Oslo Ensemble Thinking™ Festival 2026
with Lower Left Performance Collective (USA, Canada, Germany, Norway)
August 22–28, 2026
Welcome to a vibrant week of artistic exploration, collaboration, and performance! The Oslo Ensemble Thinking™ Festival brings together international Lower Left artists for an inspiring program featuring morning classes, an Ensemble Thinking™ workshop, a 5-day lab, seminar, artist talk, and performance. All events will be in English.
Ensemble Thinking™ invites participants into a process of shared awareness, attunement, and collective creativity. Developed by Nina Martin (USA) and Lower Left Performance Collective, this practice has roots in Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints and the New York experimental dance scene of the 1970s and beyond. Ensemble Thinking™ continues to evolve through the collective’s shared and individual artistic research. This festival offers a unique opportunity to train, create, reflect, and perform alongside internationally acclaimed artists, and to engage deeply with contemporary performance practices in a supportive and exploratory environment.
Ensemble Thinking™
Ensemble Thinking™ is a collaborative performance practice that builds group awareness, refines compositional decision-making, and supports collective action —in real time. The practice explores the interplay between individual impulses and collective structures, and through various scores we practice giving and taking focus, initiating and surrendering ideas, valuing multiplicity, and extending collaborative creativity. By alternating the performer and audience perspective we build a base of shared knowledge.
Lower Left Performance Collective
Lower Left is an international collective of eight dance artists currently based in seven cities across four countries and two continents. Five of them will participate in Oslo and co-teach during the festival: Nina Martin (Texas, USA), Julie Lebel (Vancouver, Canada), Margaret Sunghe Paek (Wisconsin, USA), Andrew Wass (Berlin, Germany) and Karen Høybakk Mikalsen (Oslo, Norway).
Read more about the artists here.
August 22–28, 2026
Welcome to a vibrant week of artistic exploration, collaboration, and performance! The Oslo Ensemble Thinking™ Festival brings together international Lower Left artists for an inspiring program featuring morning classes, an Ensemble Thinking™ workshop, a 5-day lab, seminar, artist talk, and performance. All events will be in English.
Ensemble Thinking™ invites participants into a process of shared awareness, attunement, and collective creativity. Developed by Nina Martin (USA) and Lower Left Performance Collective, this practice has roots in Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints and the New York experimental dance scene of the 1970s and beyond. Ensemble Thinking™ continues to evolve through the collective’s shared and individual artistic research. This festival offers a unique opportunity to train, create, reflect, and perform alongside internationally acclaimed artists, and to engage deeply with contemporary performance practices in a supportive and exploratory environment.
Ensemble Thinking™
Ensemble Thinking™ is a collaborative performance practice that builds group awareness, refines compositional decision-making, and supports collective action —in real time. The practice explores the interplay between individual impulses and collective structures, and through various scores we practice giving and taking focus, initiating and surrendering ideas, valuing multiplicity, and extending collaborative creativity. By alternating the performer and audience perspective we build a base of shared knowledge.
Lower Left Performance Collective
Lower Left is an international collective of eight dance artists currently based in seven cities across four countries and two continents. Five of them will participate in Oslo and co-teach during the festival: Nina Martin (Texas, USA), Julie Lebel (Vancouver, Canada), Margaret Sunghe Paek (Wisconsin, USA), Andrew Wass (Berlin, Germany) and Karen Høybakk Mikalsen (Oslo, Norway).
Read more about the artists here.
PROGRAM
Workshop & Seminar August 22 - 23
- arranged in collaboration with SANS - Dance in Education
Ensemble Thinking™ Workshop
Introduction to Ensemble Thinking™
When: Saturday August 22, 2026
Time: 10:00–15:00
Price: NOK 600 + additional bank fees for international transfer
Target group: Professional performance artists, teachers in movement, dance or relevant subjects.
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Seminar & panel talk
“Ensemble strategies” - for artmaking and community building
More information about the panel will be announced soon.
When: Saturday August 22, 2026
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Free of charge and open to the public
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Morning classes at PRODA - professional dance training
Lower Left artists will share their individual research from Solo Body Articulation into Ensemble Thinking™.
When: Monday–Friday August 24–28, 2026
Time: 10:00–11:30
Price: Free of charge
Registration: Drop-in for professional dancers, Norwegian PRODA members. For international participants, fill out the Festival registration form.
Ensemble Thinking™ 5-day LAB
In-depth exploration of the Ensemble Thinking™ practice.
When: Monday–Friday August 24–28, 2026,
Time: 13:00–17:00
Price: NOK 1600 + additional bank fees for international transfer
Target group: Professional performance artists
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Performance - The Big Picture
The Ensemble Thinking™ 5-day LAB will culminate in an open public showing
When: Thursday August 27, 2026
Time: 19:00
Price: Free of charge
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Location
Pre-Registration is required. The number of participants is limited.
To register for Oslo Ensemble Thinking™ Festival 2026 - fill out: Festival registration form
Questions?
Contact [email protected]
- arranged in collaboration with SANS - Dance in Education
Ensemble Thinking™ Workshop
Introduction to Ensemble Thinking™
When: Saturday August 22, 2026
Time: 10:00–15:00
Price: NOK 600 + additional bank fees for international transfer
Target group: Professional performance artists, teachers in movement, dance or relevant subjects.
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Seminar & panel talk
“Ensemble strategies” - for artmaking and community building
More information about the panel will be announced soon.
When: Saturday August 22, 2026
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Free of charge and open to the public
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Morning classes at PRODA - professional dance training
Lower Left artists will share their individual research from Solo Body Articulation into Ensemble Thinking™.
When: Monday–Friday August 24–28, 2026
Time: 10:00–11:30
Price: Free of charge
Registration: Drop-in for professional dancers, Norwegian PRODA members. For international participants, fill out the Festival registration form.
Ensemble Thinking™ 5-day LAB
In-depth exploration of the Ensemble Thinking™ practice.
When: Monday–Friday August 24–28, 2026,
Time: 13:00–17:00
Price: NOK 1600 + additional bank fees for international transfer
Target group: Professional performance artists
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Performance - The Big Picture
The Ensemble Thinking™ 5-day LAB will culminate in an open public showing
When: Thursday August 27, 2026
Time: 19:00
Price: Free of charge
Registration: Fill out the Festival registration form.
Location
- PRODA morning classes located at Rom for Dans, Marstrandgata 8, 0556 Oslo, (entrance from Stockholmsgata)
- All other events: Oslo Academy of the Arts/KHIO, Fossveien 24, 0551 Oslo
Pre-Registration is required. The number of participants is limited.
To register for Oslo Ensemble Thinking™ Festival 2026 - fill out: Festival registration form
Questions?
Contact [email protected]