Matilda Rolfsson
About
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Matilda Rolfsson is a percussionist and improvising musician living in Trondheim. She is educated at the Department of Music in Trondheim, NTNU and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, London.
Besides her artistic research (PhD), she is internationally active as a freelance musician, solo as well as together with some of Europe’s most distinguishing improvising musicians and dancers.
Research
“In Motion, Movements with Directions in free-improvisation”.
Interdisciplinary interplay with dance as starting- point and asset for the improvising musician.
My name is Matilda Rolfsson, I am a percussionist and improviser and artistic researcher (PhD- fellow) at the department of music NTNU in Trondheim.
From an musician’s point of view, but with a dancer´s perspective on listening, not only hearing but also seeing and sensing the space, I’m investigating through praxis, whereas an artistic praxis of an independent interplay between music and dance in free- improvisation is possible, how a wholeness arises from individuality from both artforms.
The project evolves from what I find to be some of the most fundamental components in free-improvisation: Form, and Materiality and its expansion (forward-motion and development).
The terminology for this matter have I taken from what I refer to my artistic environment in Skandinavia, where The Movements stands for the physical and metaphysical movements of the sound/ dance-materials, it is also pointing at the investigation of the relational status between the music and dance engaged in interplay. The Motion implies from a larger scale form, direction, the forward-motion and organisation of the materials in the improvisation.
The theoretical issue of the research originally spanned between the two outer- points of an interplay, either being autonomous (inspired by John Cage and Merce Cunninghams “Co-existence”) or in symbiose with the dancer (inspired by Stev Paxton´s “Contact improvisation”). After mapping out my artistic peers and contextualizing their interdisciplinary praxis and coherence, a more nuanced picture made it clear that my starting- point both in praxis and theory, takes off from a “both and”- perspective, synonymous with sometimes being dependent and sometimes independent in the interplay with the dancer.
The goal with the artistic research is to destill, deepen as well as develop and share my artistic praxis, reflections and experience- based knowledge regarding regulations governing the preparations and skills for interdisciplinary interplay with dance in free- improvisation.
Publications
2020
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Lindvall, Johan;
Lie, Marianne Baudouin;
Foss, Eira;
Laastad, Kyrre;
Holm, Klaus Ellerhuseen;
Sagstuen, Ina.
(2020)
Trondheim Jazzorkester og Johan Lindvall.
Musical performance
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Duch, Michael Francis;
Rolfsson, Matilda.
(2020)
Fri Form.
Musical performance
Artistic productions
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Lindvall, Johan;
Lie, Marianne Baudouin;
Foss, Eira;
Laastad, Kyrre;
Holm, Klaus Ellerhuseen;
Sagstuen, Ina.
(2020)
Trondheim Jazzorkester og Johan Lindvall.
Musical performance
-
Duch, Michael Francis;
Rolfsson, Matilda.
(2020)
Fri Form.
Musical performance