Dance Moves with the Times – 15 Years of Sivuun Ensemble
Dance Moves with the Times – 15 Years of Sivuun Ensemble
NEWS ArticleSivuun Ensemble celebrates its 15th anniversary. Over the years, trends in the dance field have shifted, while interdisciplinarity, social engagement and collaborative practices have found an increasingly strong place in dance. Now the focus turns to a changing world, quiet urban spaces and what dance can be right now.
Sivuun Ensemble is celebrating its 15th anniversary. What has changed in dance during this time – and what hasn’t?
As recently as 2011, Helsinki was home to the regional dance centre Zodiak. Sivuun Ensemble also got its start there, with Jäljet, a work addressing intimate partner violence.
Fifteen years ago, the approach represented by Sivuun Ensemble – interdisciplinarity, working from themes and social engagement, not to mention collaborative practices – was hardly the most fashionable starting point in the dance field. Since then, different art forms, social and political engagement, and strong audience relationships in their various forms have once again gained ground in dance. The guest performances at the Erkko Hall are also, encouragingly, featuring works that are openly political and interdisciplinary. Over the longer term, phenomena and trends ebb and flow: they disappear and return.
What do you find interesting about dance right now?
The turbulent state of the world, the COVID restrictions that hit the arts sector, and the major cuts to arts funding are filtering down to artists and from there into the dance of our time. I follow and witness the forms, themes and phenomena this takes on in dance: who gets to make it, where and for whom it is made, whose support it receives, and under what conditions.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU RIGHT NOW?
Silence and deserted urban spaces.
Geese, summer people and ice
cream kiosks. What remains are rubbish and droppings, the occasional disposable barbecue.
The quieted landscape feels empty and, at the same time, beautiful and inviting. It is like a still painting that you wouldn’t want to disturb by stepping into it.
What is your most memorable memory from your career or from Sivuun Ensemble’s journey?
The performances of Silentopia at Tanssin talo’s Erkko Hall in 2023. Being aware that Pina Bausch’s vast body of work had been presented on the same stage as our performance. It was a deeply moving moment at that point in time.
Some deeply affecting memories are connected to touring institutions and collaborative work, such as the line of performers taking their final bows during Kiertuenäyttämö’s visit to Jokela Prison. The attitude of the older women (note: 90 years old) in the dance film Kylmäketju, and the connection we found while filming in the forest, have also left a lasting impression.
What do you hope for Sivuun Ensemble over the next 15 years? And for dance in general?
I hope we can continue to develop and expand our highly refined work with interdisciplinary productions, together with new and strong partners.
For the dance field and young newcomers, I hope for opportunities to create different kinds of projects, in different scales, that enrich the diversity of dance – including wildly daring projects, both together and independently.
What would you like to say to the audiences coming to see Naapuri and Tanssinkutsu?
With Tanssinkutsu, you can let go and enjoy a live, in-the-moment encounter, like being at a gig by a great band, with dance flowing through it.
With Naapuri, you can focus on recognisable real-life characters, magical aerial acrobatics, breathtaking visual imagery, poetic dance, physical comedy – or simply the wonderful music by Finland Prize-winning composer Jarmo Saari, composed especially for the work.
Sivuun Ensemble & Kallo Collective: Neighbour 8.–10.10.2026
The acclaimed Naapuri, combining aerial acrobatics, contemporary dance and physical comedy, takes a peek into people’s coexistence in an apartment building. – Dance company Sivuun Ensemble 15 years.
Sivuun Ensemble & Jarmo Saari Republic: Invitation To Dance 10.2026
Nine dance companies. Four musicians. One unique evening. – Dance company Sivuun Ensemble 15 years.
