VIRPI LUNAIRE
VIRPI LUNAIRE
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In the rush of modern life, we are led to believe that everything must move faster—yet deep down, we long to pause time and live forever.
Virpi Lunaire offers a way to reconcile these desires: it awakens mystery, guides us through uncertainty, and grounds us in the depths of our being.
The Jupiter moon is the starting point for this dance journey. The piece evokes a shamanistic groove, the human body sculpted into poetic geometry,
and the quiet presence of delicate plants. Virpi and Pontus emerge from the shadows with power and luminous beauty that pierce the darkness.
REVIEW
“A starry sky sparkles and shines towards us in the stage background when La Pahkinen makes his entrance in a black robe with golden ornaments. She settles down by a grand piano and begins to play. The multi-talented Virpi Pahkinen has previously been shown to have an ethereally beautiful soprano voice, as in the dance piece Black Rainbow, and now she emerges as both pianist and composer. On the moonlit stage with background videos of both planets and marine animals, sky and sea merge. Together with the equally energetic
and charismatic Pontus Sundset, she gives a concentrate of her distinctive dance art.”
Peter Stenson, Danskonst
“A success factor is how accessible Pahkinen invites a wide audience to her detailed world of dance. It is not difficult to let yourself be enveloped by her precisely constructed universe.”
Maina Arvas, Dagens Nyheter
“Everything is connected. For Pahkinen, who over the years has evolved from a fascinating soloist – a musical, mysterious and funny transformation artist – to a choreographer who created for large ensembles, returns here to the solo and the duet. But also to the piano, an instrument she studied in Helsinki before dance took over. This is not least noticeable in the sequence to Jean-Philippe Rameau’s stark “Le rappel des oiseaux”, where the two black-clad dancers approach each other in a dialogue where you cannot tell who is imitating whom. It is playful and responsive, almost classical when they call to each other with outstretched arms/wings.
The finale is moving, a zoom in on two figures anchored in the earth and in each other’s force fields. Like syncopation in music, they connect in beautiful harmony.”
Anna Ångström, Svenska Dagbladet
“Spirituality, mysticism and cosmic presence have always been sensed in the interior of the works, often with newly written music in the same spirit, but sometimes with classical works.
Now she is celebrating 40 years as a choreographer with a book and a compilation program, where “Virpi Lunaire” is a new work. In this, she initially sits at the grand piano and plays her own compositions and then dances with celestial bodies in close-ups on the fund’s big screen. An airy fabric that resembles a starry sky has landed over her shoulders, the profile itself: Swedish dance’s most rigorous hairstyle.”
Margareta Sörenson, Expressen
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Mattias Lindbäck, Theo Eriksson/Anton Alfredsson
CHOREOGRAPHY
Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS
Pontus Sundset, Virpi Pahkine
MUSIC
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Le rappel des oiseaux (arr. Virpi Pahkinen)
Maiko Okimoto: Dukkha, From the Cave
Marsel Nichan: Rituals (I & II)
Virpi Pahkinen: Jupiter moons, Chromatophores, Bläckfiskjazz, Adagio
LIGHT DESIGN
Tobias Hallgren
VIDEO DESIGN
Anton Alfredsson
COSTUME DESIGN
Virpi Pahkinen
COSTUME TAILORING
Skrädderikompaniet LiLaRo
DURATION
1 hour
PRODUCER
Gita Mallik – Virpi Pahkinen Dance Company
WORLD PREMIERE
6th December 2025, Dansens Hus main stage, Stockholm, Sweden
With the support of The Swedish Arts Council and Region Stockholm