“The Days Project” in Tallinn

 

"The Days Project" seeks to engage with local communities and diffuse the hierarchies between different bodies as performers and movers. Audiences came to share an encounter with two exceptional Finnish dancer artists Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen.

At their invite, English choreographer and designer Theo Clinkard has conceived a work that asks them to become co-authors through a practice that has to be written anew at every performance. The collaboration resulted an engendering a world of ever-shifting negotiations, complex feelings and comic disconnection and constructed from a singular physical concept that sustains throughout the work. Caught in an impossible loop of absurd and heartfelt exchanges, the performer's journey takes the form of a lifetime shared in this compelling performance about care, resilience and the desire for connection.
 

In each location, Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen led workshops for movers of 60 years or older. This element of the project proved to be incredibly rich for all involved, offering much-needed creative and social engagement opportunities for those most vulnerable. The inclusion of the elders lends the duet a tangible relatability, acting as a reminder for audiences that this could be anyone’s story. In the production performed in Tallinn, the audience had once again the opportunity to meet two legendary Estonian ballet dancers on stage - stage and life partners, Aime Leisi and Jānis Garancis, whom people remember from the stages of Estonian National Opera 40 years ago.

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Concept, direction and design: Theo Clinkard Concept, realisation and Performance: Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen Sound score: James Keane Light design: Kalle Ropponen Outside eye: Leah Marojević Production: Inari Pesonen (Premier 2018), Maria Nurmela ja Ville Oinonen Premiere: 10.12.2018, Pori Dance Month Festival, Finland.

Performances: November 3rd 19:00 and November 4th 15:00 at Sakala 5 Theatre Venue, Tallinn (EST)

Co-production of The Regional Dance Center of Western Finland (https://l-tanssi.fi/en/etusivu-english/), Fine 5 Tantsuteater (www.fine5.ee), Lifelongdancepractice (https://www.lifelongdancepractice.org/)

Support: Eesti Kultuurkapital, the Nordic Culture Point, Creative Europe.