Jorunn Kirkenær og Ballettinstituttet – «Dansen ut i samfunnet»

The year 2026 marks 100 years since the birth of Jorunn Kirkenær (1926–2021) and 60 years since she founded Ballettinstituttet in 1966, Norway’s first institution for higher education in dance. The institution later changed its name several times, becoming Den Norske Balletthøyskole and Norges Dansehøyskole and is today part of Kristiania University of Applied Sciences. For many years, the college’s overarching goal was to bring dance into society; this article examines the strategies Kirkenær employed to achieve that aim, with a focus on her work with Ballettinstituttet between 1966 and 1985.

This study draws on various types of archival material, primarily from the archives of Jorunn Kirkenær and Norges Dansehøyskole, both located at the Dance Archive at Dance Information Norway, as well as Kirkenær’s biography. The material is analysed informed by Lena Hammergren’s (2004; 2005) discussions on deconstructionist historiography, and more specifically, intertextual analysis. Examining Kirkenær’s strategies is a form of intertext that does not directly appear explicitly in the textual sources but is interpreted through interactions between different types of sources. The article identifies five such strategies: (1) building dance as an educational subject, (2) legitimising through faculty expertise, (3) navigating cultural and educational policy, (4) facilitating employment opportunities for graduates, and (5) expansion of educational philosophy.