Finnish Dance in Focus

2023

EDITORIAL
We are now Circus & Dance Finland!

NEWS
Women take the lead: Sari Palmgren (Routa) & Jenni-Elina von Bagh (Zodiak)
Javier Torres – The New Artistic Director of the National Ballet
By our art, not our land – Matriarchy by Pauliina Feodoroff
Tero Saarinen Company follows its heart
I’ll always be a storyteller – Carl Knif
Performing HEL 2023 looks to the future

PERSPECTIVES
Veli Lehtovaara – Connections between dance and ecology
Rauli Dahlberg & Jarkko Mandelin – A narrative on a trampoline?
Large venues’ repertoires need new and surprising works, too (Frédérick Gravel & Virve Sutinen)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Broas & Nyberg
Karoliina Ginman
Samuli Emery

PHENOMENON
Choreographing people, other living beings and matter
That Fungi Feel – Maija Hirvanen

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Kati Kallio found the perfect medium for her art in film

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance

2022

EDITORIAL
We need art now more than ever

NEWS
Ice Hot Nordic Dance: sustainability issues
The Finnish National Ballet 100 years
Staying one step ahead of digitalisation
Johanna Nuutinen: the importance of physical presence
Good News
Dance House Helsinki is finally here

PERSPECTIVES
And/And: On the artistic practice of Sonja Jokiniemi
The international history of Finnish contemporary dance ›

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Tiia Kasurinen
Mikko Niemistö ›
Iina Taijonlahti
Lindon Shimizu

PHENOMENON
Dance takes audiences to a landfill site, a forest and
a museum

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Janina Rajakangas gets anxious teens and aging men moving

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance

2020–2021

EDITORIAL
Dance as a creative form of activism

NEWS
Target Helsinki: Social media as a playground ›
EHKÄ production: Maybe is a possible answer
Mad House Helsinki: Performance art to the spotlight ›
Carl Knif tackles Shostakovich’s fugues ›
Dance Info Finland – it’s already 40 years! ›
What’s going on in Finland? Four curators answer
More good news & some sad news

PHENOMENON
Valtteri Raekallio & Thomas Freundlich: Dance art explorers

IDEAS
How to dance against climate change – Teemu Mäki ›
Fern Orchestra: A plant, microorganism and human band ›
Tero Saarinen: The connection between the body and nature
Sanna Kekäläinen: What do we do now? ›

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Vera Lapitskaya| Hanna Pajala-Assefa › | Michaela the Queen of Fucking Everything | Marika Peura

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Milla Koistinen: A Crowd is a sensitive thing

DIRECTORY of Finnish dance

2019–2020

EDITORIAL
Dance changes the world, and changes people

NEWS
Petri Kekoni: Space comes first, then movement
Performing HEL
New artistic director of Moving in November festival
WAUHAUS’s Sapiens
Three experts to program for Dance House Helsinki
Research shines a light on the impacts dance has on the brain ›
Stretch 2019 Turku & Stretch 2020 Gothenburg ›
Change of generation boosts the street cred @ Minimi

PHENOMENON
Monteverdi’s invitation to dance: Tero Saarinen | Anna Mustonen

POINT OF VIEW
What does lubricant have to do with social issues?–Teemu Mäki ›

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Mira Kautto | Jenni-Elina von Bagh | Tanja Råman | Iiro Näkki ›

PERSPECTIVE: Inclusion in creation
Kati Raatikainen: Challenging the image of a dancer
Hanna Brotherus: Dances for ordinary people
Elli Isokoski: Dance films about human encounters

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Kaari Martin – Flamenco is just one of my many tools ›

DIRECTORY of Finnish dance

2018–2019

EDITORIAL
Dancing on the edge

NEWS
Nordic contemporary dance gathers in Iceland
Madeleine Onne takes the lead at the National Ballet
Strong woman is the subject of Susanna Leinonen’s choreographies
New artistic director for Kuopio Dance Festival
Helsinki Dance House director comes from theatre world
Ismo-Pekka Heikinheimo and architecture of the body ›
360˚ and VR films suck the spectator into their worlds ›
Ari Tenhula steps into Raija Ojala’s shoes at Zodiak

PHENOMENON
Letting the audience into its own limitations – Sari Palmgren and Valtteri Raekallio and the new role of the audience ›

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Samira Elagoz | Maria Nurmela | Anna-Maria Väisänen | Maija Nurmio

PERSPECTIVES: Meanwhile Elsewhere
Pirjo Yli-Maunula: Is there even such a thing as the periphery? ›
Tomi Paasonen: Present in local life, direct connections to the world
Auri Ahola: Dancing in the Snow

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Elina Pirinen – crazy sensitive corporeal painter of psychological states ›

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance

2017-2018

EDITORIAL
Can we tackle society’s problems through dance?

NEWS
We all dance in Finland – even Santa Claus
Without Zodiak, it wouldn’t be the same
Tero Saarinen: At the sources of primal force
Kirsi Monni: Teaching and research are intertwined
Breakdancing against school bullying ›

PHENOMENA
Compassion makes us human – Alpo Aaltokoski & Ali Alawad
It’s political – Sanna Kekäläinen, Sonya Lindfors and Tuomo Railo

NEW FACES
Emmi Venna & Kati Korosuo

PERSPECTIVES
Jarkko Mandelin – Love, respect, and trust ›
Designing lighting and sound, 30 years of lighting and sound design at the University of the Arts

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
Johanna Nuutinen invests in physical imagination

DIRECTORY of Finnish dance

2016–2017

EDITORIAL Dance is spreading out

NEWS The National Ballet’s Finnish Year, On the benches of a BabySauna, New Impulses, Helsinki will finally get a Dancehouse, Dancing Finland 2017 – May we have the honor?, Through the decades

IDEAS: COMMUNITY AND DANCE
A Non-conformist in the world of human interaction: Jarkko Partanen
Putting art first in audience outreach

NEW FACES Milla Koistinen, Sonja Jokiniemi, Milla Virtanen, Jaakko Nieminen

PHENOMENA: DANCE AND FILMS
Beneath the polished surface, a fractured world unfolds: Susanna Leinonen
The power of a slowed moment
Blazing new trails for dance film: Thomas Freundlich
A grand spectrum of Finnish dance films leaps off from the Loikka festival

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS
The Pippi Longstocking of dance: Reetta-Kaisa Iles ›

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance

2015–2016

EDITORIAL Combine, stir, mix and share – The recipe for sustainable development in dance

NEWS Kill Carmen, Katri Soini, Street dance portal, See and obey?, Russian-Finnish dance exchange, Happy birthday Sibelius!

IDEAS From growth to compost, Sustainability and dance

NEW FACES Johanna Nuutinen, Ima Iduozee, Taneli Törmä, Maija Mustonen

PHENOMENA
Contemporary dance bows to social dancing – Alpo Aaltokoski
Immersing the viewer in poetry and dance – Valtteri Raekallio
Performance piece picks viewers up in cars
Dancing into a world of magic – Jyrki Karttunen

BUILDING BRIDGES Melbourne and Eastern Finland find a common language

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS Carl Knif

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance

2014–2015

EDITORIAL Visions of possible worlds

NEWS Kinesthetic learning, ICE HOT Oslo, Folkjam, Dance gets animated

NEW FACES Masi Riitta, Marjaterttu Willman, Anna Maria Häkkinen, Jarkko Partanen

REGIONAL FOCUS Dance around Finland

PHENOMENA
Finding new ways to be different – Elina Pirinen, Valtteri Raekallio and Petri Kekoni
International dance citizens – Veli Lehtovaara and Milla Virtanen
Creating nature dances in the Danish wilderness – residency diary by Satu Herrala

DANCE IN PICTURES Sakari Viika

CHOREOGRAPHER IN FOCUS Tero Saarinen

MOVERS AND SHAKERS Saiffa Street Dance Centre

DIRECTORY of Finnish Dance