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heard of in 1964. This situation of self-determining autodidacticism has been characteristic of this group’s history from the first days to the present. Within a year the first production, Ornitofilene, was ready and was toured in Scandinavia. While on tour in Denmark, the group was invited by the small town of Holstebro in northwest Jutland to move there from Norway and to make Holstebro the center of its activities. This the group did and there it has remained to this day, supported by the people of Holstebro, which, support has been crucial to the development of its work. Shortly after becoming established in Holstebro in 1966, Odin Teatret was defined under the larger term NORDISK TEATERLABORATORIUM, within which framework the wide variety of its activities has developed, involving over the years many collaborators from many countries and continents. Although based in what is still a small town in a rural area, where the daily work is carried

out, Odin Teatret has always had a strong international character: its actors hâve come from many different countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, England, the United States, Spain, Argentina ...); it has toured its productions extensively in Europe, South America and Asia (with upcoming tours to North America and the Middle East), and the concept of voyage (travel) emigration has been fundamental to both the work and philosophy of the group; out of a transcultural perspective, it has from the beginning organized numerous seminars, meetings, conferences and tours with participants and resource people from the world over. Research, Performance and Social Relationship Odin Teatret has from the very beginning concentrated itself principally on the teaching and training of the actor. Out of this' research have slowly grown productions, which have often taken up to two years to prepare. Today, after twenty years of existence,

Odin Teatret has made only ten productions: Ornitofilene (The Bird Lovers) (1965-1966), about an Italian village’s reactions to German tourists after the Second World War; Kaspariana (1967-1968), the story of the wild child Kaspar Hauser; Ferai (1969-1970), based on the Greek legend Alkestis, the wife who sacrificed herself for her husband; Min Fars Hus (My Father's House) (1972-1974), Odin Teatrets treatment of the life and work of Dostoyevsky; The Book of Dances (1974-1980) and Anabasis (1977 to present), open air performances which grewout of the group’s five month sojourn in a small town in southern Italy; Johann Sebastian Bach (1977-1980), a clown; Come! and the day will be ours (1976-1980), which dealt with the civilizing influence of European immigrants on indigenous American populations, and which marked the group's first tour outside Europe, to Venezuela in 1976 (subsequent non-European tours have included Peru, 1978, Japan, 1980, and Colombia, 1983); The

Million (1978 to present), based on material collected by Odin Teatret actors in three months of individual research and travel; and the most recent production, Brecht's Ashes (1982 to present), about the German author's life and work in exile. As an adjunct to performing, and in the attempt to find other uses for theater in different social contexts, the concept of barter was developed in the 1970's and has played an important role in the group's activities. Barter is an exchange of culture in a performance situation, through the meeting of a theater group-culture and a local population. This way of using theater began in 1974 in the village of Carpignano in Italy, and led to research into the social function of theater, in collaboration with scientists specializing in theater history, anthropology and sociology. The pattern of touring changed from visiting festivals and big towns to longer presences in villages, immigrant or working class districts in industrial towns, and areas inhabited by indigenous populations. Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium In addition to its productions, created under the name of Odin Teatret, NORDISK TEATERLABORATORIUM which since 1971 has been recognized and supported by the Danish Ministry of Culture as an experimental theater school, has become known for its various pedagogical and community activities: - A publishing house, which in addition to a theater magazine, ITT, Teatrets Teori og Teknikk, has published many books, such as Grotowski’s Towards a Poor Theater. - Film production and distribution. Odin Teatret Film has produced documentary and training films on the work of the actor and on performances. Films on the use of theater have also been made, both by Odin Teatret Film and by television and film companies from many countries. A film archive has been assembled, containing filmed material on theaters and performance forms from many different cultures. A videotheque with more than one hundred tapes on

theater and actor training has also been set up in the theater in Holstebro. The tapes -and films are available to all visitors for study and research and are rented out to other theater and teaching institutions. External pedagogical activity - workshops led by Odin Teatret actors have developed from a variety of short workshops open to anyone interested to long-term relationships with theater groups that are advised by an Odin Teatret actor over a period of one or two years or more. - Interscandinavian seminars, mainly for Scandinavian actors and directors, led by the most important practitioners in contemporary theater: Barrault, Dario Fo, Grotowski, Decroux, Chakin, Krejča, dance and theater specialists from the Orient, and many others. - International Theater Meetings, within the framework of the Theater of Nations, or supported by UNESCO and the International Theater Institute. One such meeting was that on Third Theater in

Belgrade in 1976, which was less a festival than an exchange of working methods between theater groups, and which led to similar meetings in Bergamo, Italy, 1977, in Ayacucho, Peru, 1978, in Madrid and Lekeitio, Spain, 1979, and Zacatecas, Mexico, 1981. - ISTA, the International School of Theater Anthropology, founded by Eugenio Barba in 1979, is the culmination of the years of research into the art of the actor, pedagogics, and transcultural performance forms. ISTA is a center for research into theater anthropology, defined as the study of transcultural performance situations, with particular emphasis on the role of the performer. Theater specialists and scientists from Europe and Asia are connected to the center on a permanent basis, and are augmented by the participation of appoximately 25 masters and teachers when the public sessions are held (Bonn, 1980; Volterra, Italy, 1981). In ISTA sessions held so far, students from upwards of twenty countries have been involved.

NORDISK TEATERLABORATORIUM has long-term residences of outside groups. For example, Studio 11, Scandinavia's first mime troupe was in residence at NORDISK TEATERLABORATORIUM from 1969-1972. Farfa, a group led by Iben Nagel Rasmussen, is currently working on theatre exchange; Basho, led by Toni Cots, deals with pedagogical advising; the Canada Project, led by Richard Fowler, concentrates on community relations. Community activities include the presentation of twenty or more guest performances each year, a film club, theater for children, and a series of training and performance projects for and with groups of mentally handicapped adults.

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