Vástádus eana – The answer is land

This Indigenous people, to which she belongs, inhabits a transnational region called Sápmi that extends across central Norway and Sweden, northern Finland, and Russia’s Kola peninsula. The choreographer lives there herself, at Guovdageaidnu in Norway, where she grew up in a family of reindeer herders. She also co-founded the Sámi artistic collective Dáiddadállu there. Each year, Sara takes part in the seasonal migration of reindeer and the marking of newborns in fall with her children.

Having completed a master’s degree in choreography at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHIO), Sara also studied dance at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. Her works have received numerous awards. Among others, her short film Ribadit (2019) won the Moon Jury Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto.

For her work Vástádus eana, which was created in 2021 and will open FTA 2023, Sara worked with the Sámi composer, musician, and joiker Frode Fjellheim, who wrote some of the show’s joiks. A professor of music at Nord University, he made a name for himself with his band Transjoik. Vástádus eana received the 2020-2022 Critics Award in Norway, where Sara is considered one of her generation’s most influential dance artists. The show has been presented at some of Europe’s most prestigious theatres and festivals. Montreal is its first stop on Turtle Island.

Sara’s current and future projects include creating a piece for the Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche (in 2023) and directing the first-ever feature-length musical in a Sámi language (in 2025). Entitled Árru, this film rooted in the joik vocal tradition addresses the socio-ecological impact of a copper mine near Guovdageaidnu.