Review: Huonosti vartioitu tyttö
HDC offers excellent madness therapy for the darkening autumn
I’m pretty sure that choreographer Jyrki Karttunen knew exactly what he was doing when he was creating his latest work – and was smiling in his mind.
La Fille mal gardée is one of the earliest surviving classics of ballet from the 18th century. Originally, it is a comedy about a country girl who has her own lover, but who has been promised to someone else. After various hilarious mishaps, the ending is of course happy.
A dance work based on this ballet would certainly arouse the interest of a wide range of audiences, as it is produced by HDC, i.e. Helsinki Dance Company, which represents dance theatre and contemporary dance.
On the other hand, as a choreographer, Karttunen is known for his playfully gentle humour, surprising and surreal content, and endlessly inventive movement language.
And yes, the end result is just as hilariously absurd as you might expect.
The main character, a country girl who wants something different from what was planned for her, has been retained from the original story. The rest is pure fantasy.
The setting is a wonderfully nostalgic 1950s rural gas station designed by Jukka Huitila, which the girl has had to take care of after her father. In remote areas, life is lonely, and even electricity is out of order.
But this girl has a strong will and, above all, imagination. He wants to get away, to the big world and become a star. Fantasies of different roles and the men hanging out around who have turned into unicorns and who don’t necessarily want her to leave help.
The performance shines and sparkles above all with Heidi Naakka, who plays the girl. Naakka has the ability to transform, he dares to tear and throw himself into it, and on top of that, he is an excellent dancer.
As sympathetic, lutu and easy-going as the candy-coloured unicorns Jyrki Karttunen, Jyrki Kasper, Mikko Paloniemi and Johannes Purovaara are, they are just Jackdaw’s assistants. Their task is to lift him up and to the heights, even in a concrete way.
The movement language of the work includes almost everything from ballet to music videos. What makes it enjoyable in addition to the skill is the slight self-ironic touch that can be seen in everything. Let’s do it seriously, but enjoy it, and don’t take it too seriously.
The Poorly Guarded Girl is the most brilliant brightener of an autumn evening, and it by no means makes a joke of the original work, that’s how far this insanely funny performance has evolved from it.