Québec | Sweden

Salka Ardal Rosengren is a dance artist whose work explores play, listening, and the relationship with the other. She is interested in social and partner dances, as well as traditional dance games that once revealed subtle physical and social connections. By studying their structures and imagining new ones, she seeks to understand what brings a movement to life and what allows an encounter to unfold.

For her, partner dance opens up a shared space where letting go, responsiveness, and a shared sensibility become driving forces for creation. Bridging heritage and the present, form and sensation, she explores how play—manifesting as curiosity, attention, and communication—can transform the experience of dance. Her research also examines the dynamics at play today between performer and audience, and how dance can renew our ways of being together.

Collections is an exploration of character creation that follows on from *Mascarades*. Each day, I will devise a character based on a work of art, blending observation, writing, and a brief choreographic sequence to conjure an ephemeral, fully embodied presence.

Engaging with the physical space, I will use clothing, objects, and found materials to spark movement and refine the interplay between body, setting, and atmosphere. The process—one character per day—prioritizes intuition, sketching, and the freedom to let each figure emerge or fade away, all while examining the nuances and contradictions of identity.

Each creation will be documented through writing and photography, forming a “collection” of fragments that can inform future projects. The residency thus becomes the site of a simple, sensitive, and open-ended exploration.