Beneath the Depths

Under dybet is a sensory and genre-defying theatrical experience that left audiences spellbound at its premiere in 2024. Created in close collaboration between ballet, drama and music, the production is a tribute to the luminous and the shadowed forces of existence, unfolding in three acts: birth, sexuality and death.

In church, we turn to a hymnal to guide us through life’s great rites of passage. In Under dybet, composer Jeanett Albeck offers a different kind of scripture – a pop gospel woven from well-known songs and newly composed music, performed live on stage by, among others, five seasoned opera singers and five trombonists. Before them, five travellers embark on a search for meaning and belonging. Through dance and song, they confront life’s turning points – desire and disappointment, grief and awakening – and come to understand that growing up also means relinquishing the illusion of a perfect world.

Led by director Anja Behrens, with set design by Christian Albrechtsen, choreographers Sebastian Kloborg and Oliver Marcus Starpov give physical form to music that resonates with both the nostalgic and the dreamer. The result is neither pure ballet, spoken drama nor concert, but a compelling fusion of the three – a work that opens wide the door to our deepest emotions.

With gratitude to the Danish Research Foundation, whose generous donation has made the staging of Under dybet possible.

Recommended from 12 years old