connective matter works / Antoinette Helbing
"On/Crying – The Gravity of Tears" (Twin work with "The Lamenters")
"On/Crying" is a performance and installation exploring crying as a transformative act. Two performers inhabit “The Crying Room,” an immersive environment where tears become shared emotional material. Inspired by professional mourning, the work reframes crying as a conscious gesture that invites openness and collective vulnerability.
"The Lamenters – dancing into tears" (Twin work with "On/Crying")
"The Lamenters" is an outdoor performance for three dancers, each embodying a contemporary lament through movement, voice and conscious crying. Reviving lament traditions for today’s emotional and ecological crises, the work treats tears as catalysts for connection and change, extending the research of "On/Crying" into a communal ritual.
"The Laughing Crowd" (Twin work with "The Laughing Game")
"The Laughing Crowd" is a choreography and concert for laughter performed by eight dancers. The work explores laughter as a somatic impulse, a sonic universe and a social force - both bonding and disruptive. The audience shares the space and encounters laughter’s contagious, liberating energy at close range.
"The Laughing Game" (Twin work with The Laughing Crowd")
"The Laughing Game" is a solo that dissects the physical and emotional layers of laughter. Through close proximity, the performer invites the audience into an intimate exploration of laughter as joy, tension, release and absurdity, forming the concentrated counterpart to "The Laughing Crowd".
About the Company: Connective matter works
Connective matter works is the production framework of Copenhagen-based choreographer Antoinette Helbing. Since 2011, Helbing has created works unfolding across stages, museums, installations, site-specific contexts and film. Her core artistic interest lies in the subtle, often intangible forces connecting performer, audience, space and context. Her practice intertwines somatic work with expressive performance, letting voice melt into movement and body into sound. Through laughter and crying, she asks how resonance and emotion-driven physical and energetic exchanges shape atmosphere and give rise to shared collective experience. Across all works, connective tissue between bodies becomes both choreographic material and artistic inquiry, activating embodied attunement beyond language.
CO-PRODUCTION
"The Laughing Crowd": Metropolis and PASSAGE Festival
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears": Metropolis and PASSAGE Festival
"The Lamenters": Metropolis, PASSAGE Festival, Sydhavn Teater
SUPPORTED BY
"The Laughing Game": The Danish Arts Council, Aaben Dans, Vestjyllands Højskole and Forsøgsstationen
"The Laughing Crowd": The Danish Arts Council, København Kommunes Scenekunstudvalg, Wilhelm Demant Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Dansk Skuespillerforbund, Dansk-Svensk Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis- Hansens Fond and ISLAND CONNECT Residency Program
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears": The Danish Arts Council, Nordisk Kulturfond Opstart, Wilhelm Demant Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Dansk Skuespillerforbund, Knud Højgaards Fond, Aage og Johanne Louis- Hansens Fond, Beckett-Fonden and Hoffmann og Husmans Fond. Residencies: Akademiet KBH, Forsøgsstationen, Holstebro Dansekompagni, Dance Cooperative, Studio Alta Prag, Studio Tanca Banska Bystrica
"The Lamenters" (still in fundraising phase): The Danish Arts Council, Forsøgsstationen
WEBSITE
"The Laughing Game"
"The Laughing Crowd"
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears"
"The Lamenters"
DURATION
"The Laughing Game": 30 min.
"The Laughing Crowd": 60 min.
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears": 70 min.
"The Lamenters": 70 min.
PREMIERE
"The Laughing Game": February 2020 at Bådteatret, Copenhagen, Denmark
"The Laughing Crowd": May 24th, 2023 at Metropolis Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears": September 3rd, 2025 at Dansekapellet, Copenhagen, Denmark
"The Lamenters": September 4th, 2026 at Sydhavn Teater, Copenhagen, Denmark
TOURING PERSONNEL
"The Laughing Game": 1
"The Laughing Crowd": 9
"On/Crying - the Gravity of Tears": 4
"The Lamenters": 6
DATES AVAILABLE FOR TOURING
Seasons 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 - all works are ready to tour. Please get in touch for inquiries about touring dates
CONTACT PERSON
Antoinette Helbing, Choreographer and artistic director at connective matter works
antoinette@antoinettehelbing.com
+4528395132
CREDITS
THE LAUGHING GAME
ANTOINETTE HELBING
(CONCEPT, CHOREOGRAPHY & DANCE)
NIELS BJERG
(SOUND)
CARINA BACKMANN
(LIGHT)
INBAL LIEBLICH
(COSTUME)
THE LAUGHING CROWD
ANTOINETTE HELBING
(CHOREOGRAPHY, PERFORMANCE)
BIRGITTE SKANDS
(PERFORMANCE)
DANIEL NORBACK
(PERFORMANCE)
MAX WALLMEIER
(PERFORMANCE)
ANDREAS HAGLUND
(PERFORMANCE)
BECK HEIBERG
(PERFORMANCE)
NANNA STIGSDATTER MATHIASSEN
(PERFORMANCE)
THJERZA BALAJ
(PERFORMANCE)
JAKOB SCHNACK KROG
(PERFORMANCE)
KATRIEN VAN DER VELDEN
(PERFORMANCE)
NAYA MOLL
(DRAMATURGY)
RANDI PONTOPPIDAN
(COMPOSER)
EMIL VODDER KRISTENSEN
(COMPOSER, SOUND DESIGN & TECHNICIAN)
CARINA BACKMAN
(LIGHT DESIGN)
INBAL LIEBLICH
(COSTUME DESIGN)
EGLĖ NEŠUKAITYTĖ
(DRAMATURGE INTERN)
MY NILSSON
(PRODUCER)
ON/CRYING - THE GRAVITY OF TEARS
ANTOINETTE HELBING
(CONCEPT, CHOREOGRAPHY & DANCE)
ALICA MINAR
(CO-CREATION & DANCE)
EMIL VODDER KRISTENSEN
(COMPOSITION, SOUND DESIGN & TECHNICIAN)
KATRINE FABER
(VOICE COMPOSITION & COACH)
INBAL LIEBLICH
(SET DESIGN & COSTUME DESIGN)
MIRKO GUIDO
(ARTISTIC ADVISOR)
CARINA BACKMAN
(LIGHT DEISGN)
JONAS SCHNOR
(OUTSIDE EYE)
CSONGOR SZABO
(PRODUCTION)
LENKA VOŘECHOVSKÁ
(PRODUCTION ASSISTANT)
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI
(LAMENT COACH)
THE LAMENTERS
ANTOINETTE HELBING
(CONCEPT, CHOREOGRAPHY & DANCE)
MAX WALLMEIER
(CO-CREATION & DANCE)
TOMÁŠ JANYPKA
(CO-CREATION & DANCE)
BECK HEIBERG
(CO-CREATION & DANCE)
TUOMAS ROUNAKARI
(LAMENT COACH)
EMIL VODDER KRISTENSEN
(COMPOSER)
INBAL LIEBLICH
(COSTUME)
MIRKO GUIDO
(DRAMATURGY)
LENKA VOŘECHOVSKÁ
(PRODUCER)