LA MIA BELLA SORELLA is a performance duo consisting of Pricipal Dancer with The Royal Danish Ballet Astrid Grarup Elbo and classically trained violinist and composer Katrine Grarup Elbo.

In this constellation, the two performers constantly work towards finding a shared voice and format that surpasses the classic dance with musical accompaniment. By using the sounds of the moving bodies in the scapes of sound and by generally equating the presence of the two artists on stage, a joint language, in which the audience sees the music and hears the dance, is developed. A visually and performatively setup, also given the fact that the two performers look confusingly similar to one another.

The duo had it’s debut in 2017 with the performance We tell the truth about Everything at the Betty Nansen Theater, curated by Teater Tugt præsenterer Nyhederne på Betty.

IN JUNE 2018 the duo took recidency at the Mudhouse Residency i Agios Ioannis (Greece), where they developed and premiered the performance Africa Is Not A Country – collage of text, sound and movement made in cooperation with The Trampoline House (DK).

As well as working as a duo, the group also initiated creative collaborations with photographer and cinematographer Dayvid LeMmon (NYC) and choreographer Elena Jacobs (artistic director of the dance company Cabin Fever).These collaborations continued at a recidency in January 2019 at Gibney Dance in New York, and resulted in Animality Studies; three artfilms named Intermezzo for Violin & Arms, Intermezzo for Violin & Legs, and Animalia,  the live improvisation Stairs Brooklyn II and Still Life with Sisters.

IN JUNE 2019 the duo exhibited own works and collaboratins in the central Copenhagen Gallery Pavillon no. 11 under the title FRAMES. Earlier mentioned collaborations were exhibited together with the  Sisters in Park, 2019, a liveinstallation work that played in the park, seen by the audience through the window frame in the gallery. 

FRAMES also marked the premiere of the duo’s performance It Probably Began Even Sooner / I Prefer Before End State, which deals with The UN Climate Report from the spring of 2019 through five movement with titles such as 105%: increase in global human population since 1970 unevenly across countries and regions.

This performance has since then played at The Copenhagen Town Hall, Sydhavn Theater’s ST:ART festival and most recently in February 2022 at at dismantled mechanic workshop in Copenhagen NV.

IN 2020-21 the duo collaborated with dancer Lukas Hartvig-Møller (Dansk Danseteater) and director Mathias Broe in concept development and creation of short films SØNDAG, SØNDAG PM, TORSDAG, ONSDAG og MANDAG.
The movies were produced in collaboration between the production company Duckling and Sony Classic. 

Astrid Grarup Elbo started dancing in 1997.

She is educated at The Royal Danish Ballet School from 2001-2012. She joined The Royal Danish Ballet in 2012 and was promoted to soloist in 2018. In Spetember 2023 she was promoted to Principal Dancer in front of the audience following her performance of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake at the Copenhagen Opera House.

In 2020 she won The REUMERT prize Dancer of the Year for her performance as Bonnie in Signe Fabricious’ and Elisa Kragerup’s danceshow Bonnie and Clyde at the Betty Nansen Theater. In 2023 Astrid played and created the lead role in the critically acclaimed performance I AM GOLD at The Betty Nansen Theater.

Principal Parts with The Royal Danish Ballet include Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (Hübbe/Schandorff), Karen Blixen in Blixen (Dean), Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (Wheeldon), Solo Girl in Rubies (Balanchine), Sugar Plum Fairy and Dew Drop in The Nutcracker (Balanchine), Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Neumeier). 

Creations include Pierre by Bobbi Jene Smith, The Memory of Now by Tim Matiakis, Oenothera by Tobias Praetorius, Lost in Time by Juliano Nunes, Sonnet Dance by Gemma Bond, Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons (Cathy Marston), 7 Tcherepnin piano pieces (Adam Lüders), Rystet Spejl (Kim Brandstrup), KNOW (Idan Sharabi).

She has worked with choreographers and instructors such as Ohad Naharin, Akram Khan, Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlett.

In 2017 she had her film debut as Polly in the movie Darling (directed by Birgitte Stærmose).

As a choreographer her most recent works include the dancefilm The Death and The Girl and Duet for Cellist and Ballerina from 2020.Other works include Stravinskij’s Histoire du soldat as well as Stravinskij’s Three solo pieces for clarinet.

Astrid  has recieved a number of grants, including The Wilhelm Hansen Honoury Grant 2022, Minister Erna Hamilton’ Grant for science and art 2021 and Dronning Ingrids Hæderslegat in 2018.

Get in touch: astrid@lamiabellasorella.com

Katrine Grarup Elbo started playing the violin in 1995.

She is educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Music from 2009-2016 and with professor Stephan Picard (Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin) in Berlin. Based in Berlin since Summer 2016.

Founder and member of the performance collective We like We (established 2012). Appearances with this ensemble include festivals and venues such as Roskilde Festival (DK), Dias Nordicos Madrid (E), Classical:NEXT (NL), Fusion Festival (DE), Nordklang Festival (CH), Festival Musica Estranha São Paulo (BR), Roter Salon @Volksbühne Berlin (DE). Involved in workshops and performances with the dance company Corpus, Copenhagen. During 2018/19 We like We are composing the music for a new opera produced by Nordic Opera, set to premiere in Copenhagen in the late Summer 2019.

Starting from November 2018, Katrine will be collaborating with Italian fiber artist Luisa Longo. Their first appearance together will be at Castello del Valentino for the opening of Longo’s solo exhibition on November 2. Katrine will be performing her own compositions and improvisations inspired by the works of Luisa Longo.

With support from Koda’s Cultural Funds and by the help of sound engineers Jonny Zoum and Antonio Pulli, she recorded for her first solo project at Funkhaus Berlin in December 2018. The work is to be released in 2020.

Katrine is regularly involved with orchestras such as The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DR), Danmarks Underholdningsorkester, South Denmark Philharmonic, etc. She has been touring Europe, Russia and China with orchestras and ensembles such as Baltic Youth Philharmonic and DUEN.

Artistic collaborations also include performances and releases with artists such as MØ, Quadron and Hymns of Nineveh, and she is featured on the soundtrack of the Ai Wei Wei movie Human Flow (2017).

Katrine was a member of The National Danish Girls Choir from 2001-2007.

Get in touch: katrine@lamiabellasorella.com