Helsinki Dance Company’s autumn premiere is Valtteri Raekallio’s Lomonosov Engine

Helsinki Dance Company’s guest choreographer for autumn 2022 is Valtteri Raekallio, one of the key Finnish choreographers of his generation. The dance piece Lomonosov’s Engine, which shakes the boundary between fact and fiction , is based on Antti Salminen’s book of the same name (2014). The music for the work was composed by Pekko Käppi, who is known as a folk musician, and all eight dancers of the dance group perform in the work. The premiere is on November 1 on a small stage.

Something has happened in the remote areas of Novaya Zemlya. Going through it systematically can reveal secret connections between dwindling natural resources and civilization. As the investigation deepens, the scientific and natural worlds meet and switch places. Beliefs become facts, scientific facts are revealed as beliefs. Behind it all lies the question of what Lomonosov’s engine is and how it affects all this.

“In Antti Salminen’s book Lomonosov’s Engine , I have been fascinated by the book’s breathtaking linguistic avalanche and imaginative carnivalesque freedom, on the one hand, and the book’s apocalyptic vision of a post-fossil world that is becoming more frightening every day,” says Valtteri Raekallio .

Lomonosov’s engine is more than just a dance performance on a small stage. The work begins even before the audience sits down in the auditorium. In the foyer of the small stage, there will be an exhibition related to the world of the work, which the audience can explore before or after the performance. The work is also accompanied by a dance film to be released later, which the working group filmed in Svalbard in the summer of 2022.

“In the production of the dance performance and the related parallel works, the aim has been, like the book, to undermine the notion of what is true, fiction, research data, belief in nature, historical fact or prediction of the future. I would like to challenge the viewer not only to dive into a new interpretation of Salminen’s cult book through embodiment and artistic movement, but also to think about and question the great stories that we as a society have told ourselves,” Raekallio describes.

The performance features dancers Sofia Hilli, Jyrki Kasper, Misa Lommi, Pekka Louhio, Heidi Naakka, Mikko Paloniemi, Justus Pienmunne and Inka Tiitinen from Helsinki Dance Company.

The set design of the work was designed by Antti Mattila, the costumes by Essi Huovila and the camouflage by Maija Sillanpää. The lighting design is by Jukka Huitila, the video design by Thomas Freundlich and the sound design by Eradj Nazimov. The music is composed by Pekko Käppi.

Valtteri Raekallio is one of the key Finnish choreographers of his generation. She has become known for her collaborations with Finnish authors, her large-scale immersive works, uncompromising stage works with her own voice, and dance films. Raekallio has worked as a dancer for 20 years, performing in about a hundred works in 40 different countries. She was attached to the Helsinki Dance Company from 2006 to 2013.

Read Valtteri Raekallio’s interview on the theatre’s website: Fantasy, imagination and an incredulous look at reality are in a spiral on many layers

The premiere of Lomonosov’s Motor on 1.11.2022 on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre (Eläintarhantie 5). Tickets: student ticket 15 € (Mon-Thu), pensioner ticket 27 € (Mon-Thu), basic ticket 30 €

Helsinki City Theatre’s ticket sales and customer service by phone (09) 3940 22 Mon–Fri 9 am–5.30 pm. Ticket offices First line 2, Mon-Fri 11-17.30, Eläintarhantie 5, Sat (on performance days) 11-18 and always one hour before the performance and Lippupiste, Mon-Sat 9-21, Sun 10-18, tel. 0600 900 900 (2 €/min + local network charge) www.hkt.fi #lomonosovinmoottori @hktfi

Press photos can be found in the image bank and press releases in the newsroom.

Further information, media ticket reservations and interview requests:
Kaisa Pelkonen, Communications Manager, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788
Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja, 00530 Helsinki