Welcome to the open rehearsals and discussion of Dance group Ihanat! The event is part of Community Dance Festival 2021.
Since September 2019, the dance group Ihanat has been working on a performance. This performance still holds no name because words have so little meaning in our work. We are together and move together.
During the creative process we have had, we’ve become a living organism: Every dancer has a place that feels just right for them. Movement, touch and music have brought us together and everyone’s inner world has gradually begun to open up.
Our open rehearsals are an invitation to come and share a moment together. It is an opportunity to see how we work. It also provides an opportunity to take a glance at the scenes that we have been working on during this spring.
In this format we want to highlight the special skills of each dancer, their interests, dreams and inner superheroes in a playful way. Our artistic process builds on mutual trust and respect that have developed between us while working together for many years.
Yvonne Heins and Mikaela Hasán from Duvteatern have been invited to participate in the discussion.
The event is part of Community Dance Festival 2021.
The following questions have guided our process:
- When we follow each other’s ideas and wishes, what kind of shared ground evolves?
- What kind of superpowers and imagination do we need to be seen from the perspective of our strenghts?
- How to build a joint work over the differences of age and with respect to each other’s different ways to communicate?
- What are the ways that we can work together as equal and peer artists even though we come from different backgrounds?
The dance group Ihanat began to work on this process in the fall of 2019 and the rehearsals continued until March 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic suspended the Dance Group for a year. In March 2021, the group started rehearsing again. We have tried to find ways to work in a way that is not only safe for health, but accessible to every member of the group.
Assembling of the working group: Riina Hannuksela
Choreography and dance: Minttu Heinonen, Vappu Virkkula, Sofia Johansson and Elisa Lejeune and Riina Hannuksela
Costume: Riitta Röpelinen together with the performers
Lights: Ina Niemelä together with the performers
Participants in the discussion: Yvonne Heins and Mikaela Hasan from Duvteatern
The work of the working group has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre and the City of Helsinki.