Review: Tanssiaiset

The sweetly grotesquely sensual “BALL” is absolutely strange, startling and astonishing.
The premiere of the Helsinki City Theatre’s small stage on 1 March 2012 had a strong impact on me, because even a week later this short and concise performance (1h 15min) – which is not fragmented during the intermission – is still vividly in my mind.

The original work “Le Bal”, written by Irene Némirovsky, has been translated into Finnish by Anna-Maija Viitanen, and the dramaturg of the play has been Tove Idström.
Némirovsky’s interesting life story began in 1903 in Kiev and went through e.g. Through Terijoki and Helsinki, ending in Auscwitz, when the author was 39 years old.

The text of Irene Némirovsky’s “The Ball” is full of jealousy between mother and daughter, the mother’s fear of getting older, and the daughter’s desire to overtake the mother she admires.
The whole plot of the play is actually short and can be included in a couple of short sentences.
The wealthy Jewish Kampf family, and especially the mother of the family (Leena Rapola), seeks out Parisian socialites and decides to organize a ball.
A 14-year-old daughter (Sofia Hilli), who feels mistreated, decides to sabotage her mother’s dreams.

But what is seen on stage is nevertheless an exceptional and completely different expression than what I am used to.
The characters in the play sing and dance, move and live like puppets freed from a music box and covered in powder dust.
Every movement and gesture is a story, every sound is a message.
Everything is minimal and abundant at the same time.
I don’t necessarily know if I made the right conclusions in my mind from all the messages, but at least I lived strongly with this small and picturesque story.

The other roles are played by Unto Nuora, Elsa Saisio, Aino Seppo, Antti Timonen and Pekka Huotari.
The music for the strange dance-like musical performance is composed by Sanna Salmenkallio.
And Alisha Davidow, who was responsible for the sets, costumes and projection, deserves a gratefully delighted special mention, as she has conjured up a fairytale-like and even frightening stage ensemble in front of the audience.