Tero Saarinen Company Blog

Tero Saarinen Company’s Sunday ended - or actually continued on until Monday - on an exceptionally high note in Kuopio…Together with our friends from CCN Roubaix, we enjoyed something very traditionally Finnish: an exquisite wooden sauna and a dip in the cool lake while admiring the stunning lakeside view under the midnight sun.

The reason for this special get together was that Tero’s interpretation of Carolyn Carlson’s Blue Lady received it’s Finnish premiere on Saturday at the Kuopio Dance Festival. The atmosphere of the performances on Saturday and Sunday was quite special at the packed Kuopio City Theatre. Standing ovations and rave reviews in local and national newspapers followed Tero’s incredibly intense performances.

Carolyn’s roots and her significance to the Finnish dance scene made performing the work in Finland for the first time quite emotional - also for the audience, many of whom had seen the original version two decades ago.

Due to this intense connection with Finns, we just can’t wait until October when we’ll have the chance to present a very special season in Helsinki! In addition to five performances of Blue Lady, the Alexander Theatre will host the Finnish premiere of Carolyn’s mesmerizing solo Double Vision. And as if that wouldn’t be enough, the period will also feature two of Jorma Uotinen’s classics, Petrushka and Huuto, performed by PDC Dance Company.

The Bergen International Festival has reached one of the top positions in the world’s major festivals’ ranking list. The 57th festival presents a thrilling variety of music, art, theatre and dance, so it is simply a great pleasure for us to be part of it and to show our work to the neighbours! Funny enough, today’s Stravinsky Evening is Tero Saarinen Company’s first appearance ever in Norway. For the premiere the famous Grieg Hall – with an enormous stage, more than 1500 seats and gorgeous acoustics – provides the best possible setting.

Bergen has certainly shown its best sides for our crew: the charming city – with the old wooden houses, blooming parks and the picturesque fjord – is simply irresistible! It would be nice to stay a bit longer and enjoy the scenery and delicious seafood…Hopefully we will return soon.

The rehearsal for tonight’s Stravinsky Evening is well under way in the beautiful Teatro Gayarre in Pamplona, the Spanish city know best for the yearly San Fermin festival and the world-famous bull run. Things have gone smoothly – despite one emergency landing in Riga and two missing flight cases…But not to worry, all the crew members are doing well and we were also able to track down the freight.

Our performance is the opening act at the Festival Teatro Gayarre which presents mainly theatre but also a couple of dance pieces. It’s a rare treat for us to be able to perform in Spain – the last time was five years ago with Tero’s Solo Evening in Madrid. More and more Spanish theatres are presenting contemporary dance and the audiences seem to be responding really well. It goes without saying that we are thrilled to be here!

Yesterday was the International Dance Day and what would have been a better way to celebrate than by setting up a master class for the local dancers! Tero’s 2-hour workshop took place in the Estudio de Danza Paula Gutiérrez where more than 20 dancers gathered to learn about Tero’s technique. A great turnout and atmosphere!

Happy first of May to you all!

Tero took a little sidestep into the world of music videos this spring…His interpretation of an on-the-edge character is at the core of the video for “L.L.H.”, the first single off Helsinki-based Don Johnson Big Band’s new album. The video will be premiered on Finnish television tomorrow and can be found online later this week. Read more here

For the video in Youtube (available after April 9th), visit www.youtube.com/terosaarinencompany Check out also some photos from the video shoot: www.flickr.com/photos/terosaarinen/

More info about DJBB: www.recordsareforever.com

Belgium was kind to us. On top of the standing ovations received from the audience, we had the pleasure of spending the evening with many interesting figures from local artists to our delightful hosts from the Cultuurcentrum Brugge.

On Sunday it was time to head home and for Tero the trip continued all the way to his original hometown of Pori, on the west coast of Finland. Last night he performed there a short part of HUNT in celebration of his first dance teacher Liisa Nojonen’s  dance shool’s 30th and the connected  P.D.C. Pori Dance Company’s 20th anniversary. The evening featured performances and choreographies from many representatives of the Finnish dance world, such as Jorma Uotinen and Marjo Kuusela.

Greetings from the beautiful medieval city of Bruges! We are in the midst of preparations & rehearsals for tonight’s performance of our Triple bill at Cultuurcentrum Brugge’s MaZ. It’s a pleasure to be part of the Cultuurcentrum’s ambitious programme; this year featuring performances from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Cie. Marie Chouinard and the Australian Dance Theatre among others.

Since our last entry, we had a great show in Oldenburg and then Tero continued touring with Carolyn Carlson’s Blue Lady, performing in Epinay-sur-Seine and Roubaix in France. Especially the latter was quite a special occasion; a full house of more than 1000 spectators gave a standing ovation in Le Colisée, Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais / Carolyn Carlson’s home stage.

It was nice to visit Roubaix again and see and hear about all the inspiring and ambitious work that the CCN does. The centre has really started to bloom under Carolyn’s direction; with activities ranging from varied social projects, the dance school and mentoring young dance organisations to extensive international touring (up to 120 performances a year), this CCN really does exemplery work! It’s inspiring to see how the efforts that the region and the state have made in terms of funding are really starting to pay off!

We’re on tour again after spending a couple of weeks back home in Helsinki. The Next of Kin performance in Linz was a success – the audience cheered when the dancers took their bows and the local papers Neues Volksblatt and OÖNachrichten gave the piece raving reviews.

This time we’re performing Triple Bill in the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater located in the city of Oldenburg in Northern Germany. The performance is quite challenging for this particular stage but the crew has been working long hours and managed to get everything ready in time. Our evening is part of the Internationale Tanztage, a festival presenting Ballet de Marseille, Hofesh Shechter and Jérôme Bel among others. The intriguing programming has resulted in practically sold out performances.

Oldenburg is one of the few cities in Germany which was not bombed heavily during the war so the visitors can admire the beautiful old town centre right next to the theatre. One of the places to see is the Baldini Grand Café which dates back to the 18th century. It would be nice to wonder around the narrow streets and maybe pop in to one of those cozy cafés but unfortunately the weather is not on our side – it’s been pouring ever since we got here…

It is truly nice to be back in the city of Linz, the European Capital of Culture in 2009! This is our third time performing in Posthof which is a versatile venue with an interesting repertoire ranging from contemporary dance to theatre and rock concerts. The local team has been very hospitable and made sure that everything has run smoothly during our stay at the venue.

The technical crew has done a wonderful job so we were able to rehearse Next of Kin on stage for a good deal yesterday – which also enabled Tero to make some last minute changes to the piece. Today has also been all about stage rehearsals and preparing for tonight’s show – let’s hope that the performance draws a crowd!

Unfortunately we don’t have time for cultural attractions this time but it sure would have been great to visit the new Ars Electronica Center – a concept Finland should definitely have! – and taste the famous Linz tart…

This definately wasn’t the easiest gig in Tero Saarinen Company history… Especially for our tech guys, Eero and Ville, who had to work some miracles again; on top of the very tight set-up schedule, Ville had to suddenly jump in and save the day by taking care of HUNT’s live multimedia on Friday.

But in the end, the performance in Amiens went great and the audience response with standing ovations made it all worth while. It was also a pleaseure to work with the very professional staff of the Maison de la Culture - we hope to be back some day!

Coming up next:
Next of Kin at Posthof in Linz, Austria, March 12, 2009.

The trip by train and car from La Rochelle to Amiens was a long and tedious one, but our charming hotel and the warm welcome from our local organizers made us forget our tiredness. Yesterday we had a day off so we had the chance to visit the stunning UNESCO world heritage listed Notre-Dame Cathedral. Built in the 1200’s, it features an outstanding example of the polychrome designs of Gothic cathedral entrances.

Everyone at Maison de la Culture d’Amiens has been very warm and professional, so setting up for tonight’s gig has went well. Unfortunately we are now challenged by sudden illness…it’s nothing serious and local doctors are doing their best, but with only a few hours until showtime, we might be facing a last minute cast change regarding HUNT’s live multimedia…but whatever happens in the next few hours we come prepared – the show must go on!