Ellen Söderhult is based in Stockholm and works as a dancer, singer and choreographer. Her choreographic works have often approached the collective as the protagonist (Rudy, Shane et al, How to do things with Romance: a prologue, DUNKA DUNKA), but have also explored monstrous emotions and textures of sweet-bitter love (ROUGH), as well as the ghostly hauntings within the relationship between dancer and dance (GHOST DANCES, Blessika). Large leaps, immersive soundscapes, and vocal harmonies are recurring elements in her work.
Ellen Söderhult arbetar som dansare, sångare och koreograf med Stockholm som bas. Hennes koreografiska verk har ofta tagit sig an kollektivet som protagonist (Rudy, Shane et al, How to do things with Romance: a prologue, DUNKA DUNKA), men även utforskat monstruösa känslor och texturer i ljuv-bitter kärlek (GROV) samt det spöklikt hemsökta i relationen mellan dansare och dans (Spökdanser, Blessika). Stora språng, omslutande ljudbilder och stämsång återkommer i hennes arbeten.
Konstnärsnämnden tilldelar dansaren och koreografen Ellen Söderhult årets Birgit Cullberg-stipendium
Arbetsgruppen för dans och cirkus har fattat beslutet och motiveringen lyder:
”Ellen Söderhult är en av vår tids starka röster och utövare inom den samtida dansen i Sverige. Med stor passion driver Ellen sitt arbete för att vidga danskonstens blick. Hon läser sin dans samtidigt som hon skriver den och i sitt arbete bär rörelsens specifika detalj lika stort värde som det elaborerade intellektuella tilltalet. I Söderhults konstnärliga praktik uppmärksammas det fysiska hästjobbet en dansare bedriver, träningens modellerande av kropp och hur just att arbeta i rörelse är ett starkt statement.
Genom sina koreografier riktar hon fokus mot det kollektiva görandet. Hennes verk ter sig likt en kritisk massa där rörelse, ljud och aktion ger mening och lyfter upplevelsen till en fysisk, lekfull och poetisk erfarenhet för både publik och utövare.
Dansaren, koreografen, skribenten, musikern, åskådaren, aktören och pedagogen Ellen Söderhult är en danskonstens ekvilibrist som i sann Birgit Cullberg-anda ständigt lyckas förnya det etablerade och förkroppsliga detta i sitt hantverk. Hon banar väg och skapar plats för dansen i flertalet konstnärliga rum, där hennes unika universum blir en knytpunkt för konstnärer att mötas i.”
24 th of November 2022: The Swedish Arts Grants Committee awards the Birgit Cullberg-stipend to the dancer and choreographer Ellen Söderhult, with the following motivation:
“Ellen Söderhult is one of the strong voices and practitioners of our time within contemporary dance in Sweden. With great passion, Ellen drives her work to broaden the perspective of the art of dance. She reads her dance simultaneously as she writes it, and in her work, the specific detail of movement carries as much value as the elaborate intellectual address. In Söderhult’s artistic practice, attention is drawn to the demanding physical exertion a dancer performs, the modeling of the body through training, and how the act of working in movement is a powerful statement.
Through her choreographies, she focuses on collective creation. Her work appears like a critical mass where movement, sound, and action give meaning and elevate the experience to a physical, playful, and poetic experience for both the audience and the performers.
The dancer, choreographer, writer, musician, spectator, actor, and pedagogue Ellen Söderhult is an equilibrist of the art of dance who, in the true spirit of Birgit Cullberg, constantly succeeds in renewing the established and embodying this in her craft. She paves the way and creates space for dance in numerous artistic venues, where her unique universe becomes a meeting point for artists.”
Stockholms stads kulturstipendium 2025, motivering:
Ellen Söderhults danskonst utmanar och berikar med sina starka, fysiska uttryck. Genom föreställningar som Spökdanser och How to do things with Romance för hon samman dans och musik i en kreativ symbios. Med intimt deltagande och maximalistisk performance från torg till kyrkor utmanas kroppens och konstens gränser. Rörelse och ljud möts i ett eget universum.
Stockholm City Cultural Scholarship 2025, motivation:
Ellen Söderhult’s dance art challenges and enriches with its strong, physical expressions. Through performances such as Spökdanser (Ghost Dances) and How to do things with Romance, she brings together dance and music in a creative symbiosis. With intimate participation and maximalist performance, from public squares to churches, the boundaries of the body and art are challenged. Movement and sound meet in a universe of their own.
Longer bio:
Ellen Söderhult has a background in athletics and music and studied dance and circus at DOCH/SKH. Ellen studied music at Skeppsholmen and Bollnäs Folkhögskola (Hälsingland). In 2024 she premiered Ghost dances which was chosen to the favorite performance of the year by DN critic Maina Arvas. It was followed by Blessika, which premiered February 2025 and continued the theme of choreography as a haunted art form. In 2023 she premiered ROUGH (GROV), a piece about the sweet-bitter feelings and textures of romantic love. It was co-produced by Weld and Dansens Hus and also shown at Dansinitiativet in Luleå. A group version for ten dancers premiered at SITE festival 2023. It was the first collaboration between choreographer Ellen Söderhult and composer Kajsa Blom / KABLAM, who also has composed the music for BLESSIKA and some music in GHOST DANCES. Previous pieces includes DUNKA DUNKA which premiered at DansPlats Skog in Hälsingland, a collaboration with Daniel IInatti in which the audience is surrounded by sounds of mud, scents, sub bass and wrestling choir singers. It was reiterated in a collaboration with the choir TUSEN TUNGOR, MDT and KONSTMUSIKSYSTRAR in Skeppsholmskyrkan May 2025 in a version for full choir, live punk band and premiering compositions for flute and choir.
In the sporty punk ballet HOW TO DO THINGS WITH ROMANCE: a prologue (2016) and in SHANE ET AL. (2018) she explored the collective as a protagonist. HOW TO DO THINGS WITH ROMANCE explores the notion of romance on stage and proposes a team-spirited, punk interpretation in a piece for two drummers and nine to sixteen dancers. The piece turns 10 years 2026 and has up until now been performed in venues and contexts such as Feminisms and Architectures (academic conference, November 2016), MDT (Moderna Dansteatern), Riksteatern, Dansmässan in Scenkonstmuséet, Dansehallerne in the festival The Carrier Bag festival by Danseatelier, Black Box theatre in Oslo, Dansstationen Malmö, Båthuspaviljongen in the Åland Islands and most recently at Brådjupa Dansfestival in Karlshamn 2024. Other works and collaborations include RUDY, OTHERBODIES and THIS IS GRAND.
Ellen has played concerts together with Hara Alonso since 2024 and also sang on her album Touch-me-not (2025). They have played together in concerts such as Festival Musica Visual (Lanzarote), Fiestas de la Naval (Las Palmas), Markuskyrkan: Atmospheres (Stockholm), Festival Monte León (León), LUMEN project (Stockholm), Modo Avion, Cines PAZ (Madrid), Bergen Kjött (Bergen), Nordiska Galleriet, Årsta Folkets Hus (Stockholm), Intonal (Malmö), Pumarejo (Barcelona) and at Ställbergs Gruva (Ställberg). 2025 she created the piece Skrovliga Danser (Coarse Dances) for the exhibitions Touching the touch: (I’m)material skins and haptic hallucinations by Hara Alonso and Hiroko Tsuchimoto at SKHLM Konsthall, Skärholmen. It was presented several times as a prt of the exhibition, inside of the exhibition and in the shopping mall in Skärholmen.
In 2015 she co-founded the open-source format for exchange of practices in the performing arts called Nobody’s Business together with Eleanor Bauer and Alice Chauchat. Ellen has also worked with and for amongst others Iki Gonzalez Magnusson, Simone Forti, Sandra Medina and Anna Efraimsson, Sindri Runudde, Johanssons Pelargoner och Dans, Nadja Hjorton, Stina Nyberg and Rasmus Ölme, Nikima Jagudajev, Sorour Darabi, Anna Källblad and Helena Byström at for example Riksteatern, Dalateatern, Accelerator, My Wild Flag and Scenkonst Sörmland.
Ellen has taught workshops, classes and courses at institutions and venues such as Daglig träning Stockholm, Impulstanz Festival, Musikhögskolan i Piteå/Luleå Tekniska Universitet, Balettakademien Stockholm, Stockholms Konstnärliga Högskola, Cullberg, Norrdans, Lunnevads Folkhögskola, both vocational students, professionals and people without previous formal dance training.
Her pieces have been shown in venues such as Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhus, Gula Villans kulturhus i Järna, Akademiet för Utaemmet Kreativitets Scene, Weld and Scenkonstmuséet Stockholm, Dansehallerne/Danseatelier in Copenhagen, Black Box Theater in Norway, Dansinitiativet in Luleå, Dansstationen in Malmö, Heizhaus in Berlin as well as Massmanska Kvarnen and Kvitterplatsen in Ronneby, Lokstallarns in Karlshamn, Gottsunda Dans och Teater in Uppsala, and in Pub bastun and Båthuspaviljongen at the Åland Islands. In 2022 she was awarded the Birgit Cullberg award by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.
INTERVIEW
Josefine Wikström interviews Ellen Söderhult for Sitezones: Konkret sken, kördans och dansens arbete idag
VIDEO
Här finns det video Click here for video
Ellen Söderhult 