
I WANT TO BE TRADITIONAL
a solo performance
Roots are trying to dig into my skin, duele, det gjør vondt, even if I know they are only trying to get some nourishment, then they carry on floating away into a sea of sand eller av sukker o de sangre or of herbs without needing to grasp into one single spot. Som vanlig someone then comes and asks me where I am from y preguntan de dónde soy, where my mother is from, hvor faren min kommer fra, de dónde vienen mis hijos, where my phone is from, hvor katten min kommer fra.
I WANT TO BE TRADITIONAL is a solo work attempting to push the boundaries of the understanding of the self as a layered and fluid being, continuously moving in all directions.
Maritea creates ritualistic visual spaces, where much spins around text, fragmentation, repetition and rhythm. Personal and fictional memories are freely spun on in a continuous stream of consciousness.

PRESS:
“Occasionally these small, mythical moments occur when someone you have never seen before springs surprisingly from the sidelines and offers something entirely new and fresh, just like that. Who is she? Where did she come from? (…) Indeed, it is about that well-worn word identity, but in a much larger and more collective universe than our own domestic discourse.” – Scenekunst.no
“What is striking is her treatment of the text (…) The text and its persistent repetitions and rhythms becomes something you could almost stomp in time to, a form of textual jazz.” – Norsk Shakespearetidsskrift.”
“Under the many fragmented texts you can sense an underlying need to communicate, and through this the performance displays identity as a combination of body and language. I am fascinated by Maritea Dæhlin’s stage presence and ability to communicate, and I am completely drawn into the performance. (…) That language is also a sound and a rhythm enlightens what a dramatic text can be. It is exciting that the language is so clearly given a physical body and association.” – Klassekampen.

CREDITS:
Concept, texts, director & performer: Maritea Dæhlin
Dramaturge: Pia Maria Roll
Costumes, props & production manager: Ursula Lascurain
Video: Isaac Díaz Valderrama
Lighting design: Kurt Hermansen
Sound composition: Felipe Cussen
Project development & visual advisor: Hanne Grieg Hermansen
Outside eye: Gabriela Ottogalli
Production assistant: Soh Tokunaga
Project development: Deise Nunes
International distribution: Elisabeth Carmen Gmeiner
Co-produced by: Black Box teater and Grenland Friteater
Supported by:

I WANT TO BE TRADITIONAL (PILOT) has, since 2017, been presented as different versions as performance, poetry reading, video performance and more, at the experimental poetry festival ENCLAVE in Mexico City; at Center for Performance Studies i New York; Radical Hospitality at Pluss Pluss, Black Box teater Oslo, Norway; Brooklyn Studios for Dance in New York; ITINERANT international performance Art Festival NYC; at Nolitch X in Copenhagen, Denmark; at No Nation Galleryin Chicago, USA; Ellas – Encuentro de artistas Latino Americanas, Campinas, Brasil; Prøverommet at BIT Teatergarasjen, Bergen, Norway.
I WANT TO BE TRADITIONAL (PILOT) was been supported by: