More or less love songs

Studio Elsa
Premiere 24.8.2011

Note: No longer in repertoire!

More or less love songs is built around composition and dance – with the aim of conveying a mood

Performers
Jonna Eiskonen (guest)
Kenneth Bruun Carlson
Sofia Karlsson
Kai Lähdesmäki
Janne Marja-aho
Valtteri Raekallio
Eeva-Liisa Haimelin (guest)

Choreography Liisa Risu
Sound design Jussi Saivo
Set design Elina Kolehmainen
Lighting design William Iles

Gallery

Kirkkaanpunaiseen asuun pukeutunut henkilö poseeraa dramaattisesti yllättynyt ilme kasvoillaan suurten valkoisten höyhensiipien edessä. Tausta on minimaalinen vaaleilla verhoilla.

Neljä trenssitakkiin pukeutunutta ihmistä esiintyy kirkkaasti valaistulla näyttämöllä, jossa on beigen sävyiset verhot ja seinävalot, ja kukin heistä nostaa yhden käden liikkeessä, mikä luo dynaamisen liikkeen ja teatterillisen ilmaisun tunteen.

Lavalla esiintyy kolme ihmistä; yksi valkopukuinen henkilö on verhottu suuriin valkoisiin höyheniin ja nojaa dramaattisesti taaksepäin kahden muun henkilön tukemana dramaattisessa valaistuksessa.

Etualalla seisoo parrakas, paitaamaton mies, jolla on aurinkolasit ja käsi päänsä päällä. Taustalla toinen paidaton henkilö seisoo valonheittimessä, hieman epätarkasti, pimeää lavaa vasten.

Neljä ihmistä seisoo erillään tavallisessa huoneessa, jokaisella on pitkä takki ja suuri, höyhenenkokoinen valkoinen päähine, joka peittää heidän kasvonsa. Taustalla on korkeat, vaaleat verhot.

Reviews

Uutispäivä Demari, 30.08.2011

Review

Annikki Alku

Wistful and funny love memories Liisa Risu’s More or less love songs, commissioned by the Helsinki Festival for the dancers of the Helsinki Dance Company, manages to be surprising all the time. It’s not grandiose and loud, but you can never predict what’s going to happen next from the scene-like whole.Risu has also studied clowning and has been doing Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth’s winter circuses for years. And I also found some kind of smile through wistfulness that I thought belonged to the world of clowning and the absurdity of everyday life in this performance. I also think that the circus world is titillating when the viewer recognizes a piece of music that has been used or interpreted in an unexpected way. This solution is clearly one of the cornerstones of the structure of the work. The performance can also be seen as a beautiful and gently sad cavalcade of love memories, with which a lady dressed in Eeva-Liisa Haimelin’s black party dress wanders. If the scenes are his scattered memories, he certainly lacks neither self-irony nor a sense of parody.

Elle.fi, 29.08.2011

Review

Mirjami Pullinen

The Man in Love Dances at the City TheatreThe 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.

Ylen Puntari, 29.8.2011

Review

Jere Nurminen

“More or less love songs is a high-quality work of art that offers the viewer a wide range of emotions. Liisa Risu gives a strong demonstration of her expertise.”

Helsingin Sanomat, 27.08.2011

Review

Jukka O. Miettinen

“Helsinki Dance Company’s commissioned work, More or less love songs, is impeccably made and performed dance theatre…”

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