This course draws on movement exercises linked to the work Sotku ja rakkaus (Mess and Love) created by Raatikainen, Milla Martikainen, and their working group. The exercises flirt with experiential anatomy and the body's ecosystem, with a particular focus on the digestive tract.
Kati Raatikainen's course creates space for inner forces and feelings, inviting you to enjoy dancing both alone and in connection with others.
The classes draw on movement exercises linked to the work Sotku ja rakkaus (Mess and Love) created by Raatikainen, Milla Martikainen, and their working group. The work explores experiences of strangeness in the face of an uncertain future and in a time of polycrisis and examines the body's relationship to cycles.
The classes are built around improvisation and bodily exercises that flirt with experiential anatomy and the body's ecosystem, with a particular focus on the digestive tract. We will dance to a wide range of music, and at times, we might find movement in silence too. There will be no set movement sequences in the classes. You are encouraged to find and inhabit your own ways of dancing.
We welcome people of all skill levels to this course. The venue is fully accessible. If you have any accessibility needs, please let us know by sending e-mail elina.tervonen@zodiak.fi.
In the first session, we will go together to see the work Sotku ja rakkaus (Mess and Love). The ticket price is included to the course fee, even though the system asks you to add the ticket separately to the shopping basket when purchasing the course. It is good to know that the performance will last until 8pm on 2nd of September, the first class of the course.
About the instructor:
Kati Raatikainen, based in Helsinki and Kokkola, is a choreographer, performance artist, and teacher of embodiment. Her work is rooted in questions of experiential embodiment and eco-sociality: how the relationships between beings, phenomena and people can be shaped in ecologically and socially sustainable ways. In the processes that she facilitates, she asks how the social field might be re-imagined and organised more justly and equitably.
Raatikainen’s most significant works include Yhteis(ty)ö (Zodiak Centre for New Dance, 2016), Non-Human Island (Reality Research Center, 2016–2017), Acts of Care (Circus Maximus, 2017–2019), Quartetto and Encounters (Tanssivat Timantit/Kokkola Winter Dance Festival, 2019 and 2023), Principia (Kaaos Company/Cirko, 2022 and Mad House Helsinki, 2024), and Absence (Humina, 2024). Her works have been presented at Tampere Theatre Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, among others.
Indulge the Movement – Contemporary Dance for All courses are mainly instructed by the choreographers and performers of Zodiak's previous, current and upcoming season's performances. Indulge the Movement courses are suitable for everyone, and you can join even without any prior dance experience. The classes focus on motion and movement while also offering an opportunity to explore various dance practices through alternating instructors.
All you need are comfortable clothes suitable for movement and a water bottle. During the classes, we dance barefoot or with socks. The courses are held in Finnish and/or English according to the needs of the participants.
Please note that from fall 2025 on, one cannot make up absences from the classes in the Indulge the Movement -courses. We encourage to you to take care that you can attend all the classes you've signed up to. Please note that you cannot arrive class later than 5 minutes past the starting time. After that the door will close. This is to ensure everyone a peaceful and concentrated course atmosphere. For more information on how to participate in the courses see How to Participate.
