Review: Silence

Jarkko Mandelin’s jazz orchestra played variations on a given theme – A large group of 12 dancers brought spectacle to the crowd scenes – In the orchestra’s movement language, the seriousness of the classical turned into the boisterousness of popular music in an instant – The performance ended with a joyful penguin oratorio

This doesn’t happen often, but now the dance performance Silence came to sleep the night after the performance. In the dream shots, penguins from David Attenborough’s nature documentary jumped from the sea onto ice floes, and the dancers dressed in tailcoats jumped off a springboard onto ice cubes cut from foam, side by side and in perfect harmony. That dream was so overwhelming and so exhilaratingly funny that I woke up to my own laughter.

If the intention of the creators of the performance was to create a deep-seated joy and a long-lasting positive emotional state in the viewer, in my case that purpose was fulfilled to the maximum. Thank you!

Silence is a joint production of three groups and features dancers from Helsinki Dance Company, Kinetic Orchestra and Dance Theatre Minimi. There were 12 dancers in the performance, and together they formed an impressive sight dressed in tailcoats as soon as the dance began.

The main idea behind the choreography of the work is an orchestra that plays movement. The obvious source of inspiration for Elina Kolehmainen’s costume design was concert aesthetics and the concert aesthetics of symphony orchestras in particular. There were tailcoats and pants with side straps, there were white shirts that were part of the outfit and as a final touch, purple bows.

A clear exception to the dress code was that the dancers danced barefoot. This exception to the dress code of a symphony orchestra also gave us viewers a hint of how to interpret the work.

Art is not born from perfection. Art is looking for contradiction, error, discord. In this way, the orchestra conducted by Mandelin and its soloists played movement. The crowd scenes, duets and solos were timed with these discordant chords, surprising twists that fascinated and amused us viewers. The whole thing was impressive and at times exhilaratingly funny.

According to Mandelin, the basic idea of the work was to create a symphonic work of art that surprises with its rhythm, movement language and structure. A good example of surprising and surprising movement language was, for example, a crowd scene in which the dancers’ bodies repeated the same metronomic movement in a uniform movement.

In the work Gravity by Helsinki Dance Company and Kinetic Orchestra, movement sought to cancel gravity. In Silence , the effort towards the heights was not only made in the penguin jumping that ended the performance, but the discordant chords placed between the harmonic symphony of movements were surprising solos, in which the dancer’s soaring jumps ended in somersaults that fed the imagination.

These surprising solos broke the harmony of the crowd scenes, and at least once an unexpected plunge challenged the duet of two dancers. The skilful use of lights increased the sense of danger created by the violent movement language of these surprising twists.

In the crowd scenes, the movements of the 12 dancers had the same solemnity as the playing of a large orchestra. Although the conductor of this orchestra could not be seen, the swings of Mandelin’s baton could be sensed. Within the work, there were solos and duets in which the dancers’ own voices were heard more clearly than usual.

Each performing arts performance is unique. It never happens the same again. Silence is a performance in which this variation produced by presence has been consciously increased. A raffle will be held for the performance of solos and duets based on the dancers’ own choreographies the day before each performance.

Mandelin’s Silence was a jazz orchestra that performed more and more variations on the given theme. Of course, these improvisations were rehearsed in advance. In any case, the temptation to see new variations of this amazing concert at the premiere is great.

In the script, Mandelin says that the work is divided into five parts. Each part has its own logic and dancing them requires significantly different movement skills, from partnering to flooring technology. The professional jargon of Mandelin’s professional dancers does not necessarily make sense to the layman.

The movement language of the dancers’ dizzying lifts, on the other hand, was easy to understand. Delicious variations on the theme included, for example, a lift done in a circle over the back.

What is also charming and impressive about contemporary dance is its creators’ view of equality. Mendelin’s Jazz Orchestra is a workplace where there are no men and women, but dancers.

Dance is an art made by the community. What we as viewers see has been created through the interaction between the choreographer and the dancers. The movement language of the performance has been created through experimentation. Hardly even classical ballet has ever achieved top results with a management style where I am the man and the boss and you are the stupid woman.

Mandelin is a choreographer trained in classical ballet.