Láhppon/Lost is a ballet about the 1852 Kautokeino Rebellion — a religious-political revolt that marked a turning point in the conflict between the Sámi and the Norwegian authorities, and one of the most violent episodes in Sámi history.
I worked on the production as assistant choreographer and as a guest dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet, collaborating with choreographers Elle Sofe Sara and Hlín Hjálmarsdóttir. Elle Sofe Sara, the first Sámi choreographer to work with the company, discovered during her research that six of her own relatives had participated in the uprising. That weight was present in the room throughout the process.
The score by Valgeir Sigurðsson weaves together electronic sound with traditional and newly composed joiks by Lávre Johan Eira and Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska. Henrik Vibskov designed a futuristic stage landscape that held all of this — a set that played tradition against something stranger and harder to place. The work premiered at the Oslo Opera House in October 2025, then toured to the Sámi National Theatre in Kautokeino in November.
The work continues to tour in 2026 — opening the Festspillene i Nord-Norge festival in Harstad on June 20, and traveling to Venice for its Italian premiere at Biennale Danza 2026 on July 22 and 23, at Teatro alle Tese in the Arsenale.
