Review: Silence

Jarkko Mandelin’s Silence dances visual music – a strong recommendation!

I was once again encouraged to sit in the audience of the dance performance. The small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre was taken over by a group of twelve dancers, made up of dancers from Helsinki Dance Company, Jarkko Mandelin’s Kinetic Orchestra and Dance Theatre Minimi.

The work Silence is written by Jarkko Mandelin. His design language has been praised as very recognizable, and I can certainly agree with that. A year ago, I went to see his work Gravity and Silence had a lot of similar elements. These twists and turns of working in pairs and using the other’s body as a lever for one’s own movement are charming and spectacular to watch.

I was at the performance with my husband Marti, and Silence was Jarkko Mandelin’s first work for him: he was excited about its movement language. She described that it was even difficult to stay on the bench when the flow of movement of the dancers caught her so much!

Let’s start at the beginning of the book. The auditorium is divided on both sides of the stage and the floor is covered with dark tatami mats. The dance artists wear tailcoats. Everyone’s hair is braided all the way to the head.

In the performance, gender and the size of the dancer do not matter, the pair work is smooth, whether the partner is a short or tall dancer. The pairs change all the time, there is no lack of movement in the performance.

I read in the script that “The main idea of Silence is an orchestra that plays movement”. I deduced from the tailcoats that the dancers are the conductors of their own movements, while Martti had initially thought of them as birds, as the fringes of the tailcoats swayed to the music of the performance. We had a slightly different opinion about the suitability of tailcoats as dance outfits, Martti thought it was visually interesting, I couldn’t help but think that dancers must feel very hot and tight in tailcoats. Of course, there was no pain in the dancers’ movements, and even difficult movements seemed easy.

The work began peacefully with very taiji-like movements. I thought, hey, this is the area I recognize, because I practiced tai chi for a few years when we lived in Vietnam. My teacher was very careful about performing the movements correctly, such as the position of the hands and fingers, and I also noticed in Silence that I observed the dancers from the same angle. As the pace of the work accelerated, I no longer delved into the details, but let the movement wave of the group take effect. I reminded myself of the advice given to me by Niki Matheson, the director of Dance House Helsinki: “Don’t try to understand, but throw yourself into looking, let the dance speak to you.”

Even I, as an amateur, can say that the dancers were really skilled. Some people’s dancing was more pleasing to the eye than others, but as a rule, I didn’t look at the dancers as individuals, as there were always different ensembles going on. It wasn’t until I got home that I found out that the solo and duet dances inside the work vary from performance to performance. The performers of solos and duets are drawn the day before and the floor, or tatami, is only theirs for a while. It was interesting to see how differently the dancers made their own solos and yet the solos were completely intertwined with the overall work.

The best thing about the performance was the power of the crowd, the entire orchestra of dancers. How the group clearly moved towards a common vision and enjoyed what they were doing. I really noticed how many people smiled when they danced.

The performance lasted for an hour. The intense dance piece kept a strong grip on me the whole time. The final climax made the audience smile as well!

Jarkko Mandelin’s Gravity was so popular that it was re-added to the performance calendar. I’m guessing that Silence speaks just as strongly, so it’s worth getting your tickets soon. The performance is great for beginners like me in watching dance. More experienced enthusiasts in the field already know Jarkko Mandelin’s reputation, so they probably already have the show on their calendars.

The international performers of the performance consisted of Luca Bologna, Jacob Börlin, Sanni Giordani, Manuela Hierl, Mia Jaatinen, Minna Kaaronen, Jyrki Kasper, Kalle Lähde, Suvi Nieminen, Justus Pienmunne, Hugo Sellam and Oskari Turpeinen. Seven of them were also involved in Gravity.