Siltanen

Saturday 17th of May 2014. I had never been to the bar Siltanen before. It is a redbrick building that looks like an old magazine or factory, which has been turned into a club, just like so many cool places in Berlin (like for instance Tresor). It was really full, but we had a great time! After Siltanen closed we went to the club next to it called Kaiku, which reminded me maybe even more of Berlin, due to it’s over loud techno music and dimmed lights.

After that my one friend made some calls and the three  of us headed of to a after-party. When arriving at the after-party I noticed the guy we were going to was my sisters friend, what a coincidence! We invited two random drunk guys from the street, who sat with us for a while, then they left again. A few of us, including me, stayed over at the party place, because I didn’t feel like going home at 6 AM. Instead I slept until 10 AM, got a green tea, headed home, repacked my bags at turbo speed and ran off again for catching the regional train to Tampere together with Matilda.

The RRR!! - One Day Festival

Saturday the 17th of May, the day of festivities! So what is happening today? Well: Korvat Auki is arrangint the mini festival “RRR!! Taide valtaa”, it is the Restaurant Day, it is the National Day of Norway (although that doesn’t really affect me) and it’s my sister’s birthday! 

Up after an other refreshing night of 4 hours sleep and ran off to the rehearsal of the Korvat Auki concert tonight. My solo viola piece Loco will be performed by my friend Oili Tuhkanen and my friend Liisa Oikkonen has made a choreography to the piece and will perform it at the concert tonight! Was a bit anxious because this is the first rehearsal that I could attend, but everything went fine.

Viola player Oili Tuhkanen 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

Dancer Liisa Oikkonen 17.5.2014.

After the rehearsal I had a quick lunch and then took part of the RRR!! festivals “guided tour” around the Sibelius Academy’s R-house, and was a really cool tour! We were guided by composer Lauri Supponen around the R-building and saw many different performances including dance, singing, music improvisation, a monologue and two wind instruments playing in to a old piano for getting resonance! This one-day festival is organized as Korvat Auki’s way of saying good bye to the Sibelius Academy’s  R-house, which will be out of use for the next five years, because our parliament will be using it for conferences while the main hall of the house of parliament is in renovation. Korvat Auki has had a deal with the Sibelius Academy that we are allowed to book the venue of the R-house four times a year, and unfortunately we haven’t yet got any promise about some other venue that we can use for Korvat Auki concerts now that this one is out of use for five years.

The poster for RRR!! 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

Matilda Seppälä trying out an installation at RRR!! Taide valtaa. 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

After the tour of the R-house I headed home. Time for shower and make up. Then I headed back to the city centre and took part of the restaurant day together with Matilda and we had a really nice afternoon, although a bird decided to take a shit on my shoulder, lovely…

Quinoa sallad made by Kalle Autio
for Korvat Auki's Restaurant Day
17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

Kalle Autio at Korvat Auki's Restaurant Day. 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

My piece Loco went really well in the concert and I was very happy. The concert was filled with a lot of experimental art, which was both cool and sometimes also confusing (which I think also is cool in it’s own way!). But sadly there were also great technical problems with getting the computer attached to the big screen. So while Lauri managed with to entertain the audience just by his good stage presence and telling about the festival, Matei Gheorghiu and OctavianBalea managed to fix everything so that their show could be shown as well; and it was worth waiting for. It was a film with Octavian Baleas photos combined with a cynical text by a friend of Matei (whose name I don’t remember) and moreover Matei had written a great comprovised piece for the Korvat AukiEnsemble.  (Comprovised means partly composed and partly improvised, so it is like a “composed improvisation”.) I have to say I got a total information overload, because I didn’t really manage to look at the pictures at the same time as I read along the text and listened to the music… But it was beautiful, so I hope I will get the chance to see it again!

Elina Lajunen at RRR!! 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

Matilda Seppälä RRR!! 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

In the second half there was a piece for cello and electronics by Sergio Castrillón, which was made into a drama piece with the versatile artist ElinaLajunen who both sang, acted, tried to sell (as part of the show) hats made of ties (which she actually had made her self!), and danced tango. Then there was a strong performance by the tap-dance artist Hannaleena Markkanen to the music of Kalle Autio and last but not least, there was a piece written by my friend Dante Thelestam in which I was honoured to take part. Because this concert was a goodbye concert to the concert venue of the R-house of the Sibelius Academy, Dante had written a piece for the chairs of the venue, which are famous for their bouncing sound after flipping back when you stand up. So the audience was given different papers with words that started on R. Then Dante, Aino, Niilo and I went up on stage and read aloud words that began with R. If someone in the audience had the word on their own paper they were supposed to push down a chair and let it go (so that it would bounce back into place). So reading out different words in different rhythms made the whole spectacle into a really cool piece!

The chairs of the venue of the R-house.
© Cecilia Damström

Me, the happy composer after the performance of Loco at the RRR!! concert 17.5.2014.
And wearing a hat made from a tie, made by Elina Lajunen.

After the concert Korvat Auki offered all the participants of the concert some sparkling wine in the backroom and we had some nostalgic speeches about what a great Korvat Auki year we have had, filled with so many good concerts.

Viola player Oili Tuhkanen, Korvat Auki's Chariman Matei Gheorghiu and
cellist Sergio Castrillón at RRR!! 17.5.2014
© Cecilia Damström

Some sparkling wine for everyone who helped organize the RRR!! concert.
17.5.2014 © Cecilia Damström

More pics from the event can be found here.

After a while we all moved to have a drink at the restaurant Kaisla. I should have been sensible and gone home, but instead I went with my friend Sergio and two of his friends to the bar Siltanen in Sörnäinen for dancing.

Dance Theatre Triumph

Thursday the 27th of March. The (new) day began (after having slept 5h) with a phone call at around 11 in the morning “Hey, you don’t seem to have transposed the clarinet part in Dagbok, have you?” Yep, right he was! So as quickly as possible I transposed the clarinet part and sent if off once again.

The best thing about this morning was that I THOUGHT I had to go to a pedagogic seminar, but then noticed I have done that course already, so I had all afternoon FREE! But I was so exhausted by yesterday’s achievements so I actually didn’t get much done the whole afternoon.

At 18.00 there was a meeting for the upcoming  Korvat Auki happening RRR!!! on the 17th of May in Helsinki. I will have my piece Loco for solo viola in that concert, together with a dance choreography made by my friend Liisa Oikkonen. But todays meeting was in Helsinki, so Liisa was attending it (live) while I only attended the first 40 min via skype.

I left the meeting (skype) early because I wanted to make it to the last performance of the dance theatre Triumph starting at 19.00, and running together with my cellist friend Bella we made it just on time. (Luckily everything in Tampere is close!)

Triumph is a wonderful piece of dance-drama, choreographed by Ari Numminen to the music of our teacher Jouni Kaipainen. In the production there are four dancers on stage and also a string quartet playing live all music, Kaipainens string quartets. The piece is very fascinating, touching, beautiful yet raw and provocative. Numminen held a seminar for us in November where he told that he was asked to make a choreography saluting “old” dancers going in pension. He told us that his choreography is much about the relationship between art and prostitution. What he means is that being an artist is about giving something very personal of your self to the audience, and the line between art and psychological prostitution is very fine.

I simply love Ari Numminens choreography, his way of using the dancers and his way of visual thinking! I found his choice of theme extremely interesting and moreover it is something my friend Matilda and I have been discussing a lot lately. For me the piece also was against gender rolls and about feminism, or let me say, against chauvinism. In general, it’s a performance that makes you think, which I kind of think is one of the most important things with art. “I think, therefore I am”.

The performance is also very raw. In the show there is one woman (danced by Elina Jakowleva), who doesn’t start bowing to the audience and refuses to go with the flow and please the audience. That annoys the other dancers, and the male figure (by Samuli Roininen) forces her to bow for the audience. Elina at once straightens up again. But he enjoys suppressing her and forces her to bow again, and again. The other two dancers (by Mari Rosendahl and Anniina Kumpuniemi) find it amusing and cheer Samuli on. Elina keeps straightening up after every time she has been forced to bow. Samuli changes position and stands behind Elina instead and pretends like if he was taking her from behind, suppressing her even more and the other two dancers jeer on. Then they force Elina to walk of stage with them. At the stairs they push her very harshly down the stairs so that she almost falls and breaks her nose. Then Samuli hits her and throws her out through a side door and you hear her fall down a flight of stairs while screaming. Other dancers continue smiling to the audience.

At this point I was crying, both times I saw the show. For me this is exactly what our society today is about. Society doesn’t like strong women, and sexual assault and suppression is used for humiliation and decreasing any higher status a woman has achieved. And then we have of course also general humiliation of women by sexual assault, like all the gang rape cases in the past years (in India and New Zealand etc). Even though I was crying during the show I was happy about the scene, happy about someone standing up and showing us, the audience, what is happening in the world. And I have to say; I was even happier that it was a male choreographer who stood up for us women. Because that is where the change begins; it’s not about us women having to “win” our selves our rights, society has to change so that everyone, both men and women, believe and understand that we all have the same rights.

Dance choreographer Ari Numminen after the show.
© Cecilia Damström

Life at sea

Sunday 23rd of March. Work began at 9AM, at 9.30 is facial painting time, so Nonna and I are allowed to paint butterflies, flowers and spiders on children’s cheeks and arms. Lunch break at 11 AM followed by a very necessary nap. Back to work at 2.30 PM, Nonna took over the bingo while I sharpened the colour pencils for the children. Samba school for kids as a mascot, and a bit more posing and hugging once again (still as a mascot), dinner and (soya) ice cream (because it’s Sunday!), photo session (as a mascot) for children with professional photographers, competition time for children, samba carnival for children (once again as a mascot) while dancing and shaking a tambourine,  the word hunt around the boat, amazing race, and a quiz for children over 10. Cleaning up all the mess in all the rooms, locking up for the night.

Tonight we again went with Nonna and looked at the Brazilian samba show. At the show tonight there was an ice-hockey team of 14 year old boys coming back from some training camp from Sweden, and the boys went completely crazy when they saw all the beautiful Brazilian ladies! (They had probably never seen a woman live in so little clothes, except maybe their mother in the sauna…) The Brazilians took all the attention in advantage and it was a really amusing scene.

After the show Nonna and I went to her cabin and hung out for a while. But she was more tired than me, so she went to bed at 2 AM and I went back to the club and continued the party dancing with my new Brazilian friends until 4 AM. Working on a boat is hard work, at least for your health!

Here are a few more pictures I took of the Brazilian dancers

©Cecilia Damström

©Cecilia Damström

Samba Carnival at Sea

Saturday the 22nd of March. Up at 9, pack and clean up before leaving, took a train at 12 PM to Helsinki together with my friend the viola player and choir conducter Marjukka Manner, writing emails for organizing Korvat auki –concerts all train ride, lunch at Uni Café, meeting up with my parents for getting stuff I had forgot and at 3PM on board on the cruising ship for work!

I haven’t been at sea since 2 month, and haven’t been on this ship since August 2013! I am working with my friend Nonna and it’s great to see her again! I have mainly been the furry boat mascot, which is fun; it’s like being a super star! Everyone wants to hug you and take pictures with you (or beat you up), and all you need to do is hug people and pose on pictures and dance and be super cute. (And yes, I’m wearing a costume so you can’t recognize me!). So we work from 3-11.30 PM (with one break for dinner), then we are free until 9 AM.

The boat currently has a six week long Brazil theme going on, so we have Brazilian musicians, dancers and chefs on board. Our Brazilian crewmembers hardly speak any English at all, so I’m communicating with them in Spanish and they reply in Portuguese and it’s fine!

We went with my friend Nonna to look at the dance show of the Brazilians, and it was really great! And they have such positive energy which also contaminates the audience, which is great! After the show we just sat in Nonnas cabin and talked about everything that has happened since we last met, which is a lot! What a great first day at work!

Here are a few pictures I took of the Brazilian dancers

©Cecilia Damström

©Cecilia Damström

Spirit at Göteborgsoperan

Still Saturday March 8th. I got to Göteborgsoperan at 5PM (after Sirénfestivalen) and managed to get THE LAST TICKET to the premiere of the contemporary dance show “Spirit”. I had seen videos on their webpage, which intrigued me to the point that I was prepared to pay a full prize of 320 Swedish crowns (35€) for getting a ticket. And it was totally worth it! I saw the most magnificent and breathtaking dance performance I have seen in my life so far!!! I can’t find words to describe how wonderful it was!!!

The show Spirit consisted of two halves. Because I liked the first half much more, I will begin with telling about the second half. The second half of Spirit was the show “Metamorphosis”. The Japanese choreograph Saburo Teshigawara had made his Metamorphosis  to music by Messiaen and Ravel. The choreography was quite raw with primitive movements/body language. It felt like the dancers were mainly doing the cliché “wrenching and struggling” movements, which lately have been in most contemporary dance shows. The show was quite good, but not as good as the first half, and the tempo felt slow.

The first half was a creation by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui called Noetic. The show was created to music by Szymon Brzóska, in cooperation with the sculptor Antony Gormley and the fashion designer duo Les Hommes. The show was simply perfect! It was visually, intellectually, structurally, emotionally and in every way just perfect! The dance choreography was original and elegant, it was very good at both positioning people on stage as well as interesting movements on a “close up” perspective. The visual ideas of Gormley were simply fantastic! He used simple things like black rings and stripes for creating visual enrichment. I recommend you to have a look at the videos you can find under this link! And last but not least, the elegant and beautiful clothes in black and white by Les Hommes made the whole visual impression complete. I have no words to describe how wonderful this experience was! I recommend EVERYONE who in any way has a possibility to go to Gothenburg to go and see this show!