SKH turns ten

Since 2004, all acting and mime acting students devote considerable time in the run-up to their third year to creating their very own solo performance from scratch. An approach that has constantly challenged: not only the actors themselves, but also the basic assumptions of the entire Swedish theatre world.

After secondary school, Ellen Söderhult chose between circus training or the medical programme, but it was through dance that she really found her artistic expression. Today she works as a choreographer and dancer but wants to see changes that make dance and art more democratically accessible to everyone, regardless of background.

Ninos Chamoun was tired of his hometown and applied to the radio programme at the former Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts mostly by chance. Today he is an established radio producer.

When SKH was formed in 2014, the choice to lead its transformation fell, for the first time in Swedish higher education history, on someone who wasn’t a Swedish citizen. Now a ten-year veteran, when she passes on the reins on 1 August it’s for a school that’s reached significant stability.

Having focused solely on singing, Wiktor Sundqvist discovered theatre and applied to the University College of Opera to combine the two. Today he freelances and sings at all the major opera houses in Sweden.

When SKH was established in 2014, it was explicitly to be big enough to have its own doctoral education. But would it be able to cope with the pressure when no other independent arts academy had been granted that before?

Rhiannon Cave-Walker grew up in Byron Bay Australia and was determined to be a professional acrobat and circus artist from a very young age. She is now a member of the renown Australian circus company CIRCA Contemporary Circus, with which she tours and make shows with.

Throughout its ten years of existence, the university has been led by Vice-Chancellor Paula Crabtree. Now that she is handing over the reins, her and SKH’s 10 years were celebrated with a big party showcasing the best the university has to offer.

Stefan Hansen was drawn to working behind the scenes in the theatre as a young man, the first in his family to want to work in the arts. Today he is CEO of Unga Klara, Sweden’s national theatre for children and young people, a path that took him through SKH and a degree in performing arts production.

When SKH was founded in 2014 the circus subject was still finding its footing. Now, it has grown to encompass its own PhDs, a master’s degree and a plethora of individual courses. As a proper academic unit, can it retain its rebellious specificity?

Cecilia Roos is leaving her post as vice-rector after overseeing research for just over eight years, a period in which artistic research at SKH has changed profoundly. She tells us more in an interview.

It takes many people to make a school like SKH work: students, teachers, administrators, management support and much more. But there is probably only one person who has held all these roles: Anna Karin Ståhle, who is now (perhaps) finally retiring.

This year’s graduation performance in mime acting means a step into a professional career for the students. They are guided there by a group of experienced SKH alumni – and in the autumn, they will be employed as proper actors.