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This is a letter to God in whom we don’t believe. A postcard to a lover we don’t know. This is a landscape of hopes and fears. A medieval poem that we tear to pieces in order to face the unknown.
As the name of the performance suggests, the focus and starting point of Paper Piece are the choreographic and performative approaches to paper as the main choreographic tool. Wandering between dance, installation and performance, this piece studies a spectacle as a trace of faith, pure experience, rituals and godliness.
The idea comes from Andrius Katinas’ solo performance WORK, which premiered at Zodiak in autumn 2013. The core of the artistic troupe consists of two choreographers and dancers, Andrius Katinas and Vera Nevanlinna, and visual artist and room designer Salla Salin.
Andrius Katinas is a Lithuanian dance artist who works in Finland. He studied theatre and dance at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Finnish Theatre Academy. He has worked as a performer and choreographer in Finland and Lithuania since 1999. He mostly focuses on various forms of cooperation and his constant search for new approaches and prospects in dance.
Meri Ekolareceived her MA in Light Art from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. She has work experience in performance arts and architectural light art. Her work as a light artist has encouraged her to push the boundaries of light art as a means of expression. In recent years, she has focused on light design, which may have an active role in a performance, as a performer. This has pushed her to experiment with light in the context of installations. Her last cooperation partners include Hotel Pro Forma and Opera de la Monnaie de Munt.
Ninu Lindfors received her MA in Dance from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2000. She has worked as a dancer for renowned Finnish choreographers and companies, such as Jenni Kivelä, Helsinki Dance Company, Tero Saarinen Company and Liisa Risu. She has been working as a choreographer at the Taittuu Prison Theatre since 2008.
Saara Norvio (née Töyrylä) is a dancer and dance creator working in Helsinki. She graduated from the Helsinki Theatre Academy in 2008 and has participated in several performances and projects.
Salla Salin is a Finnish artist working in Helsinki. Her creations are based on an approach of the structures and definitions of reality, according to which space is a complicated tissue of relationships. Salin uses different techniques and participates in solo and cooperation projects. She creates spaces and situations that are often from different disciplines or fluctuates between them. Her works are mainly large-scale installations that totally capture the viewer and/or interdisciplinary projects. They draw attention to the links between perception and attention. Salin has an MA in Visual Art (2014) and Performance Arts (2005). Her works have been shown at several exhibitions in Finland and elsewhere.
Tuomas Norvio works as a sound artist, composer, musician, mixer and producer on stage and in studio. He has a background in electronic music and he works in different forms and genres of art. Norvio is interested in the use of acoustic and specific sounds as the basis of creations. He has created music and sound for modern dance, circus and theatre performances, installations, documentaries and various artists. He has been awarded the Säde Prize, the Teosto Prize and Prix Italia for his work.
Vera Nevanlinna studied at the Helsinki Dance Institute and the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, where she acquired her MA in Dance in 1998. Later, she studied dance in New York and worked as a freelance dancer and choreographer. Vera has cooperated with chameckilerner, Miguel Gutierrez, Deborah Hay, Mart Kangro, Thomas Lehmen, Kirsi Monni, Eeva Muilu, Liisa Risu, Ervi Sirén, Katri Soini and Paula Tuovinen. She has also created interdisciplinary art projects with sculptor Maria Duncker, photographer Elina Brotherus, director Kimmo Leed, violinist Pekka Kuusisto and the band Rinneradio. Vera was the creative manager of the Zodiak Centre for New Dance in Helsinki from 2009 to 2011. She was the drummer in the band Branded Women from 1999 to 2001 and, in addition to studying dance, she graduated as a photographer from the Muurla folk high school. She is currently the guest dancer with Cullbergbaletten, Sweden, in Deborah Hay’s choreography Figure a Sea, and she is studying to become a yoga teacher in Helsinki.
Vera Selene Tegelman is a freelance dancer working in Helsinki. She received her MA from the Helsinki Theatre Academy in 2009. She is interested in approaching a new type of performativity in the context of modern art. Since graduation, she has worked with the new generation Finnish choreographers, such as Heli Meklin and Virva Talonen, grand old man Tommi Kitti and his company, the Tsuumi Dance Theatre and internationally recognised visual theatre and modern circus company WHS. She created the choreography for the performance of the latter, which was called Lähto (Départ).
Idea:Andrius Katinas
Choreography and installation:Andrius Katinas, Vera Nevanlinna, Salla Salin
Performers:Andrius Katinas, Ninu Lindfors, Vera Nevanlinna, Saara Norvio, Vera Tegelman
Light: Meri Ekola
Sound: Tuomas Norvio
Photo: Elina Brotherus
Technical solutions in Tallinn:Nanni Vapaavuori (light), Joonas Pehrsson (sound)
Production:Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Andrius Katinas
Premiere: 9 April 2015 Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Helsinki
Duration:70 min
Special thanks:Tallinn Creative Hub
The performance is a part of the 2018 programme of the performance arts biennale NU Performance.
NU Performance Festival 2018: Object and Collective
20–28 October 2018 Tallinn
Curators: Henri Hütt, Mihkel Ilus
Organiser: Uue Performantsi Selts
Co-organiser: Kanuti Guild HALL
Visual identity: Henri Hütt, Jaan Evart, Mihkel Ilus
Initiators of the festival: Anders Härm, Priit Raud
TV clip: Taavi “Miisu” Varm (Varm Studio)
Graphic design: Jaan Evart
Translations: Kaisa Kaer
Technical director: Revo Koplus
Supporters and partners of the festival: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Council of Gambling, Tallinn Culture Department, Swedish Embassy, Nordic Culture Point, Valmiermuiža, Estonian Academy of Art, Sveta’s Bar, House of the Blackheads, Radio Theatre of the ERR, Tallinn Creative Hub, ARS Art Factory, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonian Artists Association, JCDecaux, Festival Üle Heli and others.
