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REPERTOIRE
Selection of productions from solo to large scale stage productions
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCER Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC & PERCUSSIONS Mika Takehara
LIGHT DESIGN Tobias Hallgren – Lumination of Sweden
COSTUME Emelie Janrell
PRODUCER Emelie Bergbohm – Bohm Bohm Room
LENGTH: 33 min.
PREMIÈRE November 4th 2015 at Dansmuseet in Stockholm.
“Ichos is one of those Virpi solos that you want to carry away with you like a valuable treasure. A shimmering, rhythmic opener of doors to different worlds, which once more make you believe in the human capacity to listen to the sound of movement.”
“The solo encompasses all Pahkinen’s signature movements; the rapid turns and karate-sharp kicks interspersed with still sections. She depicts a woman who is open to and controls the force field that the rest of us can only guess at. In “Ichos”, with Mika Takehara she builds a vast temple of sound, beautifully wrapped in Tobias Hallgren’s warm, shimmering copper light.”
Svenska Dagbladet
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Pape Ibrahima Kaolack Ndiaye, Virpi Pahkinen, Oskar Landström, Henrietta Wallberg
MUSIC Jonas Sjöblom
LIGHT DESIGN Miriam Helleday
COSTUMES Helene Thoresell
MUSICIANS ON STAGE Jonas Sjöblom, Virpi Pahkinen
Lenght: 60 min.
Première 29th September, 2010, Dansens Hus, big stage
”An enlightened yogi? A goddess of creation? After all, In Indian cosmology it was the dance of Shiva that gave birth to the world. The introduction to “Aajej” is everything one might expect. It is impressively beautiful. It is Virpi Pahkinen.”
”Young, newly qualified dancers Oskar Landström and Henrietta Wallberg smoothly make Pahkinen’s language of movement their own without losing their own uniqueness. The fourth dancer of the quartet, the virtuoso, extremely muscular, charismatic Senegalese dancer Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye, is a completely different story. He dances in an entirely different tradition –African. His growling wild animal dance makes a sharp contrast to Virpi Pahkinen’s aristocratic warrior.”
Örjan Abrahamsson, Dagens Nyheter 1/10 2010
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Virpi Pahkinen, Mugiyono Kasido and Oskar Landström/Pontus Sundset
MUSIC Luis Hernan Cortés Maya
LIGHT DESIGN Magnus Pettersson
COSTUMES Etik Fadjur Wati
Length: 25 min.
World Premiere: 24th September 2011
Jogja International Performing Arts Festival, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
“Pahkinen’s dance has a touching motion which often utilize a small stage space meticulously to its maximum…
One is reminded of how resistant a strong choreographic signature is”.
Expressen, Sweden
“The ritual feature is strongly present in aspiring movements, like the feeling of dance in its spatiality catches forces we cannot touch…
Pahkinen herself has an astonishing ability to be both strong and elusive… It is beautiful and hopeful.”
Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Annabelle Hellinckx, Sari Ikonen, Kailey Kaba,
Asta Lindholm, Emmi Pennanen, Anna Sariola, Andrea Bena, Nicol Edmonds, Saverio Pescucci, Piergiorgio Regazzo, Emrecan Tanis
MUSIC Borut Krzisnik
VISUAL EFFECT Olli-Pekka Koivunen, Virpi Pahkinen
COSTUMES Åsa Gjerstad
LIGHT DESIGN Olli-Pekka Koivunen
BALLET MASTER Nina Hyvärinen
Length: 35 min.
World Premiere 19th May 2011
Finnish Opera Ballet, Helsinki, Finland
“In Korona the characteristic elements of Pahkinen’s many solo works – minimalist form, eastern influences and the ritualistic repetition of holds – were transferred interestingly to the eleven National Ballet dancers.
Surprisingly, familiar Pahkinen elements worked best in the group scenes. Ornamental hands twisted like scorpions, while extremely bent ankles and stylised acrobatic positions acquired magical depth.
Violet and golden costumes, a black and golden sunshine halo projected on the back wall, the dancers’ silhouettes reflected on the shiny black floor, and music that ranges from the symphonic to the harrowing all combine to create a holistic image. As the spectator experiences this she can refresh her senses or ponder human emotion and the cosmic landscape.”
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
MERETSEGER – She Who Loves Silence
CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC Roger Ludvigsen
SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN Jens Sethzman
COSTUME Helene Thorsell
Length: 26 min.
Première 21st Oct, 2004, Big Stage, The House of Dance, Stockholm
SEPIA LONGA
CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC Gunnar Idenstam
COSTUME Helene Thorsell
LIGHTING DESIGN Magnus Pettersson
Length: 20 min.
Première 21st Oct 2005, Dansmuseet, Stockholm
Oh Eater of Shadows I am not rapacious
I divide not the water at its appointed time
I put not pressure upon the beam of the balance
I defraud not the Divine Circle of their sacrificial joints
Oh Breaker of Bones
I am not teller of lies
I have not slaughtered the sacred animals
I am the Swallow. I am the Swallow.
I am the Scorpion, the laughter of the Sun.
Oh Gods! Delicious is the smell of your fire which comes out of the horizon.
THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
”Only Virpi Pahkinen can dance like Virpi Pahkinen. And when she does it, even gods must hold their breath, in awe that a human being can so magically incarnate their peers.”
”The complexity, the transformations and the spatiality impress. Cobra or woman – when Virpi Pahkinen is the divine reptile,
one desires nothing other than to stay in Paradise.”
Anna Ångström, Svenska Dagbladet, 23/10 2004
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Maxim-Jo Beck McGosh, Love Källman, Linnéa Marintsson, Moa Westerlund, Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC Chieko Mori, Mika Takehara, Luis Hernán Cortés Maya
LIGHTING DESIGN Miriam Helleday
COSTUME Helene Thorsell
Length: 60 min.
Première 26th March 2008, Big stage, The House of Dance, Stockholm
“El dominio del fisico y la total concentración en sus evoluciones no estuvieron peleados con la pasión que despedía en cada movimiento. Por momentos con una mirada profunda que podía atravesar la luneta como una flecha, la sensacional danzante detenía el tiempo con formas de gran belleza.”
Mazatlán Interactivo, Abril 2008
CHOREOGRAPHER AND DANCER Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC Akemi Ishijima, J.S. Bach, Niklas Brommare, Roger Ludvigsen
LIGHT DESIGN Erik Wiedersheim-Paul
COSTUME Helene Thorsell
Length: 60 min.
Première 3/10 2001, the House of Dance, Stockholm Sweden
”It is a fascinating paradox that the artists who create their own universes are also often the most sensitiv seismographs of their time.”
”The new works are also characterised by new lightness, a kind of gentle humour. It is liberating, confirming her earnestness making it easier to grasp.”
Örjan Abrahamsson, Dagens Nyheter, 6/10 2001
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Pontus Sundset, Virpi Pahkinen
SET DESIGN Lovisa Johansson
LIGHT DESIGN Erik Wiedersheim-Paul
MUSIC Akemi Ishijima, Roger Ludvigsen
COSTUME Helene Thorsell
Length: 60 min.
Première 30th March, 2006
Big stage, The House of Dance, Stockholm
”This must be the most aesthetic experience of the year – with Sweden’s saltiest dancers. When Virpi Pahkinen’s distinctive artistry finds the right adversary and counterpart in room, light, music and body it produces sensual magic; and time does an extra loop in the universe.”
”Sundset and Pahkinen constitute two powers. She moves around him and, in a strange sequence between the salt heaps, a magnetic force arises between their mirror-inverted bodies: yang and yin.”
Anna Ångström, Svenska Dagbladet 1/4 2006
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Virpi Pahkinen, Oskar Landström/Fredrik Quiñones/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
Length: 60 min.
World Premiere 17th August 2012
Helsinki Festival, Savoy theater, Finland
“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
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
DANCERS Fredrik Quiñones, Tyra Wigg, Pontus Sundset, Renata Simon, Virpi Pahkinen, Sakari Romero Tuurala
MUSIC Gunnar Idenstam, Jonas Sjöblom
SET AND LIGHT DESIGN Jens Sethzman
COSTUMES Helene Thorsell
PRODUCER Emelie Bergbohm
Length: 60 min.
World Premiere 20th November 2014
Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, Sweden
A production by Virpi Pahkinen Dance Company in coproduction with Kulturhuset City Theatre in Stockholm. With support from the Swedish Arts Council, City of Stockholm, Kulturbryggan and the Church of Sweden
With Volti Subito Virpi Pahkinen seeks to turn the face of choreography towards people’s internal speed. The cascades of digital information drain our organic memories into a flat, arid garden.
Can the movements anchor us as in the depths of our brains?
Are there slow movements that do not become losers?
Is there a positive horizon where the soul is able to rest for a blue second?
Volti Subito is a musical term that means “Turn suddenly”.
“Beautiful, intense and charged with symbolism.”
Expressen
CHOREOGRAPHER Virpi Pahkinen
MUSIC Einojuhani Rautavaara
SET DESIGN Juho Lindström
COSTUMES Erika Turunen
LIGHT DESIGN Tobias Hallgren
CHOREOGRAPHY ASSISTANT Pontus Sundset
Commissioned ballet for Finnish National Opera
For two soloist and ensemble
Commissioned ballet for Finnish National Opera
For two soloist and ensemble
”The best combination of music and dance was provided by Virpi Pahkinen in Cantus arcticus based on the music by Einojuhani Rautavaara´s evergreen song of praise to northern nature with its birdsong already provided plenty of themes…and there was no lack of beauty and the feelings aroused by nature in the movements and images.”
RONDO 7/2017
BEHIND THE SCENES
– studio rehearsals –
“How can you rehearse so many details?
It would be meaningless to rehearse at all if there were no details.”