SCARABÉ

CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Virpi Pahkinen, Oskar Landström/Pontus Sundset
MUSIC Abou Cobra Camara, Luis Cortés Maya,
Chieko Mori, Gunnar Idenstam, Roger Ludvigsen
COSTUMES Helene Thorsell
LIGHTING DESIGN Axel Norén – Lumination of Sweden
LIGHTING TECHNICHIAN/COORDINATOR Angela Ariza
Length: 60 min.

World Premiere 17th August 2012
Helsinki Festival Savoy theater, Finland

The transformative symbol of the dung-rolling beetle is the mind’s vehicle in Virpi Pahkinen’s new work. In Omega Point theory, which describes the universe as evolving towards ever higher material complexity and consciousness, the question arises: How can our bodies, with their old design, reflect this new era of complexity?

Scarabé seems to appear from nowhere, traveling through the electrified desert and navigating in a magnetic memory field. The layers of silence are rippled by the harsh waves of koto strings. The dark breath of the organ music opens up the space. Are we here to drown or to illuminate, or are we perhaps involved in some cryptic galactic game?

Let us put ourselves into an interesting position with God.

"Pahkinen channels the multicultural influences in her own unique way."
     Helsingin Sanomat, Finland

"“Virpi Pahkinen is one of Sweden’s foremost, best-loved choreographers. Definitely the most significant, with a mind of her own.”
     Dagens Nyheter, Sweden

"Scarabé confirms Virpi Pahkinen’s position as an original choreographer of significance. Her dance art reaches a long way out into the world. Scarabé is an experience that remains long after leaving Dansens hus. Powerful, calming, with an aesthetic of its own. Simply dance at its best."
     Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden

"I am most captivated by the interplay between Virpi Pahkinen and Oskar Landström – not testing as duets often are – can I rely on you? – where are you going? – are you coming? – but instead the dancers support each other in parallel elevations or lunges, they hold each other in firm grasps without ever exerting superior force. 

And she does something unique when in this way she stretches and expands what it is to be human.”
     Kulturnytt, Sveriges Radio, Sweden

"A brilliant virtuoso performance on a cosmic scale!"
     L’Orient le Jour, Lebanon

"Virpi Pahkinen donne l´impression de s´être réellement transformée en insecte, en coléoptère, en scarabée. Illusion artistique? Plutôt la capacité d´un corps, celui de Virpi, de donner naissance, de créer des formes inimaginables pour un corps humain. Chacun de ses muscles se tend de mille et une manières, se tend à l infini jusqua´à la sensation du sublime, une partie épousant ou se distanciant de l´autre, la tête, le visage, le bust, les bras, les jambes, les mains, les doigts et jusqu´aux orteils. Femme caméléon, choréographe symbolique, danseuse androgyne, Virpi Pahkinen ouvre très grand les portes de l´imaginaire, de la médiation, de la perception et de l´interprétation."
     L´hebdo Magazine, Lebanon

"Majestic, magical and mysterious."
     Harstad Tidende, Norway

Photo: José Figueroa