I am dancer, performance-artist and bodyworker made in Finland. I have studied dance- and theatre pedagogy in Finland, Helsinki- in Theatre Academy of Finland, from where I got my master´s degree 2008. Though – I would say my dearest high-school and university in contact-improvisation has been the finnish contact community, where I have learned so much from my collagues, friends and fellow dancers, by sharing the dance and rolling point over 20 years…
Contact Improvisation has been my lover since i was a teenager ! So – I´ve gone through many kind of chapters with her. Recently I´m more and more interested in details, fine tuning, listening, presence – accompagnied with deeper understanding of underlying principles of contact improvisation. How can we make our dance sustainable for our bodies? How does this magnificant body works ? Function of the joints, faschia, muscles ? How can we find effortless, efficient, fluid movement ? Elasticity of our three-dimensional body, open to all directions.
Breath plays as well big part in my dancing. It brings me naturally into moments of momentum, falling, flying, swinging and bouncing. My movement is informed and inspired by aikido, capoeira and developmental movement patterns. Precision in transitions and curiosity in details are bringing in lightness and effortlessness. I also work with composition and group scores. Expanding out from duet bubbles
into trios and groups, composing the bigger space.
INTENSIVE together with Hugh Stanier 26. -29 April 2025
Home in the body
What does home mean to you?
How do we create a sense of home within ourselves?
Throughout this module we weave together Somatics, Contact Improvisation & presence practices to invite ourselves to feel deeply at home in the body and in movement. Studying C.I. technique & explorations – tools and exercises to find your dance & tuning to move together with other bodies.
Giving space to presence practices – meditative principles and opening perception exercises – to bring more awareness to our interconnected whole as we move together. Home brings a sense of safety. When we feel safe, we have space and capacity to explore and to connect to others. From this place real integrative learning can happen.
We will also focus on taking the time to delve into what is most present for the group at the time. In this way we wish to hold a space that serves the wishes and needs that arise and move fluidly with the journey, and find home within ourselves and our dance.
Throughout this journey we will offer explorative exercises, as well as clear technical tools and pathways to understand underlying physical principles of contact improvisation. We’ll spend time with the floor, sensing gravity, studying how our bodies function.
What makes our movement effortless and efficient ?
How do we align our bones to create support and ease in our movement ?
Becoming comfortable with not knowing. Working with ideas and images of softness & liquidity, and how developing multidirectional availability opens more possibilities in our movement. Sharing weight and finding the subtle details and articulation of our shared architectures, that brings us into moving together through levels, through the space & in and out of contact. Using our breath in finding synchronicity helps us to ‘tune’ together.
We will flow in and out of contact, viewing the dance as a playful dialogue, which breathes freely in time and space. Composing the dance, composing the contact. Material alternates between contact- and solo tasks, towards trios and group-scores.
For me dance is combination of technique and flow. Form and freedom. Being and doing.
I try to find ways to explore by understanding the underlying principles of movement, so that we can stay connected to our own exploration and interest. Where our curiosity can stay alive, and we can always find new details on the way.
Photographer: Ken Buslay
