Suojelija (multispecies ethic)

Handed-handless, legged-legless, thoughtful-mindless.

In the Suojelija contemporary dance production, the difference between the self and the world is less steep than what we are used to. It sees the self as part of a world in which a person should join a multi-species world in a curious, understanding, appreciative and creative way. Feeling, sensing and living existence is an equal privilege of all species.

Suojelija dismantles dualisms and wants to emphasize perceptions, experiences and sensory information as a source of information, so that man is not reduced to a mere “headed” rational being and a mind without body. The five dancers and the violinist create bodily culture on stage through open wonder.

The multi-layered production forms multi-genre and diverse paths on stage, where decisions, coincidences and unexpected experiences and new choices can lead to different paths or form new paths. What kind of life paths and traces will we, alone and together, form on this earth over time? Would it be possible for us to experience the rest of the living things around us as more than just a resource?

Concept, direction & Choreography: Joona Halonen | Set and Costume Design: Anne Hiekkaranta | Sound Design: Johanna Storm | Light Design: Luca Sirviö | Music: Emilia Lajunen | Dancers: Linda Holma, Salla Korja, Heli-Maria Latola, Satu Rinnetmäki, Saara Töyrylä| Producion: JoJo – Oulu Dance Centre, Tsuumi Dance Theatre

The choreographer and director of the production, Joona Halonen, graduated as Master of Arts in Dance from the Theatre Academy in 2000. After graduation, Halonen has worked as a freelance choreographer, dancer and pedagogue in Finland and abroad in the free field, commissioned works and art schools.