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October 2024 is a month of milestones for me, and I’m excited to invite you to experience two art projects that have been close to my heart and have taken two years to finalise. Sci-Fi Scenography: Aniara Premieres on October 18th in Malmö First, on October 18th, my scenography for Harry Martinson’s Aniara will premiere at Skånes Dansteatern in Malmö. This production, directed by Carl Knif (marking our 19th collaboration!), brings to life the epic journey of Aniara through the cosmos. Using four video projectors, we’ve created an immersive, ever-changing space where the projections respond to the dancers’ and actors movements, reflecting the human search for meaning in a vast, indifferent universe. If you’re into sci-fi and avant-garde theatre, this is something you won’t want to miss. You can get your tickets www.skanesdansteater.se/en/aniara.  Kurkkio: A Neon Light art Installation Unveiling on October 24th in Rovaniemi
Just a few days later, on October 24th, I’ll be unveiling my new permanent neon light installation Kurkkio at the Korundi House of Culture in Rovaniemi. The word Kurkkio means "water drop" in the Sámi language, and this idea flows through the entire structure of the piece. Though stationary, the curved and zigzag neon patterns create the illusion of water in motion, tricking the brain into seeing continuous movement. It’s a playful interaction of light, perception, and nature—something that connects deeply with my Northern feels. You can join the Kurkkio publication event: korundi.fi/fi/kavijalle/tapahtumakalenteri/julkistamistilaisuus-jukka-huitila-kurkkio The 14th Edition of Multi-Disciplinary Silence Festival The 14th Edition of the Multi-Disciplinary Silence Festival was held in the village of Kaukonen, Kittilä, from the 6th to the 9th of June 2024. We are privileged to create a safe and professional atmosphere for making premieres, concerts, and performances in Kaukonen. Though we are all guests, the warmth of the welcome makes us feel at home. This year's festival featured eight exclusive premieres commissioned specifically for the event. These works beautifully integrated spatial design with music and circus, showcasing the festival’s unique blend of art forms. The festival’s charm lies in its site-specific nature, offering audiences the joy of artistic spontaneity in characterful spaces, truly making the Silence Festival a paradise for both artists and audiences. All photos by Jouni Porsanger An immersive mystery play, 360 degrees audiovisual experience around you in an old two storey school building in Oulu, through which you can take your own path. Tickets and more info oulunteatteri.fi/naytelma/vihreat-niityt/ All photos JP Manninen                 I address you is a personal and societal solo that Carl Knif has created for himself. Drawing on his own personal experiences, Knif’s performance alternates memories and past events with more recent phenomena that put self-esteem, inviolability and empathy to the test. Tickets and more info www.carlknifcompany.com/en/works/i-address-you-2024/#pid=8 All photos Yoshi Omori  Compañía Kaari & Roni Martin's Spanish-Romani-Jewish-Finnish flamenco orchestra and Helsinki City Theater's dance group invite you to Veren häät. The Blood Wedding is contemporary dance and flamenco at its deepest, with lyrics by the Spanish national poet, Federico García Lorca. A blood wedding is like our union with overeating and self-deception, wanton consumption and indifference. It is an autopsy of the animal's humanity and man's animality. Avant-gardists like Lorca, Dalí and Buñuel lived in Europe at a time when poetry was a weapon and when artists were persecuted. Together, they created surrealist art, whose images crystallized the present time and which already foreshadowed the coming world fire. Dali and Buñuel escaped and Lorca was executed, a prelude to the Spanish Civil War. The Blood Wedding is dedicated to those artists who plunge into the bull's horns. https://hkt.fi/esitykset/veren-haat/  All photos Stefan Bremer The Raekallio Corp. dance group invites you to join us in celebrating ten years of its existence! The Credo party performance is a shameless reaching towards the inexplicable dimensions of humanity through the means of art. In a performance that combines movement, live music and contemporary poetry, the artists of Raekallio Corp. lead the audience to the questions of love, death, beauty and all temporality. In addition to the group's dancers, mezzo-soprano Tuija Knihtilä, pianist Matti Raekallio and poet Eino Santanen will be seen and heard as performers. The gala performance, which will be organized in Tanssi talos Pannuhalli on Tuesday 5 December 2023 at 19:00, deepens the artistic, ethical and aesthetic ideas with which we have been working for the past 10 years. It is built around new scenes created for it, as well as scenes borrowed from the group's older works, following the dramaturgy of jubilant bodyguards rather than a traditional dance performance. One show, one night, one life! All Photos Minna Hatinen Do you dare enter a world of nightly visions and hallucination, surrealism and decadence? lumo.ouka.fi/en/programme/nighttown/  Photo: JP Manninen  Photo: JP Manninen La Familia performances in Espoo and Oulu Espoo 7.-9.9. tickets and more Oulu @Oudance festival 16.9. tickets and more  Photo: Nauska THE 13TH EDITION OF MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SILENCE FESTIVAL WAS HELD IN THE VILLAGE OF KAUKONEN, KITTILÄ ON 8 TO 11 JUNE 2023. The festival program, organized by the Silence Artists' Association, brought together the creators and creations of contemporary circus and classical music. More than 20 performances took place in the Kaukonen village: the Community House, Kaukonen Sports Hall, Kaukonen greenhouse, Ojanperä hall as well as local homes and buildings in the village. This year's festival featured four premieres that were commissioned especially for the event. Many works combined spatial design with music and circus. Experiencing artistic spontaneity in characterful spaces is what makes Silence Festival unique. --- Artistic directors: Karita Tikka for cirkus program and Lauri Sallinen for classical music program Managing directors: Jonna Leppänen and Joonas Martikainen Visual designer and the head of the technical team: Jukka Huitila All photos: Jouni Porsanger My festival was a blast! I designed all four premieres and on top of that three totally different concerts. To keep it short, be there next year! Where's the sandwich? is a reality-based story about how it's okay to be just the way you are, signed by one of the Sweden´s most loved children's book author, Pija Lindenbaum, and the composer Niklas Brommare. Meeting Pija and Niklas and working with them has been a great experience. Making an opera for a child audience is ambitious and when I read the first graders' feedback I am impressed and at the same time convinced of the importance of cultural education. This is Carl's first opera direction, although it doesn't show in any way from his work. The performers dance and sing opera comfortably, i.e. out of breath and listening to the orchestra. It is not a given. Carl knows how to create an atmosphere in the work group where everyone dares to throw themselves. For us, this is the 17th collaboration and let the work continue. Var är smörgåsen is performed in Swedish and is intended for children aged 5 and up and their adults. MUSIK: Niklas Brommare TEXT: Pija Lindenbaum REGI & KOREOGRAFI: Carl Knif SCENOGRAFI & KOSTYM: Pija Lindenbaum LJUS: Jukka Huitila Tickets and more
A truly magical feel at the concert in Särestöniemi´s studio. I wanted Reida´s colour pigments and painting tools for the background of the concert to create a dialogue between lights, music, paintings and projections.  Concert lighting for accordion is my second design of many upcoming collaborations with Hiljaisuus.  Photo: Juho Aittokallio Harri Kuusijärvi's Phoenix concert features a series of songs composed for an electronically extended accordion. The parts of the series are named after their places of birth: Vitsaniemi, Jokkmokk, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Kalix, Rovaniemi. Here are projection sketches for Vitsaniemi, Jokkmokk, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Kalix, Rovaniemi.
Ooppera Skaala, Raekallio corp. & CHANGE Ensemble collaboration: Barabbas dialogues "Even though it is an opera where singing plays a central role, the most powerful part of the viewing experience is the whole of the stage events, where all the different elements, from music to dance and from visuals to stage expression, are perfectly balanced." Annikki Alku, Demokraatti 28.1.2023 All photos: Kai Kuusisto
LUX Korkeasaari 26.12.2022 - 8.1.2023 @Korkeasaari Zoo Helsinki
BARABBAS-DIALOGEJA January 2023 Ooppera Skaala @Aleksanterin teatteri Helsinki
Var är smörgåsen? April 2023 @Kungliga Operan Stockholm
ALAIAQ is a multi-artistic work consisting of movement, sound and landscape. It is a flow that multiplies, duplicates, invites and diverges. In the work, juggling, music, sound and light design, and yoik opens up new layers of each other. Ailu Valle, Aleksi Niittyvuopio and Uyarakq (Aqqalu Berthelsen) is the working group formed for this work. The work, which combines music and circus art, was commissioned by the Kittilä-based Silence Organisation. ALAIAQ launches a series of ten commissioned works that will premiere between 2022 and 2024.
    "Madeleine Månsson has written the lyrics herself and is doing her first dance solo here, a scenic journey through a multifaceted landscape, which is felt purely physically, in her strong portrayal." Ingela Brovik / DANS tidningen 17.11.2022  VINTERRESA Choreography: Carl Knif Music: Franz Schubert Visualisation: Jukka Huitila Sound design: Janne Hast All photos: Thomas Zamolo
The final chapter of this epic project in Svalbard. Helsinki Dance Company's autumn 2022 premiere is choreographer Valtteri Raekallio's dance piece. Something has happened in the outskirts of Novaya Zemlya. Going through it systematically can reveal secret connections between dwindling natural resources and civilization. As the investigation deepens, the scientific and naturalistic worlds meet and change places. Beliefs become facts, scientific facts are revealed as beliefs. https://hkt.fi/esitykset/lomonosovin-moottori/ Music by unique Pekko Käppi Pekko collaborated recently with the one and only Roni Martin - Ei koskaan ollut kokonainen 
Companíã Kaari & Roni Martin presents BERGMAN - Kuiskauksia ja huutoja
HELSINKI, VALSSAAMO, KAAPELITEHDAS 29.9.-6.10.2022 Get your tickets now! "Here there is an aesthetic and a physical expression à la expressionist silent film and pantomime, while Strindberg's words are allowed to work in all their poetic beauty with a declamatory, sometimes parodic tone." SVENSKA DAGBLADET  "Rarely does one work have as many contact surfaces and current hurtfulness as in Pirjo Yli-Maunula and the team's new place-bound and immersive creation called Varikko." Kaleva 30.8.2022 Tickets and more https://www.flowprod.fi/en/portfolio/varikko/ All photos JP MANNINEN Svalbard with Raekallio Corp. and HDC in June. Upcoming premiere in Helsinki next November. Vacation mode in Norway June - July. Berlin B12 at Dock 11 with Thar Be Dragons - Eternal run in July. "Community and connection with others are emphasized in a performance whose raw presence caught the critic's eyes in tears" -Iida Rekonen - HS "The joint performance of Compañia Kaari & Roni Martin and the Portti Theater in the Pannuhalli of La Familia Dance House is intense. The intensity of the work is so strong that it could almost be cut with a knife. (-) Common to these often harsh but also sarcastic humorous stories is the whole world that opens up from a small picture. singer Victor Carrasco, together with violinist Sanna Salmenkallio and singer-guitarist Roni Martin, give the performance a wonderfully and roughly beautiful sounding base and frames on which other movement and actor expressions are built. " –Annikki Alku, D All photos Minna Hatinen  "The dance language is down to earth and stable with impulsive outbursts and clear poses in an open whole. " - Jan-Peter Kaiku, HBL "The visuals of the work, the softness of the business world, as well as Janne Hast's sound design and Franz Schubert's string quintet in C major guarantee that in the end your own feeling will float like in a bubble bath or whipped cream." - Merja Koskiniemi, HS "The other elements of the work are equally thoughtful and gently present. Jukka Huitila's rafter-like curtains and warm-toned lighting and Karoliina Koiso-Kanttila's casual casual clothing, mainly in a light pastel color." - Annikki Alku D All photos Yoshi Omori  |
