Review: More or less love songs

The Man in Love Dances at the City Theatre

The contemporary dance piece More or less love songs tests well-worn notions of falling in love.

What does love stretch to? asks in the commissioned work More or less love songs, produced in collaboration between the Helsinki City Theatre and the Helsinki Festival. It stretches to many things.

The performance flows smoothly from one mood to another. At first, the stage is bounced cheerfully to the rhythm of German marching music, then we meet another person in need of comfort, and finally we visit an arena of grotesque power in the circus world. There is also horror when the magnificent Jonna Eiskonen bangs on the floor with her manic fists while fateful organ music plays in the background – only to soon stagger along with the seemingly lightly forcing rattle forward.

Helsinki Dance Company and Liisa Risu , who directed the work, are impressed by their sense of humour. But even though the erotic imagery of the shirt-soaking scene makes the audience giggle in momentary relief, the most powerful impression is left by the crying scenes that express the brutal side of love. The perpetrators have realised that there is nothing more touching to see than a crying, lonely person.

The performance ends in a peculiar way with Sofia Karlsson’s Swedish-language librarian monologue. The moving, delicate scene throws a bunch of open questions about love and life in general for the audience to chew on.

The strong, challenging dance work leaves just the right amount of space for one’s own thoughts and interpretations. What is love, what are its songs? In the auditorium, you may get one step closer to the answer.