Exploring Bodies, Histories, and Movement
Project No. 2191 asks what it means for a body to carry its memories, desires, and constraints.
Hungarian choreographer Adrienn Hód began the creation not from a fixed theme but from the dancers themselves: who they are now, what histories are inscribed in their bodies, and what it means to dance at different stages of life.
For Helsinki Dance Company’s director Valtteri Raekallio, inviting Adrienn Hód was both an artistic and a cultural choice. He believed that Hód’s way of working would resonate with Helsinki Dance Company’s dancers, whose experience, versatility and improvisational skills made them a strong match for her process.
Raekallio points out the wider significance of the collaboration. “Hód has always asked difficult questions and challenged conventions on stage. In today’s Europe, where freedom of expression and experimental art are under pressure, it felt important to bring that voice to Helsinki”, he notes. For him, the project affirms that questions of openness, democracy, and artistic freedom remain urgent here and now.
The commission also offered Hód new possibilities: while her work often draws on the aesthetics of an almost empty stage, the theatre could provide resources for something more expansive.
Shaping the Work
The title Project No. 2191 originated not from the artists but from Helsinki City Theatre’s internal paperwork. When the commission was confirmed, the production was given the number 2191 in official documents. And that number simply became its name.
For Hód, this accidental naming highlights a tension: dance is a live, ephemeral art form that exists only in the moment, while the number fixes the work within an administrative system.
With no theme attached to the title, the content of the piece had to emerge directly from the rehearsal room. Rehearsals unfolded through long improvisations, with material surfacing organically and gradually taking shape. The process also explored the relationship between body and mind through tasks drawing on imagination and personal memories.
Artistic collaborator Csaba Molnár, who has worked with Hód for the past 15 years, describes the process as one of intuition and trust: curated elements are gathered “like ingredients in a pot”, their connections emerging over time.
Hód adds that the work advanced in layers, each task narrowing the focus and sometimes leading to unexpected discoveries, like moving through a labyrinth guided by energy and intuition. “As a performer you have to stay engaged and in the moment. That is quite typical in our work”, Hód remarked.
Molnár notes on stage this is not about improvising freely, but about keeping the material alive. It involves questioning habits, letting go of fixed forms, and exploring whether a sense of freedom can exist within the structures of theatre.
Shared Presence
Hód and Molnár say that contemporary dance is sometimes underestimated compared to other art forms. Yet its value lies precisely in the unique knowledge it carries, rooted in the body, in movement, and in lived experience.
This value comes to life in the ensemble itself. The seven dancers bring different ages, backgrounds, and experiences to the stage. Their presence invites us to consider who they are today and what drives them through their individual ways of expressing themselves.
At the same time, Hód reflects on the role of art in a world marked by crises—wars, climate change, and political tensions—and how embodied knowledge might speak to such larger questions. Ultimately, the work remains grounded in the presence of those seven individuals sharing a language of movement: or, as Hód describes it, “people happening in front of other people”.
Text: Ida Henritius