Alan Lucien Øyen is one of the most versatile talents in Norwegian performing art today. He is just as likely to work as a theatre director at the major institutional theatres as with his own improvisational group. He is an in-house choreographer at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and is also hired as a choreographer by many other companies, internationally and nationally. Among the highlights is his choreographic work for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in June 2018. Alan practically grew up at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen, where his father was a dresser. He graduated in dance from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and was a dancer with Carte Blanche before he was taken on by Amanda Miller’s company Pretty Ugly in Cologne in 2005. He did his first choreographic work in 2004, and in 2006 established his own company winter guests, which is still going today. The company is made up of actors, dancers, dramatists, designers and technicians, and tours internationally with its English-speaking productions. Since 2009, all its productions have been written and developed in collaboration with the British dramatist and director Andrew Wale.
As well as his work with winter guests, he is also employed internationally and nationally by opera houses, contemporary dance companies and institutional theatres. As a permanent choreographer at the Oslo Opera House, he has made several productions in collaboration with winter guests, and has also choreographed the Norwegian National Opera’s company on several occasions.
He has received numerous awards, including the Hedda Award for the six-hour production Coleacanth for which he and Andrew Wale received the award for their new script, with the production also being nominated for best direction and best performance. Alan was also awarded the Tom Wilhelmsens Opera and Ballet Award for 2018 for the way he challenges traditional opera and ballet with his original theatrical productions.
About winter guests:
winter guests is an international touring company performing works by Alan Lucien Øyen from Bergen, Norway. They tell stories of the contemporary world with words, video, music and movement. The works are based on real life experiences, including original text, transcribed recordings and improvisations. The company often inserts its own reality into the subject matter of the piece - resulting in rich and eccentric performances in a constantly shifting format.
They have won several awards and gained international acclaim while touring over 20 countries for performances and residencies at places such as Théâtre National de Chaillot, The Kennedy Centre, Sadlers’s Wells, The Watermill Center, New York Theatre Workshop and Banff Center for the Arts and Creativity, among others. winter guests presents their avant-garde theatre and dance in both independent venues and in the context of opera houses.
Besides winter guests, Alan directs and creates work for theater and dance companies world wide, including Paris Opera, Gothenburg Opera's Dance Company, Det Norske Teatret, Opera Vlaanderen and The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet where he is currently House Choreographer. In 2018, Alan was one of the first two guest choreographers commissioned to create a full-length piece for the renowned Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, which is currently touring the world.