Maria "Lotus" Karlsen

Honor Award

If you have seen Maria dance, you know the power she brings. Incredible strength and confidence, but also so much sensitivity and vulnerability. Her passion and real love for the dance and music is the kind of thing you can't really fake.

Because it doesn't just come from knowing how to move. It comes from knowing the music and understanding the culture behind the movement.

Maria is deeply rooted in Hip Hop. Not just as a dancer, but as a singer and rapper. She is an artist with a deep connection to the culture as a whole.

In many ways, you could simply say:

Maria is Hip Hop.

And at the same time, she has never been afraid to look beyond the boundaries of what she already knows.

She has always been curious. About other genres, other art forms and other ways of expressing herself.

Which is very Hip Hop. Having strong roots without standing still.

And importantly, Maria hasn't kept all of that to herself. She has passed it on.

Through Dancing Youth, Cre-8, teaching and working with younger dancers, she has helped other people find their own way into the dance and the culture.

The street dance scene we have in Norway today didn't just appear.

People built it. People practiced, created crews and communities.

People taught each other and passed the knowledge on.

And some people became important links between one generation and the next.

Maria is one of those people.

She is an essential part of the Hip Hop history in Norway.

And luckily, the story is not finished. Maria is still creating, still developing and still speaking her mind. She keeps pushing boundaries and does it in her own way.

Sometimes we are not good enough at acknowledging the people who have been there and helped build the culture while they are still right here with us.

So tonight, we’re doing exactly that.

Maria, we want to say thank you.

For all the people you have inspired, and for the culture you have helped build and continue to carry forward.

For how that impact continues through the people you have inspired, and the people they inspire in turn.

Thank you.

For the work.

For the doors you helped open.

For passing it on.

For staying curious.

And for always being Maria.

It is a great honor for Soul Sessions Oslo to present the 2026 Honor Award to the one and only...

Maria “Lotus” Karlsen.