Metamorphosis – An evening of two performances
Rimpparemmi’s spring 2025 season offers two new premieres as Sari Palmgren’s “Forbidden Movements” meets Matti Paloniemi’s “Male Live” on the same evening. The event is titled “Metamorphosis.”
Male Live
“Male Live” captures snapshots from the world of men. It explores images and moods of being a man and the absence of it. Indeed, male is one of the legal genders. Not so much more.
This piece delves deeply into the complexities of masculinity and how the male role is perceived and experienced in society. It emphasizes the communal construction of being a man, where masculinity is not merely a biological or natural state, but shaped by various expectations and norms.
Traits associated with masculinity, such as repressing emotions, toughness, and the pursuit of status, are often learned behaviors that society imposes on men. The work also highlights that a man can be in many different roles, and his identity is not one-dimensional. What actually is a man if the roles and expectations around him change?
“Male Live” is a thought-provoking insight into the essence of manhood and how societal norms shape the concept of masculinity.
Performers: Atte Herd, Joni Kuokkanen, and Jukka Nurmela
Choreography and Direction: Matti Paloniemi
Sound Design: Lauri Uusitalo
Texts: Jyri Ollila
Costumes: Mirkka Nyrhinen
Lighting Design: Janne Teivainen
Forbidden Movements
“Forbidden Movements” is a dance piece that explores the boundaries of the body, movement, and motion. The piece plays with movements that are currently forbidden to the performers or have been considered as taboos, inappropriate, or dangerous in their lives or even historically. However, movement extends beyond the physical realm to societal movements: changes, resistance, questions of responsibility, and freedom.
The piece moves from the personal to the general, connecting personal memories and emotions with historically significant moments when the body or its movement has been subject to norms and restrictions. Through these, viewers are invited to reflect on how movements – both physical and societal – define the relationship between freedom and control.
Choreographer Sari Palmgren shares the insight behind the work:
“Last fall, I visited a forest area marked by a white line, beyond which access was forbidden to people. It felt really refreshing and wild that this forest was closed off to humans. The idea of what limits our movement, both in space and in our bodies, is the starting point of the piece.”
Performers: Helmi Järvensivu, Laura Kallas, and Kaisa Ristiluoma
Choreography and Direction: Sari Palmgren
Sound Design: Kaisa Ristiluoma
Costumes: Mirkka Nyrhinen
Lighting Design: Janne Teivainen