Ostrobothnia dances – workshop week
Published on
12–15 March 2025
As part of the 2025 Ostrobothnia Dances event, we will organise five workshops for professionals, students, and advanced practitioners of the performing arts. The workshops will be led by artists and performers participating in the Ostrobothnia Dances event, as well as choreographers and dance professionals involved in the ongoing Nordic Regional (Net)Working residency exchange.
SCHEDULE
Wed 12 March, 16:00–18:00 – Reetta-Kaisa Iles: Dancing Out Loud | Funkkis
Thu 13 March, 10:00–12:00 – Carl Knif: Breath–Gaze–Space | Funkkis
Thu 13 March, 13:15–15:15 – Marit-Shirin Carolasdotter: Dances of Resistance | Wasa Teater Magasinet
Fri 14 March, 10:00–12:00 – Mia Malviniemi: Voice and Movement | Funkkis
Fri 14 March, 13:15–16:00 – Maria Nilsson Waller & Stace Gill / Flora Fauna Project: Praying Positions / Metamorphosis | Funkkis
FEES
One workshop: €20
Next workshop: €17
All workshops: €85
Members of Pohjanmaan Tanssi ry and Danscentrum Norr: €65 (all workshops)
REGISTRATION
reija.penttinen@pohjanmaantanssi.fi
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Reetta-Kaisa Iles: Dancing Out Loud
This workshop, designed for dance, music, and theatre professionals, students, and advanced amateurs, explores the interaction between dance and music. Through simple exercises done individually and in groups, participants will deepen the connection between voice and bodily expression.
Dance artist and choreographer Reetta-Kaisa Iles (b. 1976) works both as a freelancer and in theatres. She is also a vocalist in the internationally touring band Suistamon Sähkö and teaches at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Since 2023, she has served as the Artistic Director of the Kokkolan Talvitanssit festival.
Iles is particularly passionate about exploring the borderlands between dance, movement, music, and voice. Her projects often involve strong collaboration between musicians and dancers, focusing on presence, sensitivity, and courage in performance.
Carl Knif: Breath–Gaze–Space
The workshop introduces Carl Knif’s somatic method, an improvisation technique based on the integration of body and mind through conscious and controlled breathing. Influenced by meditation, yoga, and Pilates, the method aims to cultivate holistic, personal movement expression. The exercises encourage spatial awareness and sensitive interaction between participants.
Carl Knif graduated with a Master’s degree in Dance from the Theatre Academy Helsinki in 2000. After over a decade as a freelance dancer, he founded Carl Knif Company in 2012, serving as its Artistic Director ever since. His works have been presented in ten countries. In 2016, Knif received the Finnish State Prize for Dance Art.
Marit-Shirin Carolasdotter: Dances of Resistance
Through repetitive movement, we move through time and energy. The body’s intensity grows as memories awaken in the dance. We embody them, push them away, long for them, weave them together, and let them go.
This workshop examines contradictions in how we learn dance in today’s context. Starting from ancestral heritage and the heart, we seek our own rhythm and practise deep listening, creating echoes of emotion resonating through the body. We then weave rhythmic movements collectively, practising shared imagination. The improvisational framework, using choreographic elements, lets participants experience dance as a communal form of joy. The work draws inspiration from Kurdish and Sámi traditions, merging ancestry with dance as a tool for resistance and community.
Marit-Shirin Carolasdotter is a dancer based between Umeå/Ubmeje and Brussels. A graduate of SKH (DOCH, 2015), she is the founder of the collective Humans & Soil. In 2025, she will be based in Umeå and Vaasa, creating a new work titled No Friend but the Mountains with dancers Stella Blanc, Hector Palacios, and Paz Moreno. She holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Stockholm University of the Arts and has worked in Japan, Sápmi/Sweden, Belgium, Iceland, Norway, Austria, and Denmark.
Mia Malviniemi: Voice and Movement
In this workshop, choreographer and dancer Mia Malviniemi guides participants through exercises exploring the relationship between voice and movement through improvisation. The goal is to integrate voice organically into dance. Exercises are done individually and as a group, creating shared soundscapes.
Mia Malviniemi has worked professionally in dance since 1996 after earning her MA in choreography from the Theatre Academy Helsinki. She founded Malviniemi Company in 2011 and has created 27 dance works, including Voice Studies (2024), Moments from K (2021), People Pollution (2017), and Silence (2014). Her film In the Same Boat (2023) has gained international recognition.
Live music and collaboration with musicians have always been central to her artistic work. In addition to her artistic practice, Malviniemi is a certified Pilates instructor and a trained garden designer, drawing inspiration from nature, plants, and environments in her creative work.
Maria Nilsson Waller / Flora Fauna Project: Praying Positions / Metamorphosis
In this workshop, participants learn the choreographic foundation of the solo Praying Positions / Metamorphosis. Each dancer will be guided to adapt the choreography to their own body and conditions. On the second day, participants will prepare to perform the work for an audience. The workshop is led by choreographer Maria Nilsson Waller, with music by Stace Gill / The Sei.
Maria’s teaching acknowledges the diverse needs of today’s independent dancers, promoting healthy, sustainable, and joyful practice that integrates technical and artistic virtuosity. Her background in multiple contemporary dance techniques (Flying Low, Graham, Cunningham, Mattox, and Klein), classical ballet, and yoga informs her teaching.
The class begins with breathing exercises, progressing into a combined barre/floor warm-up, spatial movement, and repertoire work with choreography from the piece.
Maria Nilsson Waller is a choreographer, dancer, and designer from Östersund, Sweden. She studied at Härnösand Folk High School, the Royal Swedish Ballet School, SEAD Salzburg, and ESDC Rosella Hightower in Cannes. She has created 20 independent productions, led over 200 workshops for school students, and produced four large-scale community dance projects. In 2017, she co-founded Flora Fauna Project with Irish multidisciplinary artist Stace Gill, based in Östersund (Sweden) and Laragh (Ireland).
Flora Fauna Project explores humanity’s relationship with nature, the environment, and natural intelligence through dance, music, installation, and film. Their productions tour theatres and alternative venues such as community halls, galleries, and schools. They also offer artist talks, community projects, and workshops for schools, adults, and professionals.
Stace Gill, also known as The Sei, has been creating music since 2008 (produced by Ross Dowling). Since 2017, The Sei has been the musical director of Flora Fauna Project. Represented by Paragon Records, The Sei has released EPs such as LUMEN, Bluebells, and Golden Heron. Their music has been featured in several TV series, including Normal People, Conversations With Friends, The Rising, Day of the Jackal, and Apple TV’s Truth Be Told. Stace has filmed, directed, and edited most of The Sei’s music videos, many featuring Maria Nilsson Waller, except for Sentient, which was animated by award-winning artist Matt Griffin. Stace has also composed the documentary for The River, created stage projections for LUMEN, and directed its short film version, which premiered at Light Moves Festival in Ireland in 2021.
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Category:
Työpajat