SPRINGTIME

Sälkvinnorna

Premiere march 2023 at MDT Stockholm

At dusk in the darker stage of twilight, we see the outlines of their bodies. They lie there, on
stage, stranded in a muddy quagmire, the seal women. At first glance, they look paralysed.
They are stuck in a hybrid body of seal and woman. They grunt and snort. We do not know if
these are sounds of pleasure or torment. Perhaps both at the same time...

In "Sälkvinnorna" (the seal women in English), Amanda Apetrea and Halla Ólafsdóttir
explore horniness, desire, the body and animality/femininity. They have nurtured these
physical practices through work with their rock star alter egos in Beauty and the Beast (2011)
and in their latest more poetic performance DEAD (2017). The seal women give expression
to bodies that are shameless, sexually aggressive, grotesque and that dare to take up space
through their dance and with their voice.

"Sälkvinnorna" by Amanda Apetrea and Halla Ólafsdóttir is a dance performance that moves
in and out of a mythical landscape within which Amanda and Halla shapeshift between seal
and woman. With sound by Lune, a set design by Chrisander Brun and cinematography film
by Ester Martin Bergsmark, the Seal women float weightlessly through a muffled, dark and
epic soundscape.

Please note that this show has an age limit (18) and that no photography is allowed during the
performance.

Poems:

Ode to Edith
I
The light wanders with darkness
kiss the heat from my cavities
my tender pussy share my heart's blood
take my skin, take my purple insides
take the longing of my soft fragile flesh
Would it be to much to feel
a single night, a night like this one,
your heavy darkness resting in mine

II
You pushed your long loving limb
into the fulness of my womb -
I grab, in my little soft eager hands,
your long loving limb that will soon soften
O, you ruler with true evil and crazy black
eyes
I accept the fear you give me, that I crave
so deeply
I kneel, my head and heart heavy between
your legs

III
My master penetrated me for the first time
today,
I trembled and twisted in glorious pain
Now I truly feel the weight of his muscles
piercing through the fragility of my
openings
Where is my jingling fountain orgasm,
my pussy's proud independence?
Now I truly feel the thick ropes tightening
and the sharp blade separating my skin
I hear a sound in the air before the hand of
reality lands hard on my cheek
scattering my sweet tender dreams

IV
You searched for shadows
and you found deep darkness
You searched for pain
and you found violence and murder
You searched for a little forest stream
and you found the Niagara falls
You searched for a woman
and you found a soul less devil -
‘you are disappointed

Six Songs for Seals

written as a *Folding Story together with
Linnéa Martinsson at her house during a
recording session.

a song for flabby bodies
Thousands of selkies, dancing and
laughing on the shore.
All bleeding from their eyes, ears and
pussies.
Flabby fat disgusting bodies floating by
the shore. To the left.... to the right...to
the left..... to the right.
A sailor walks by at dawn and finds her
crying, shivering on a rock... Insane!
I have 14 children half a city but you can't
see 7 of them cuz they... are in the ocean
where I belong. I will be back with a
vengeance.

a song for returning
One destiny seal, man, woman. What was
once a calm sea became a violent and cruel
fantasy. With each one of us. All four of us
at the same time. The hag, the enchantress,
the virgin and the mother. A whore with
hair made of seaweed, came to a man's
house with a question. She said: “how
much for making me a dress out of
seaweed?
I have seven children ashore and seven
children at sea. They were really grown up
by the time she got back. She landed at the
deep ocean floor just in time for the first
song of returning.

an island in the sea song
Once upon a time there was an island in
the sea. It was a summer night at dusk
when a sailor walked by a beach.
Hey bitch!!! He cries out.
Have you completely lost your mind?
You can't sit here naked woman.

YES I CAN!!! In fact I'm not naked I have
my skin on! I ́m full of tears. Glitter on my
cheeks.
He invited her home and had seven babies
with her, without telling her that he had
hidden her seal skin.
Fuck! The seal was so angry. What the
fuck was she then? Her entire world
collapsed from that day. This mad man
had fooled her.
This Selkie will never forget, 7 water, 7
land half ocean half sand.

a song for a seal cock
My skin, my skin
oh dear seal in me.
She said when he asked why she was
screaming. He then screamed with her into
the approaching storm. Slowly slowly
slowly gently gently gently come lie down
here with me - a voice whispered. Come
lie down in the sand.
Crawl with me common
let ́s crawl.
Away home.
For seven years she was trapped in his
house. She gave birth to seven human
babies. Her seal pussy ached for the
human cock, she couldn't lie about that.
But she fucking hated those human babies.
Finally she could go back to her seal with
his seal monster cock and cute seal babies.
a song for bacteria and tiny sandworms
I know who I am and I am whole. You
can't help me. but it feels a little better
now. In the warmth from all the other
dancing bodies and other dancing sea
creatures and other dancing mammals and
bacteria and birds and molecules and little
tiny sandworms. They all listened to her
heart beat.
Are you lonely?
“Only when I do not hear the sea”

“Who the fuck stole my skin?”
She rose up from the shallow water shel
was in. Took a deep breath and when she
exhaled she released a fart that smelled
like patchouli and bergamot and a little
touch of lavender. All my children smell
differently.

a song for a voice and a pussy
A sad woman sat on a shore crying her
eyes out. The waves crashed into rock and
stone. Bringing shells and small fish with
it.
Smells like the ocean. You smell like salt.
Pearls in my hair
waves of sorrow inside
The little mermaid who traited her voice
for a pussy
You can not have both: A voice and a
pussy.
But my pussy sings! she cries.

She sings! That's how I get my cubs to fall
asleep at night when I'm out of milk.
drink my milk slowly.
One day while he was at sea
she found the key
found her sealskin.
“My heart brakes
Seven children ashore
seven cups at sea”

Dancing with the selkies on the shore

Dancing with the selkies on the shore
Laughing with the selkies on the shore
A sailor man walking by
Found her crying on a rock - Insane!
Where`s my skin where ́s my skin
Fuck that man fuck that man fuck that man
human pussy seal pussy human pussy seal pussy
oh no! Seven children in the sea, seven children on the shore
Oh yes: I Found the key to the chest
Fucking man fucking man fucking man
Stole my skin - I was trapped
swimming back (home) to the sea
little fish little fish lots of little fish
sea shells sea shells lots of seashells

Ocean Floor
Song and lyrics by Lune

Sea shells...
Hidden in sand
No ones here taking care of you
Not this time
The only place forgotten roses bloom
Laying on an ocean floor and bloom
Laying on an ocean floor and blooo ooo
oom oo
Why so low
Think of seals swimming in your bed
Dream away
Please Don’t stop the only way to be you
Laying on an ocean floor and bloom
Laying...

Hidden in sand, what can we do
When no ones here taking care of you
not this time, sky is blue
The only place forgotten roses bloom
Laying on an ocean floor and bloom

laying on an ocean floor and blooooo m
blooo oom
Floating still
Fingers crossed
Floating still
Fingers crossed
Ocean floor
Nothings lost ooo
Laying on an ocean floor and bloom
Laying on an ocean floor and bloo ooo
oom bloom
Why so low,
it's in your head
try to think of someone else instead
Dream away, what do you see
please don't stop the only way to be
youuuu
Laying on an ocean floor and bloom
laying on an ocean floor and bloom oooo
oo oh ooh

La la laa
La la laaa
La laa laaa
La laa laaa
La la
La la la la la la la la laaa
Lalaslalalalalalala
Laa laa laaa

Credits:

Choreography and Performance by Amanda Apetrea and Halla Ólafsdóttir
Music by Linnéa Martinsson/Lune
Lighting and Set Design by Chrisander Brun
Film by Ester Martin Bergsmark
Tailored by Kajsa Lisa Larsson
Administration by Interim Kultur
Technician Angela X

Artwork by Anna Ehrlemark

Photo by Märta Thisner
Produced by Sara Bergsmark (Johnson & Bergsmark) 
Co-production MDT/Moderna Dansteatern

Residency at Reykjavik Dance Atellier
Supported by Kulturrådet and Life Long Burning – Futures lost and found project (2023-2026) supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Thank you to Iris Arlert, Ólöf Ósk Þorgeirsdóttir, Lisen Rosell, Benjamin Quigley and Coco