Ten songs about a woman

Turku-based Aurinkobaletti and Rovaniemi-based Tanssiteatteri Rimpparemmi are producing Ten Songs About a Woman, a work combining dance and music, in honor of Finland’s 100th anniversary. The production, which premieres on August 30 at Lappia Hall in Rovaniemi, features a script and choreography by Marjo Kuusela, a member of the Finnish Academy of Arts, and music by legendary composer Kaj Chydenius. The Turku premiere is on November 9 at Åbo Svenska Teater.

The central themes of Ten Songs About a Woman are womanhood and the identity of Finnish women, the crossing of mental and physical boundaries, and the diversity of Finnishness. The work asks: what drives people to cross boundaries, and are community and family factors that limit or reinforce social defiance?

A key figure in the work is Elvira Bono, a circus artist of Italian-Swedish descent, whose eventful life included, among other things, a marriage to the artist Jalmari Ruokokoski, participation in the 1918 Petsamo expedition, and working as a camp hostess in the goldfields of Lapland. In addition to Bono, the episodic work is driven forward by several other strong women who made their mark in Finland, ranging from Hella Wuolijoki and L. Onerva to lesser-known folk women.

Premiere 30.8.2017 in Lappia-talo