During Samuli Emery’s course, we engage in movements that awaken our entire existence, from head to soul and gaze to toes. Our aim is to evoke joy, surprise, trust, mystery, epicness, and other powerful states of feeling and being.
The classes consists of physical improvisational journeys infused with lush imagery, rhythmic movement exercises, and playful dance sequences. Through these exercises, we foster a sense of freedom and agency. The pace and soundscapes of the class transition from a serene start to a vibrant ending, allowing each participant to respect their individual needs and tempo.
In addition to deconstructing dance and strengthening the body, the class serves as a laboratory for practising bodily states and forms of togetherness that extend beyond the studio – to other communities and worlds. This class invites you to cultivate more joyful, bold, radical, and loving ways of inhabiting your body and this world.
Samuli Emery, a Finnish-British queer artist from Jyväskylä, shares a complex yet touchingly obsessive relationship with dance. Emery crafts performative scenarios, fosters generative and empowering spaces, and practises loving ways to inhabit one’s body. They long for dismantling bourgeoisie tendencies in art while craving joyous, epic, and absurd shared experiences of existence.
In 2019, Emery graduated from Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD), majoring in choreography. They have also immersed themselves in several street and club dance cultures. During their studies at SEAD, Emery performed in the works of acclaimed artists such as Wim Vandekeybus, Julyen Hamilton, and Milan Tomašik and completed their exchange studies at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. Emery has collaborated internationally with artists like Meg Stuart, Jerome Bel, Eleanor Bauer, River Lin, Jill Crovisier, and Ceren Oran, as well as with renowned Finnish artists such as Jenni Vartiainen, Isac Elliot, Elastinen, Saara Aalto, Apulanta, Jari Sillanpää, and Club for Five. Emery’s accomplishments as a performer and choreographer in Finland, Germany, Poland, Estonia, and Italy have earned them numerous awards and scholarships. They also work as a teacher at the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki, Helsinki Dance Company and Tanssille ry, and various locations across Finland and Europe.
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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 programme of performances. Indulge the Movement courses are suitable for everyone, and you can participate even without previous dance experience. Indulge the Movement – Contemporary dance for all courses focus on motion and movement, but they also offer an opportunity to explore different dance practices with alternating instructors.
The language of this course is Finnish and / or English, according to the needs of the participants.
