A captivating and multifaceted dance film

Dance film is an art form that combines dance and cinematic storytelling, and is as broad and diverse as the arts of film or dance. It is not bound by form or genre boundaries. It is a fusion of powerful art forms and a genre in its own right that continues to evolve.

Dance Theater Rimpparemmi’s guest in November is Rovaniemi-born dance artist and filmmaker Kati Kallio. She will present dance films from both Finland and around the world on the Dance Stage. Alongside two of her own films, Kati has selected six short films that represent the diverse and rich genre of dance film. The film screening has been brought to Rovaniemi in collaboration with the renowned Dutch CinedansFest festival, for which Kati serves as touring curator.

DANCE FILMS OF THE EVENING

KOJAMO

FI, 2021, 5’40

Director: Antti Ahokoivu

Choreography: Taru Koski and Jukka Tarvainen

EATNANVULOŠ LOTTIT – BIRDS INSIDE THE EARTH

FI/NO, 2018, 10’00

Director: Marja Helander

Choreography and dance: Katja Haarla, Birit Haarla

KÄY RINNALLAIN

FI, 2021, 11’00

Director and choreography: Kati Kallio

SHADOW ANIMALS

SW, 2017, 21’35

Director: Jerry Carlsson

Choreography: Jerry Carlsson

TAUKO

HA HA HA

FI, 2019, 8’42

Director: Samuli Valkama

Choreography: Jyrki Karttunen

TIME SUBJECTIVES IN OBJECTIVE TIME

FI/RU, 2017, 5’46

Director: Kati Kallio

Choreography: Anna Schekleina, Aleksandr Frolov

FIBONACCI

CZ, 2020, 8’13

Director: Tomáš Hubáček

Choreography: Marie Gourdain

DEAR TREE, PLEASE DON’T SPILL ON OUR GRAVE

NL/SW, 2020, 15’07

Director and Choreographer: Jonne Covers

The program opens with the film Kojamo, directed by Antti Ahokoivu. The film is a kinetic narrative about traveling against the current and the return journey upstream. The characters swimming against the current are portrayed by Jukka Tarvainen and Rovaniemi-born Taru Koski, both of whom also served as the film’s choreographers.

The second film is the dance film Eatnanvuloš Lottit – Birds Inside the Earth by Sámi artist Marja Helander. The film explores the deepest questions underlying ownership in Sámi territories. The film was awarded the prestigious Risto Jarva Prize at the Tampere Film Festival in 2018.

Directed and choreographed by Kati Kallio, the film Käy Rinnallain was created based on interviews with Kyllikki Piiranha and an idea by Elli Isokoski. The film aims to highlight the perspective of Kyllikki, who lived to be 94, on loneliness. The film explores themes of letting go and loneliness by telling the story of a long-standing friendship and partnership.

“Sweetheart, walk properly,” Maralli’s parents tell her as they take her to a party. But what does it mean to behave “properly”? As the evening progresses, the adults’ behavior remains strange to her. And is she the only one who notices the strange shadow? Directed and choreographed by Swedish filmmaker Jerry Carlsson, the short film Shadow Animals succeeds in drawing the viewer into a bizarre series of events through the eyes of little Maralli. The film won the Grand Prize at the Cinedans Festival in 2021. The film is in Swedish with English subtitles.

INTERMISSION

The bubbly dance film Ha ha ha, directed by Samuli Valkama and choreographed by Jyrki Karttunen, tells the story of an efficient factory where workers mass-produce hollow laughter. One day, however, genuine, free laughter escapes supervision and spreads out into the world. The film stars the charming Heidi Naakka.

Following the intermission, the second film is the meditative short film *Time Subjectives in Objective Time*, directed by Kati Kallio and woven across different time layers. Produced in collaboration with the Yekaterinburg-based ZONK’A group, this dance film has toured extensively internationally; it was selected for the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival 2021 and won the Production Prize at the CINEMATECA Festival 2020 in Italy.

The work Fibonacci by Czech artists Tomáš Hubáček and Marie Gourdain is like an “environmental dance film” or an audiovisual meditation. The film’s structure and content draw inspiration from the famous Fibonacci sequence, which is also associated with the “golden ratio.” In creating this visually stunning film, the filmmakers have sought to incorporate these two concepts into every aspect of the work.

Dear Tree, Please Don’t Spill on Our Grave briefly tells the story of human history. The film begins with a somewhat dry attempt to figure out the “How did we end up here?” situation, which only leads to further questions like “What is that?” and “Why does Anna live in the bathroom?” This ingenious and bold film is highly interesting and fresh in both form and narrative. It tells the story of the adventurous Anna, who accidentally manages to throw herself into a surprise party. The film is Dutch dance artist Jonne Covers’ master’s thesis from the Gothenburg School of Contemporary Performative Arts in 2021. The film features English dialogue and subtitles.

Kati Kallio

Kati Kallio, who holds a Master’s degree in Dance, is a filmmaker and Finland’s leading expert on dance film, having worked extensively in the field of dance throughout her career. Since 2008, her artistic work has focused on dance film. She has produced 18 short films, which have been screened at numerous international festivals and on television. As an expert, she receives several international invitations each year to serve as a curator, jury member, and workshop leader. While working with the dance group Myrskyryhmä, Kallio has been developing methods for participatory dance film since 2010. Myrskyryhmä has produced eight short films in collaboration with older adults.

Kallio is a promoter and pioneer of Finnish dance film who worked at Loikka Kontakti ry to improve the status of domestic dance film from 2008 to 2018. From 2008 to 2014, Kallio was responsible for audience development in dance film and developed, among other things, workshop concepts for educational work with children and young people. His term as artistic director was from 2015 to 2018.

“For me, dance film is an art form that combines dance and cinematic storytelling and is as broad and diverse as film or dance art. It is not bound by form or genre boundaries. It is a fusion of powerful art forms and a genre in its own right that is constantly evolving.

The expression of dance film originates from the body, movement, and action. At its core lies the combination of ‘thinking’ that emanates from the body and the moving image. A functioning body does not operate through concepts; rather, it senses, feels, acts, and is in immediate contact with another. The body’s ‘language’ is revealing, conveying emotions and emotional states. I am interested in utilizing bodily and non-verbal expression in film. Or, to put it another way, I want to utilize cinematic expression in dance. Dance brings to film narrative a multifaceted form of expression deeply rooted in emotion that transcends language barriers. A dance performance is the art of the moment. It is performed, and after that, it no longer exists in the same form. The camera captures the moment, and the film-based work remains in a tangible form. Film is a widely recognized art form, and its potential for global distribution provides a platform for being seen. One can return to a film relatively effortlessly.

I want to evoke kinetic sensations in the viewer, stir emotions, and get people interested in non-verbal communication. I am a storyteller driven by the need to make things and phenomena visible and to convey a message. The subjects of my films arise from human and everyday themes, such as breaking free from addiction or overcoming personal challenges. Most of my films have been created through close collaboration with both film industry professionals and amateur dancers, with a shared screenwriting process playing a major role. ” October 26, 2021 Kati Kallio

In collaboration with

CineDans Fest http://cinedans.nl