Dugan/Naharin

When William Dugan was nine years old, he realized that he wanted to be a dancer. Born and raised in Florida, USA, Dugan studied dancing at the Patel Conservatory before moving to Hamburg, Germany, when he was 15 to study at the Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett. After graduation, he was a dancer at the Dortmund Ballet, before joining the Royal Swedish Ballet in 2018.

As a dancer, William Dugan has appeared on the main stage of the Royal Swedish Opera in almost 100 performances, in productions such as Sleeping Beauty, Eskapist and Julia & Romeo. But he has also been a part of Young Choreographers since the beginning – a project in which the dancers of the Royal Swedish Ballet get to try choreographing their colleagues, in anthology performances at the Rotunda scene. Dugan has contributed to all three installments of Young Choreographers in the previous seasons, with the pieces Mozart’s House (2023), Doin’ It Right (2024), and Contagion (2025). Now, for the first time, he has created a piece for the main stage: If It Feels Good…

This is your first choreography for the big stage. How does it feel?
-          It feels amazing. I started with Young Choreographers and it just feels like an enlarged version of that. I can now make a piece that's longer than 10 minutes, which is great. And there's just more possibilities, and I get to work with the whole company now, it's amazing. I'm stunned. 
-          When you're given the option of almost unlimited possibilities, that is a little bit overwhelming in a way. And I have to admit, choreography was a little easier when I had more rules: “you can only use this many dancers, it can only be this long”. I could work with that. Going from that to a big production on the main stage almost felt a little bit like it's limitless. So I was like “whoa, I can do everything”. And that was kind of scary. But basically I’m doing the same thing as before but on a bigger scale. And I love what I'm doing. It doesn't feel like work, which is nice.

If It Feels Good… is a celebration of club culture and house music. What does that world mean to you personally?
-          There's something about dance music that brings people together. I would say more so in a rave setting than in a club setting, because when it's a rave, the music is the most important thing and that connects everyone. And there's just something about the beat, the driving force behind house music, or music in general of that nature, that feels so visceral and primal that people can just really get into it. And you can feel the most confident and sexy. There's really something sexy about a beat – I don't know what it is. I mean, that's why they use it for fashion shows, you know? Models walking down a runway.
-          My favorite thing in life is dancing. And I love ballet dancing and its rules. I also love going out to a club, and dancing that has no rules. So I'm kind of trying to like marry the two worlds.

How did your collaboration with Rebecca & Fiona come about?
-          I already knew that I wanted to make a piece that combined ballet dancing with modern dance music. The question was: what music should I use, which artist in that field should I try to work with? And then I thought to myself, “Well, duh, William, you live in Sweden. Some of the best music is produced here, by artists all over the world”. You guys kick ass when it comes to music. So I researched a little bit, to find the kind of music that I was looking for, and then I saw that Rebecca & Fiona had just released a new album, Mega Dance, I had known of them before, I had listened to their music. So I listened to this album and I was like “this is perfect”. It was exactly the kind of sound that I was looking for. Because it's all melodic, with the house piano, the drum’n’bass influence, there’s a little bit of techno in it – it’s like all dance music genres snatched up. And they have a great message in all their songs that fit the vibe of what I'm going for. We reached out to them, and the rest is history.
-          They are fantastic. They are so good to work with. They are so open to collaboration. And they have not once told me no, basically. They were really like, “you want this? You want that?” I love them.

Does If It Feels Good… have a narrative?
-          It is an abstract piece with thematic stories in it. It revolves around this girl – I call her the party starter, because she literally gets the party going – and she's very confident and sexy and incredible. But then she has this moment where she feels like she's being pushed out from the party. And then she starts to doubt herself. She thinks, “maybe I shouldn't be at this party anymore”. But then this guy comes and he's like, “no, no, I want you to stay. I want you to continue partying. I want everyone to have a good time.” And then she chooses to stay. And then it goes back to being confident and sexy.
-          Another little story is about a girl who is with her friends at the club, out for the night. But then she meets these two guys, and she decides to try her luck with them. Then she realizes in the end, “oh no, I'd rather just be with my girlfriends and have a good time because my girls have never done me wrong”.
-          And then we have like a men's dance, that is sort of like my play on toxic masculinity in like a club space. And then, there's like a girls’ dance and that's just really fun and girly. I call it “FFF”: fine, fresh and feminine. These are like things I've observed as I've gone out to clubs.

Which choreographers have influenced you the most, as a choreographer?
-          William Forsythe is my idol. I worship him! I also really love Wayne McGregor, I love his movement style and his choreographic language. I also really like Justin Peck.

How does it feel to have your piece on a double bill with Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16?
-          I knew from the start that I was going to have my piece together with Minus 16, and I got quite intimidated by that, because it's such a world famous piece. I had danced it and I knew what it was like. And I thought to myself “well, you know, at least if my piece fails, people will come and watch that”. But now I don't think that's going be the case at all. And I also think, with the combined help of Rebecca & Fiona, it's gonna be a big slay.

Nicholas Ringskog Ferrada-Noli
EDITOR AT THE ROYAL SWEDISH OPERA

We recommend that you arrive at least half an hour before the performance begins. If you can arrive earlier, it's even better: 45 minutes before the start of the performance, there is a free audience introduction in the Golden Foyer - an excellent way to approach the performance! Please note that once the performance has started, no one will be allowed into the hall until after the first intermission.

We have put together some useful tips for your visit. Otherwise, our best advice is to arrive on time - discover the Opera House, leave your coat in the cloakroom, eat or drink something. AND, ask our ushers - they'll be happy to help! Outerwear and bags should be left in the cloakroom for safety and evacuation reasons.

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Of course you can! Our partner Restaurang Grodan is on the ground floor facing Strömgatan - take the opportunity to book a table ahead of your visit! Each floor also has a service with drinks and snacks, at the stalls' café there is a slightly larger selection. We advice you to pre-book the intermission service so it is ready and waiting for you during the interval!