Danskompaniet Spinn is a professional dance company consisting of dancers with and without disabilities.

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion

Emilia Wärff

For me, working with Spinn is important because we work in a historic context full of rules and conventions that we all have the ability to break and re-shape.

Emilia has been dancing with Spinn since the start in 2010 and has also created the performance Kurvatur alongside Spinn dancer Malin Rönnerman. Emilia has an MA in Design from Högskolan för design och konsthantverk at the University of Gothenburg. Emilia has also created Spinn’s graphic profile and the printed material for Spinn. Emilia has no formal dance training; as a wheelchair user she has not had access to the dance education available in Sweden. Emilia has been presented with a number of awards for her work and in 2016 she was awarded the Göteborgs stads Kulturstipendium.

My favorite pastry is the Lemon-ring, which is a bitter, tart kind of lemon Mazarin. Juicy inside, with a clear icing, making it both crunchy and crisp. It was one of the classics at my grandmother and grandfather’s bakery in Värnamo in Småland. The scent of freshly baked Lemon-rings on their staircase is something that I’d like to keep in a jar!

Hannah Karlsson

The work I do with Spinn is both important and natural. It is a space for questioning norms about dance and the very foundation of what the art of dance is, while simultaneously being an obvious space for dance and creation.

Hannah works as a dancer and choreographer in Gothenburg. She is a versatile dancer who moves between everything from deep seriousness to lighthearted playfulness. In her creative work and exploration of movement, Hannah focuses on emotional and spatial in-betweens, places of will or compulsion, as well as waiting and striving. Most recently, in her solo piece ‘No News’, which premiered at Atalante in Gothenburg in the fall of 2023 and was later performed in a revised version at the Gothenburg Fringe Festival and 3
Våningen in Gothenburg.

Since graduating from the dance program at Balettakademien in Gothenburg, she has worked regularly with the choreographers Olof Persson and Gun Lund. Hannah has also collaborated with Eva Ingemarsson, Gunilla Olsson Karlsson, Mari Vittradotter, among others.

In November 2022, Hannah was awarded the Adlerbertska Art Scholarship by Sällskapet Gnistan for her humorous, thoughtful, and serious work and presence in the art of dance.

My favorite cake is carrot cake. It is simple in its everyday coffee accessory kind of way, but then it has that delicious cream cheese topping which makes it sort of festive. I like the fact that it’s slightly boring, while at the same time trying to be party.

Ida Häggström

As a dancer in Spinn I get the opportunity to develop and gain more knowledge within dance. I’m curious about a lot of things, and I want to learn more and try out new things.

In 2016, Ida joined SpinnUnga, where she quickly became an influential dancer. In 2019 she became one of the dancers in performing arts ensemble Konstra, which is made up of young artists with and without disabilities. During 2021 shew held an internship at Regionteater Väst in collaboration with Språng, where she tried out a part in the performance Utflykten. Since August 2022 Ida is employed as a dancer in Spinn. Her first part in the company is that of the character Slange in the performance Miramos, a part that she shares with Felicia Sparrström. As a dancer she has tried a variety of dance styles, ranging from contemporary dance to hip hop and breakdance.

My favorite cookie is without a doubt Oreo. With chocolate on the outside and vanilla inside and just so perfectly sweet. A cookie that just melts in your mouth.

Annika Vestel

For me, working with Spinn is important because it provides a context that opens up, questions, and challenges both artistic and social norms.

Annika is trained in physical theater at Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland. She has been working as a freelance performing artist in dance and physical theater since 2013 and, as of 2023, is a full-time dancer with Spinn. Annika has performed her own shows both nationally and internationally, including at The Brick Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, and in Matao, Brazil, as well as in the Nordic countries. She also designs costumes and sets for her own projects, including the performance Cracked, which premiered at Atalante in Gothenburg in 2016. In addition to her work in the performing arts, Annika has a strong interest in psychology, psychotherapy, and human encounters, and she is currently in her final year of a four-year program to become a gestalt therapist at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute College.

My favorite “cake” is actually not a cake, but a drink: my dad’s hot chocolate! It has nine magical ingredients, including chili, (a lot of) cardamom, a dollop of butter, and a splash of brandy. It’s insanely delicious!!

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion

Felicia Sparrström

To get to work with Danskompaniet Spinn feels great on so many levels. Aside from being able to work with inclusive performing arts and to promote that everyone, regardless of disability, has a right to take the stage, it also feels wonderful to work at such a fantastic workplace where everybody, no matter who you are, has their own equal and natural place.

Since fall 2016, Felicia has been part of SpinnUnga and has participated in amongst others the performance Livsvägar och Tillfälligheter, which premiered spring 2018. Since 2019, she has been part of the performances Miramos, Hannah Felicia, Moby Dick and Skirtpower. During 2022, Felicia is part of the Nordic collaboration project Diverse Nordic Dancers. Felicia has also co-choreographed the dance and theatre performance Constructions alongside two colleagues. In addition to working as a dancer, Felicia is a personal trainer and group training instructor at gyms in Gothenburg.

The best cookie I know is a hard cookie consisting of several flavors, including butterscotch, caramel and chocolate so that each chew is a surprise and a new taste sensation.

Britta Kangas

Britta Kangas is a dancer, choreographer and scriptwriter. She was previously part of SpinnUnga and has an education from Dansutbildningen at Balettakademin in Gothenburg 2016-2018. In addition to her work with performing arts group Fula, she has created the dance and theatre performance Mosquito Nights, which is about growing up in Tornedalen. Britta has previously worked with choreographer Benedikte Esperi and choreographed for short films. In August 2018 she was one of four residency artists in Dans i Blekinge’s residency program Blekinge Dansresidens.

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion

Tone Helly-Hansen
Company Host

Tone Helly-Hansen is a trained actor from Högskolan för Scen och Musik in Gothenburg and has been freelancing since 1985. She has worked at both larg and small theatres in West Sweden and extensively in TV and film. During Spring 2017, Tone started working as Spinn’s Company Host.

My favorite cake is Norwegian kransekake. It consists solely of almonds, powdered sugar, and egg whites! The dough is piped into round molds of different sizes, which are baked separately. The finished “rings” are then stacked on top of each other and glued together with icing. It’s so delicious—slightly hard and crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. It’s only eaten at particularly festive occasions!

Liselotte Reivén

Liselotte has a background in dance, Pilates, and body therapy. She is a trained dance pedagogue from the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm, Sweden (SKH) and through her own dance studies in New York. She has worked as a body therapist since the 1990s, with a focus on fascia and the lymphatic system, and teaches at Axelsons Institute. She runs Movement Center in Gothenburg, where she previously worked with treatments but now offers personal training, lectures, and workshops with a focus on somatics.

My favorite cake is cheesecake. A wonderfully fresh and lively flavor combined with a crunchy base and maybe some berries on top. Getting the chance to eat one always makes me a little happy.

Simmel Åslund

Since 2012, Simmel has worked as a freelance technician in stage, sound and lighting on some of the largest arenas in Sweden, toured around the world and run a recording studio in Gothenburg. Autumn 2022 Simmel started working together with Spinn.

Even though my close ones sometimes call me “Simmel-Semlan,” I prefer to have a wiener pecan pastry with a strong cup of coffee. Ideally, in the sun!

Klas Grimberg

Since 1988, Klas has had the role of carpenter, technician, stage manager and set designer for productions by Utomjordiska Barockbolaget, Katarina Karlsson/Musik i Väst, Teater Bastard and E=mc2. Klas has worked with Spinn since it started in 2010.

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion

Veera Suvalo Grimberg

The work we do with Spinn result in changes that are sorely needed in the field of dance. New bodies on stages, and the road to get there, with everything we’ve learned and the competence that’s been accumulated and disseminated. Danskompaniet Spinn is a role model, making it possible for coming generations to experience an art form where everyone is equally valuable.

Veera is the founder and Artistic Director of Spinn. She has worked as a choreographer and dancer since 1995. Veera trained as a dancer at the Performing Arts School in Gothenburg and has also studied Dance Pedagogy. Veera’s own work includes Hi-Hat Xpres from 2012, The Dancing Excavators at The Ground Breaking Ceremony (of the Swedish Pavilionfor Expo 2010 Shanghai China) 2009 and Truckbalett 2007-2009. Between 2003-2004 Veera worked as an Airis Artist (TILLT) and during the period 2004 to 2007 Veera was employed as Town Choreographer in Vara. She has also worked as a dancer with choreographers Gun Lund, Ismo-Pekka Heikinheimo and Eva Ingemarsson. Most recently Veera participated as a dancer and choreographer in the minority language opera Poetissan från Aareavaara (Opera Vildmark), which premiered at the Festspelen in Piteå in 2022.

My favorite pastry is Runebergstårta that’s eaten on Runeberg Day, on February 5th in Finland. A perfect combination of almond, punch, raspberry jam and icing. I’ve never tasted anything similar anywhere else.

• About us
• Dancers
• Guest Dancers
• Co-Workers
• Artistic Director
• Spinnstudion