, they’ve created 30+ works presented globally. They’ve danced with major artists, led the MA in choreography at DOCH-SKH, and developed the influential practice Technosomatics.
April 24, 19.30 - 20.10
April 24, 20.30 - 21.30
MATTHEW PAIGE / CONCERT
AMERICANA
Tennessee songster, picking and stomping through original music, based in the roots of American folk. With a side of laughter, and a healthy dose of positivity.
ABOUT MATTHEW PAIGE
Matthew Paige, a luminary in the vibrant underground music scene of East Nashville, renowned for his dynamic presence as a musician, songwriter, and captivating solo performer.
As the charismatic frontman for the esteemed rock band DeeOhGee, Matthew has left an indelible mark with his exceptional showmanship and guitar virtuosity. However, venturing into the realm of solo performance, Matthew unveils a softer, more introspective side, captivating audiences with his evocative storytelling and melodic prowess. His solo repertoire, a testament to the depth of his songwriting abilities, presents an intimate and soul-stirring experience that beautifully contrasts with the high-energy performances of DeeOhGee.
Matthew's ability to connect with his audience goes beyond the stage, creating an immediate musical family wherever he performs. Whether you're drawn to the electrifying energy of his rock roots or the tender embrace of his solo endeavors, attending a Matthew Paige performance is not just a musical event – it's an invitation into a shared experience, a celebration of life, love, and the universal language of music.
BIRD SPENCER / CONCERT
PSYCADELIC ROCK
Bird Spencer is a band that started in 2007 with their own material and recordings (and gigs). After 2-3 years, the bird went to rest. So, reunited after a long time, it feels good to play for another bird (Milvus) in Knislinge.
Bird Spencer consists of: Henrik Rundberg, Erika Persson, Jerry Arvidsson, Nutte Bejier, Henrik Andersson, and Åsa Ödmo.
April 24, 22.00 - 23.00
PROGRAM 25 APRIL
PETER MILLS / Love Letters
Concept and choreography: Peter Mills
Come to Knislinge Folkets Park between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to participate in this open writing session, where we take the time to think, talk, and write about our love for a person, a place, or a thing.
Paper and pens will be provided, and you are welcome to write in your own language.
Participation is always voluntary.
ABOUT PETER MILLS:
Peter is a choreographer and artist whose work explores asymmetry, autonomy, and forms of being-together that resist resolution. With a commitment to choreography as an ethics—not of control but of relation—they invite participants to sense the world differently. This performance is a continuation of that invitation.
April 25, 11.00 - 13.00
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April 25, 13.00 - 15.00
NORRDANS / One One One
Concept: Ioannis Mandafounis
Dancers: Kevin Julianto, Ellie Vermunt and Silas Manuel da Silva Roller
One chair, one dancer.
This is the starting point for the work One One One by choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis.
You sit down on the chair, a dancer approaches you and says:
— I will dance for you as long as we maintain eye contact.
What happens next is a silent dialogue, an exclusive encounter. An opportunity to see dance with new eyes. To see, truly see, dance. When you have seen enough, you may leave the chair.
One One One is performed in public spaces. The work has previously been presented in streets and squares, in a prison in Madagascar, and at the National Hospital in Copenhagen.
Choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis has developed his own method where intuition is placed at the forefront. The dancer becomes like a membrane, saying “yes” to all impulses in relation to the source, the audience member on the chair.
The piece is both an intimate meeting between two people (the audience member and the dancer) and something that can be experienced from around this encounter.
We promise something distinctive, intimate, provocative, and entertaining. In the middle of the room and in the contemporary moment.
April 25, 15.30 - 16.20
RACHEL TESS / Stepping Stone
Choreography: Anna Pehrsson
Dance: Rachel Tess
Throughout various cultures, one can find legends and myths that feature stepping stones as symbols or metaphors. Often described as miraculous creations, these stones are believed to enable people to cross otherwise impassable waters or obstacles. What could be more suitable for the time we live in?
In Stepping Stone choreographer Anna Pehrsson crafts a dance that is a passage into imagination and poetics constructing a body rooted in her long-term research in geological processes - challenging and deepening its directions, textures, intensities and pathways with dancer Rachel Tess.
ABOUT ANNA PERHSSON
Anna Pehrsson (née Boliden) is a dancer, choreographer, and artist who works at the intersection of dance, choreography, and visual art. After a distinguished career as a dancer with companies such as Cullberg, Corpus / Det Kongelige Teater, and Alias Compagnie (CH), she made her debut as a choreographer in 2016. Since then, her artistic practice has encompassed everything from gallery and public spaces to artistic research projects and major commissioned choreographic works. These include commissions for Regionteater Väst, Region Uppsala, Den Platta Jorden, and internationally for Ballet Contemporaneo do Norte. Her latest work, Mountainbuilding, was shown in 2025 at the prestigious Ob/Scene festival in Seoul, South Korea.
As a visual artist, she practices a cross-disciplinary approach that includes writing, drawing, stone carving, metalwork, and video. Anna is affiliated with Weld in Stockholm as an associate artist and holds a double master's degree (MFA) in choreography from SKH and fine art from Konstfack, as well as a post-master's accreditation in Materialities from the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (KKH). Her work has been recognized with awards including the Östra Göinge Stone Scholarship (2024) and the Uppsala Municipality Studio Scholarship (2025).
April 25, 16.30 - 17.30
KEVIN JULIANTO / RESIDUAL REVERIE
Choreography and dance: Kevin Julianto
' Residual Reverie turns the traces of the body into visual poetry. Sweat, born of effort and movement, transforms into pigment, imprinting vulnerability and labour onto paper through delicate chemical alchemy. Each mark captures exhaustion and presence, making the invisible mechanics of the body an ephemeral landscape of colour. The practice probes narcissism and self-reflection, swinging between indulgence and generosity, extraction and renewal. Bodily fluids are upcycled into material form, collapsing the line between intimate and exhibited, personal and public, fleeting and permanent.'
ABOUT KEVIN JULIANTO
‘I love to dance, I love watching people dance and I experience the joy of connecting with different people through dance. It is something that never betrays me.’
Kevin Julianto started his first ballet and contemporary dance class at the age of 13. He went to Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts then finished his BA first class Honours at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds in 2020. He has danced for Siko Setyanto and Josh Marcy in Dansity Gerard Mosterd and Marich Prakorso in Kreativität Dance Indonesia, Indonesia Dance Company, Reveriano Camil in Tuva Tanz, Toby Rorimpandey, Farida Oetoyo, Deborah Robertson, Yon Jing Li, Cindy Ng, Eleanor Sikorski, Fernanda Prata and Leu Wijee and is currently a dancer at Norrdans.
JEPPSON / CONCERT
EPA - DUNK
JeppsoN is a versatile talent, songwriter, and singer who has sold gold, platinum, and double platinum records throughout his career.
With over 75 million streams and hits such as “OM HAN BJUDER BUBBEL”, “RULLANDE HORHUS” och “KRYPA HEM”, he offers an energetic show in the electronic dance music style “epa-dunk/party music”. He has also had several songs on the top 50 list in Sweden, and has toured around the country at nightclubs/festivals, had his own sold-out gigs, and performed on the big stage at Gröna Lund.
Jesper “JeppsoN” has been playing instruments and performing since childhood, and his musical talent is often evident in his catchy melodies and loops. This has led to collaborations with artists such as Elov & Beny, Fröken Snusk, Albin Johnsén & Rasmus Gozzi.
April 25, 20.30 - 21.30
GENERAL KNAS / CONCERT
REGGAE / DANCEHALL
For over 20 years, Generalen has been active as an artist, both solo and in the band Svenska Akademien. With love and music as our weapons, we invite you to experience Sweden's heaviest bass... General Knas!
Ivan Olausson Klatil, better known as General Knas, is an activist and one of Sweden's most distinctive voices in reggae. With his dark, characteristic singing style he has been delivering music that moves between love, social criticism, and resistance for over 20 years.
He made his breakthrough with Svenska Akademien and has since built a strong solo career. In total, he has released ten albums – five with Svenska Akademien, five as a solo artist under the name General Knas, and one EP.
A general without an army – but with an audience that knows every line.
April 25, 22.00 - 23.00
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
You will find us at Knislinge Folkets Park, Parkgatan 7 in Knislinge.
Tickets will be sold at the door, pending availability.
You can get to and from Knislinge Folkets Park by public transport. The nearest bus stop is Knislinge Bus Station.
See www.skanetrafiken.se for more information.
Food and drinks will be available for purchase on both days.
THANK YOU!
Thanks to Norrdans, Café Kom in, participating artists, our audience, and Östra Göinge Municipality.
