MEET THE ARTISTS

Saturday 28.11. after the 13 performance
approximately 14.15–15.15
Small Stage foyer
Former director of Dansens hus in Stockholm and the Tanz im August festival in Berlin, Virve Sutinen, discusses the work with choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström and dancers Inka Tiitinen and Unto Nuora.

Saturday 5.12. after the 13 performance
approximately 14.15–15.15
Small Stage foyer
Discussing the work are former director of Dansens hus in Stockholm and the Tanz im August festival in Berlin Virve Sutinen, dance scholar Aino Kukkonen, non-fiction author and management consultant Marjaana Toiminen, and dance company director Valtteri Raekallio.

Admission to the Meet the Artists events is free!

 

Our dance company, Helsinki Dance Company, brings one of the few classics of Finnish contemporary dance to the Small Stage. Kenneth Kvarnström’s no-no premiered at Helsinki City Theatre in autumn 1996, ushering in a new era of powerfully physical contemporary dance. This year, we celebrate the work’s 30-year journey with a new version for nine dancers.

 

Balancing extreme physicality with sensual poetry, no-no unfolds as an intense ritual of movement that speaks to both body and soul. It is a dance work that does not explain its themes. It places its trust in dance that speaks for and through itself.

Equal partners with Kenneth Kvarnström’s movement vocabulary in creating this total work of art are Jens Sethzman’s lighting and spatial design, and the music that carries the dancers from ecstatic physicality towards a sacred, aspiring sensitivity.

Premiered by Helsinki City Theatre’s dance company in 1996, no-no transformed Finnish contemporary dance and captivated audiences both at home and on its European tour. The work was last performed at Helsinki City Theatre to sold-out audiences in 2008.