Description
GA ME ME is a story about searching for roots and finding the way home – both to a physical home and to the one within ourselves, which we discover by journeying inward.
The work is a three-part performance in which three dancers, a flutist, and the audience come together for a shared walk through the city. The piece invites people to pause amid the city’s noise and allow a moment for reflection.
Artists behind the work:
Carina Ahlskog
Carina Ahlskog holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Fine Arts from YH Novia in Pietarsaari. With a background in contemporary dance and physiotherapy, her creative work is inspired by the moving body. Her main artistic expressions are performance art, video, and sculpture.
Using the context of visual art as a meeting point for choreography and dance, she explores environments and searches for new movements within contexts where encounter and presence are central, and where the most compelling element lies in the interaction that unfolds. She seeks dialogue with her surroundings — something she calls “Embodied Spaces.” She is particularly fascinated by everyday movements, the gestures that surround us. By using familiar elements and eliminating the unnecessary, she aims to offer a new perspective on what it means to be human and how we can coexist.
Ahlskog has participated in various art projects both nationally and internationally. Her works have been presented in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Greece, Scotland, England, and the United States. She has also created a public sculpture for Purmo School in Pedersöre.
www.carinaahlskog.com
Performers:
Elias Berglund
A dancer from Vöyri, now living in Helsinki.
Elias Berglund graduated in 2021 from the School of Performing Arts in Gothenburg and is currently continuing his dance studies at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. He has performed in Alpo Aaltokoski Company’s production Whirls (2022) and in Carina Ahlskog’s dance art installation Ups and Downs (2022).
Ailish Maher
A Finnish-Irish dance artist based in Vaasa, with roots in Kruunupyy.
Ailish Maher studied at The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2014. She has worked and performed internationally with a variety of choreographers and dance companies, and has also taught at university level and in professional classes for various dance organisations. Since 2019, she has lived and worked in Vaasa and the Ostrobothnia region.
Ailish is interested in collaborations that explore the emotional and physical communication between body, movement, and performance.
Janne Aspvik
A dancer living in Helsinki, with roots in Vöyri and Kokkola.
Janne Aspvik graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2010. He has worked as a dancer in productions by Janina Rajakangas, Liisa Pentti, Elina Pirinen, Maya M. Carroll, Tero Saarinen, Alpo Aaltokoski, and Petri Kekoni. Aspvik has created his own choreographic works since 2012. His most recent piece, Anskri, premiered and toured Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia in the summer of 2022.
Jennie Kackur
A musician from Luoto.
Jennie Kackur studied recorder and early music at the Sibelius Academy and graduated with a Master’s degree in 2020. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in music education at Novia in Pietarsaari and works as a teacher of both individual and group instruction at the Wava Institute in Pietarsaari.
Kackur has extensive experience as a soloist as well as in ensemble and orchestral work. She has performed as a soloist with the Vaasa City Orchestra and BRQ Vantaa Ensemble. Her interest in folk music began in 2014 when she joined the Ostrobothnian folk music group Ratatosk, whose music has been performed at festivals across Finland and abroad.