News
Aug 14, 2008
EXTRA PERFORMANCE OF NEXT OF KIN
An extra performance of Next of Kin has been confirmed to take place on Tuesday, September 9th. This means that the Finnish premiere season at the Alexander Theatre will feature a total of 13 performances. The first week is part of the Helsinki Festival but performances continue until September 13th
Please visit our works-section for more info, review quotes a sneak video preview of Next of Kin!
More info and tickets to Helsinki performances:
www.lippu.fi
www.aleksanterinteatteri.fi
www.helsinginjuhlaviikot.fi
After Helsinki, the work will be seen at the Biennale de la danse de Lyon in France. Please visit our Event Calendar for details.
Jun 16, 2008
SEASON 2007/2008 A RECORD BREAKING SUCCESS
Season 2007/2008 was, in many ways, the most successful in Tero Saarinen Company’s 12-year history. Rave reviews and an enthusiastic audience response followed 41 performances – many of which took place in the world’s leading venues such as BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House in New York, the Châtelet Theatre in Paris and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The season also saw the world premiere of Tero Saarinen’s new work, Next of Kin, the company’s first tour in Australia and New Zealand and a record breaking amount of performances in Finland. The total number of spectators exceeded 27 400 in 10 countries.
In addition to the group’s own performances, Saarinen’s works were again licensed to other leading dance companies. Gaspard was given to the Göteborg Ballet in Sweden and Saarinen’s new creation Mariage, commissioned by CNN - Ballet de Lorraine and Opera National de Lorraine, received its world premiere.
Tero Saarinen Company’s teaching program continued with workshops and master classes in Russia, New Zealand and Finland.
Season 2008/2009 kicks off August 27th with the Finnish premiere season of Next of Kin. After Helsinki, the piece will be seen at Biennale de la danse de Lyon in September. See our Event Calendar for performance details.
May 9, 2008
NEXT OF KIN TO RECEIVE WORLD PREMIERE ON MAY 9th
Tero Saarinen’s new creation, Next of Kin, will premiere in Vilnius on Friday, May 9th. Tero Saarinen Company’s performance at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre is part of the International Contemporary Dance Festival New Baltic Dance 2008, held during the Kedja 1st Dance Encounter seminar. The piece, co-produced by prominent international partners, will also be performed at London’s Southbank Centre on May 23-24.
Along with Saarinen’s unique choreographic style, powerful visual form and live music are quintessential to his works – and Next of Kin is no exception. Saarinen describes his new creation as a surrealistic journey into the collective unconscious. The imaginative visual landscape on stage has once again been conjured into existence by Saarinen’s visionary creative team: lighting and set designer Mikki Kunttu and costume designer Erika Turunen. Complemented on this occasion by the work of wig and make-up designer Pekka Helynen, this dark, dreamlike world draws on influences including the expressionist silent and horror-film makers of the 1920’s and Film-Noir aesthetics.
In Next of Kin, the hallucinatory journey in the choreography is brought to life by an unforeheard soundscape created by composer-musician Jarmo Saari. Performing live on stage with Tero Saarinen Company’s dancers, his 21st century one-man-band, Jarmo Saari Solu, combines instruments such as the glass harp, Theremin and viola da gamba with a pre-recorded, layered and processed collage of sounds made more intense by surround sound designed by Heikki Iso-Ahola.
Saarinen’s new work has been eagerly anticipated; the previous Tero Saarinen Company premiere, Borrowed Light, was in autumn 2004. This has since received widespread international acclaim, most recently this spring in Australia and New Zealand, where critics and audiences alike raved about Saarinen’s Shaker-inspired work. His latest choreography was created for the Lorraine Opera and Ballet in France. Mariage, set to Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces, featuring 62 dancers and singers on stage, premiered in December 2007.
INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION
Most of the funding for Tero Saarinen Company’s Next of Kin has come from prestigious international sources. The co-producers are the Lyon Biennale (France), the Joyce Theater (USA), the Alexander Theatre (Finland), the Southbank Centre (UK), the Helsinki Festival (Finland) and the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre with Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009 (Lithuania).
Next of Kin will receive its Finnish premiere at the Helsinki Festival on August 27th. Performances at the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki continue until September 13th. For autumn 2008, the piece is also scheduled for the Lyon Biennial in France (Sept. 23-25).
Tero Saarinen Company: NEXT OF KIN
Choreography: Tero Saarinen
Music composed by: Jarmo Saari
Music performed by: Jarmo Saari Solu
Lighting and set design: Mikki Kunttu
Costume design: Erika Turunen
Sound design: Heikki Iso-Ahola
Make-up and wig design: Pekka Helynen
Choreographer’s assistant: Satu Halttunen
Dance: Henrikki Heikkilä, Carl Knif, Saku Koistinen, Ninu Lindfors, Sini Länsivuori, Maria Nurmela
Premiere: May 9, 2008, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania
Production: Tero Saarinen Company
In collaboration with Biennale de la danse de Lyon (France), The Joyce Theater* (USA), Alexander Theatre (Finland), Southbank Centre (UK), Helsinki
Festival (Finland) and Lithuanian Dance Information Centre with Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009 (Lithuania)
With thanks to NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts, USA)**, Finnish Cultural Foundation, LUSES (Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music)
* Next of Kin has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater’s Stephen and Kathy Weinroth Fund for New Work.
** Next of Kin was made possible by the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation and MetLife Foundation.
Jan 30, 2008
Finnish premiere –season of Next of Kin tickets on sale
Next of Kin is to receive its Finnish premiere at the Helsinki Festival on August 27, 2008. Tickets went on sale today, January 30th. The piece will receive its world-premiere on May 9th in Vilnius, Lithuania as part of the New Baltic Dance 08 – International Contemporary Dance Festival. Before Finland, Next of Kin will also been seen in London (Southbank Centre, May 23-24). See our event calendar for confirmed details of our performances.
Next of Kin is a surrealistic dive into the collective subconscious. Saarinen is creating the work with his long-term collaborators, lighting designer Mikki Kunttu, costume designer Erika Turunen and sound designer Heikki Iso-Ahola. Other important members of the creative team are composer-musician Jarmo Saari, who will also appear live on stage, and make-up artist Pekka Helynen. The dancers are Henrikki Heikkilä, Carl Knif, Saku Koistinen, Ninu Lindfors, Sini Länsivuori and Maria Nurmela.
The confirmed co-producers of the piece are Biennale de la danse de Lyon (France), the Joyce Theater (USA), the Southbank Centre (UK), Helsinki Festival (Finland), the New Baltic Dance 08 – International Contemporary Dance Festival (Lithuania) and the Alexander Theatre (Finland).
Next of Kin has also received production support from the Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music (LUSES) and the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) in the US.
Finnish premiere season:
Helsinki Festival August 27-30, 2008. Performances continue until September 13.
Alexander Theatre (Bulevardi 23-27, 00180 Helsinki).
Tickets €40/25/15
Lippupiste tel. 0600 900 900 (€1.50/min + local call charge), daily 7-22 or www.lippu.fi
Alexander Theatre tel. +358 9-676 980, Mon-Fri 10-17
Oct 19, 2007
REHEARSAL SPACE AVAILABLE AT THE ALEXANDER THEATRE
Tero Saarinen Company rents out its dance studio during the company's tours. The studio (130m2), located at the Alexander Theatre (Bulevardi 23-27), is available in November-December 2007 and spring 2008. Rent: €12 / hour (no VAT).
Reservations and info: Tero Saarinen Company / +358 (0) 9 68 13 18 81 or info@terosaarinen.com
The studio is available from Monday to Friday:
2007
November 14-30, 10am-4pm
December: 1-31, 10am-4pm
2008
January 1-25, 1pm-4pm; January 28-31, 10am-4pm
February: 1, 10am-4pm; February: 25-29, 10am-4pm
March: 3-31, 10am-4pm
April: 1-11, 10am-4pm
July: 1-31, 10am-4pm
