Kohti Orlandoa and Vallankumousetydit

Toward Orlando

“When one door to happiness closes, another opens. Yet we often stare at the closed door for so long that we fail to notice the one that has opened.” – Helen Keller

Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando tells the story of a person who lives for 400 years without aging, sometimes as a man and sometimes as a woman. Dancer Ari Numminen and musician Tuomas Luukkonen’s work Toward Orlando is inspired by the story, but does not follow it. It seeks to perceive the invisible doors of time, to sketch its infinite contours, and to step through them. It is an unfinished journey along the boundaries of masculinity and femininity, an incomplete physical retreat and musical meditation that reaches toward the comforting possibilities of rebirth. Kohti Orlandoa is a tiger cub’s journey to a Renaissance queen.

“You may lock your library if you wish, but there is no gate, no lock, and no latch with which you can imprison the freedom of my mind.” – Virginia Woolf

Vallankumousetydit

Vallankumousetydit is part of Ari Numminen’s dance trilogy, an anthology of themes and subjects from throughout the dancer-choreographer’s career.

“The most revolutionary thing for me personally was to start dancing again after nearly twenty years. A revolution always represents change—and in this case, specifically a change in perceptions of what one can and is allowed to do with an aging body. This is my revolution against the ossified notions of the worship of youth and efficiency. The movement continues, and it will be carried through to the end.”

Vallankumousetydit explores revolution as a state of mind that smolders, rises, ignites, and spreads, surging over the edges and blazing from a personal, inner compulsion and fire.

Revolution is movement, a dance despite everything. A journey coming to an end and a new beginning, restless feet. It walks in the old father’s suit, but finds its own paths. Revolution is a victory over the oppressors, the bullies, and the fascists. It is laborious and heavy, yet holds a dream of freedom and lightness. Revolution is life that continues, having fundamentally transformed its form.

Vallankumousetydit is a dialogue between the musician, the dancer, and ideals. It is a fresco of humanity, humanism, and peace.

“The starting point for this part of the trilogy sprang from the ideological soil of my home village. I was politically active as a young person, but after discovering dance, my passion for ideology turned into a passion for art. In the 1990s, I found myself in folk music and dance circles, and Tanssiteatteri Tsuumi, in particular, has had a significant influence on my work. At Tsuumi, I met folk musician Hannu Kella, the rightful composer and musician of Vallankumousetydit.

The old labor movement songs I learned from older men as a young boy had stuck in my memory. Kella saw it as important to preserve and document this singing tradition, and so we founded Duo Ari Numminen & Hannu Kella, which has been performing steadily for twenty years now. In recent years, our collaboration has thus focused particularly on old labor songs, of which we have also released two albums. Now our collaboration is taking on a new form. The theme of revolution remains—now detached from political frameworks.” – Ari Numminen

The work explores revolution as a state of mind, like an ecstatic dance swirling in a sea of flags, which nevertheless falls from a great height onto a hard surface with a loud thud.

Ari Numminen

Ari Numminen is a veteran dance artist who began his career at Dance Theater Raatikko and the Helsinki City Theater dance troupe back in the 1980s, later becoming an independent artist and choreographer.

Numminen is known for his numerous original works at various Finnish dance theaters (Tanssiteatteri Tsuumi, Aurinkobaletti, M/D, Tanssiteatteri Rimpparemmi). Numminen has also created choreographies for theaters, opera (National Theater, National Opera, Helsinki City Theater, Rovaniemi City Theater, Turku City Theater), as well as for musicals and theatrical productions. Numminen’s most recent theater choreographies are Hamlet (National Theater) and The Sea of Viena (Kajaani City Theater).

Ari Numminen has also worked as an educator (Teak, Näty, Turku Academy of Arts, Tampere Conservatory, and Finnish Theater Academy).

After 20 years, Numminen has returned to performing and has created a duet trilogy: Kohti Orlandoa, Vallankumousetydit (premiere at Vanha Juko on May 13, 2022), and Prospero (premiere in 2022 at Täydenkuun Tanssit).

Performed in Rovaniemi on October 8, 2022