ABSTRACT
Histories of theatre dance abound with artists whose border crossings have been voluntary, a consequence of political conflicts, for reasons of discrimination or inadequate work options. The case study explained on the emerging region named for its proximity to the Barents Sea suggests that the scope and extent of dance artists' and cultural workers' mobility has been enhanced in recent years through the co-presence of global players with political and economic interests in its natural resources. Probing the interplay between artistic and geopolitical factors, the case study discusses their significance in the production of regional dance spaces. In the reorientation of the NCM's priorities in the 1990s, the Baltic States, emerging from behind the Iron Curtain, constituted an area of particular interest. Shifting the focus from nomadic subjects in their processes of becoming to the spatial dimension, the journeys of wayfinding artists may be perceived as contributing to what Ingold discusses as an ever-evolving weave of the land.
