STRETCH FURTHER - EXPLORING IDENTITY

9:00-10:30 – Workshops / meetings during morning in Radisson Blu (Hallituskatu 1) and Cultural Centre Valve (Hallituskatu 7) – locations are being announced on Mon 7.9. at latest.

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1: Agnese Bordjukova (LT): Authentic Movement 

The class is based on Authentic Movement Practice, exploring gradations of movement from invisible to tangible. Part of the class will be spent with eyes closed traveling between felt and visible form of the movement. Participants will be asked to work in pairs. They are invited to bring their notes as part of the class will include writing.

Agnese Bordjukova is a dance artist who has been active in the Latvian contemporary dance field since 2007. She has worked and continues working in various dance-related positions, both as a performer and choreographer as well as managing dance organization and various dance events within it. She periodically works as a dance teacher. Since 2023, she has been the Chair of the Board of the organization Choreographers’ Association

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2: Maria Landmark (NO): Care 

The workshop explores the theme of care. Through simple improvisation exercises we move together as a group, in pairs or other constellations, exploring how our relationships with others are shaped by the balance between giving and taking.

Maria Landmark (NO) is a choreographer, movement teacher and performer living and working in the north of Norway. She has teached and made performances with a broad range of different artists and her performances are often site based, dealing with how we affect and are affected by our surroundings. 

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3: Nancy Jacinto Sandoval (Nancy Ahmar) (SCO): Dancing bridges

A space to move, remember, heal, and reconnect – where dancers feel accepted, empowered, and free to explore their identity using Latino and Middle Eastern dance and embodied rituals. Together, we explore the memories our bodies carry and the power of dancing together.

Nancy Jacinto Sandoval (Nancy Ahmar) is a Mexican dance artist, performer, and coach based in Glasgow. Rooted in Bellydance, Middle Eastern dance, and Latin American dance traditions, with a background in theatre and storytelling, her multidisciplinary practice explores identity, migration, belonging, and female empowerment. Through performance and community engagement, she challenges stereotypes and celebrates Bellydance and Latin dances beyond colonial and exoticised narratives, reclaiming them as powerful forms of cultural expression, resistance, and connection. As the founder and director of Latino Dance Project, she amplifies underrepresented voices and builds community through movement, culture, and shared stories.

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4: Tuulia Soininen (FI): Peer-support meme workshop with Taiteilijatuutikki

Welcome to make some memes, exchange experiences, and enjoy a relaxed time together! In this workshop led by Taiteilijatuutikki (dance artist Tuulia Soininen), we’ll create memes, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, and share the joys, challenges, and experiences of being a freelance dance artist in a spirit of peer support.

Tuulia Soininen is an Orivesi-based choreographer and creative producer whose work emphasizes political art, queer feminism, and ethical practice. She is also an active advocate for cultural policy from a freelancer’s perspective—particularly on social media—and runs the ”Taiteilijatuutikki” Instagram account.

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5: Workshop for OuDance goes Valkea | Liisa Heikkinen (FI): Improvised Encounters

Each of us has a unique movement language – a way in which the body expresses itself and movement finds its form. In the workshop, we observe what happens within our own movement and explore how another person’s movement can influence it, reflect it, or give rise to something new. Throughout the workshop, we will create an improvisation-based performance (20 min), which will be presented later that same day at shopping mall Valkea at 5:15 PM.

Liisa Heikkinen holds a Bachelor of Dance Pedagogy (Oamk) and a Master of Dance (Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki). She has worked in the Oulu region as a freelance dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher for over 15 years. In her artistic practice, Liisa gets excited about different forms of audience engagement and performance spaces, humanity, oddness, sound/ music, endless possibilities of embodiment and sensitivity.

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6: Üüve-Lydia Toompere: Techno Praxis

Techno Praxis is a club dance practice that celebrates collective movement, the power of convention, and the dancer’s ability to master their body through music. The practice takes place in a group, accompanied by loud techno and a great deal of physical effort. Techno is often experienced as a way to get lost in the music and in oneself. This time, we try to get lost together. We will focus on collectivity, connection, and the shared experience of dancing. This workshop is open for anyone who wants to experience the feeling of a techno party while exploring the culture and social dynamics surrounding techno and dance music. 

Üüve-Lydia Toompere is a freelance artist working in Estonia and Berlin, whose earlier productions have primarily focused on exploring social contexts. Her practice is about actively engaging society and people in her performative works. She has gained the most attention for the club dance workshop “Techno Praxis” and the performance “supersocial,” which involves theatergoers as participants. Recently, however, Lydia has also become interested in the club, fetish, and pole dance scenes.