Meet Our People: Bjorn

BJORN ASLUND | DANCER

Ballet - I really love ballet because of its aesthetic sensibility, accompanied by the practice and discipline, which I believe make really strong and diverse dancers. This particularly excites me when it is coupled with other disciplines and practices. I really love Ekman’s work, particularly “Play” I feel he has a great scope of the direction classical ballet can be pushed in to keep it relevant to new generations of audiences. I am also a big fan of Loughlan Prior’s Hansel & Gretel, I love the way he brought camp to audiences in New Zealand. 

Collect(ive) - I wish I could collect art, but I really don’t have the wall space for it now.

Aotearoa - I love the severe and breath-taking beauty of nature. I honestly couldn’t tell you where my favourite place is though, there are so many fantastic and beautiful places. All for utterly different reasons. I am very grateful and feel at home in Wellington.

Home - Kia ora, my name is Bjorn Aslund. I was born in Karlstad Sweden and raised in Northland New Zealand. My heritage is Malaysian Chinese and Swedish Norwegian, with a bunch of Scottish and English thrown in. I feel like I could come from anywhere.

Training - I started training with Elizabeth Russell at the Northern Dance Academy when I was 9. In 2016 auditioned and was successful in my application the New Zealand School of Dance where I spent the ensuing three years training to attain a Diploma in Dance Performance. I chose to train at the school because I believed it would teach me how to be a better dancer, and along the way I figured out how to be. 

Highlights - My career highlights so far have been working on a development with Legs on the Wall, and being able to further develop my work “Plato’s Atlantis” for the 2020 fringe festival show “ Situations in Play”. These have both been eye-opening experiences and have allowed me to further my practice as a performer and person. It has been fantastic to be able to explore aspects of myself in my work and express that.

Favourite Jam - I am hanging out for LG6 to be released and I am really vibing the Blade Runner soundtrack at the moment.

Photography: Sarah Davies, Sarah Kaye Photography