Description
A dance solo about processing grief tours upper secondary schools in Southern Ostrobothnia in October.
Dance artist Hanna Mäkelä, originally from Ylihärmä, will be working with a regional artist grant in October.
“In October I’ll return to the plains as I set out to meet students from small-town upper secondary schools in Southern Ostrobothnia, made possible by the monthly grant from the Regional Dance Centre of Ostrobothnia. My school visits consist of my solo performance Don’t(!) Say Goodbye, an audience discussion, and a task-based contemporary dance workshop. During the month, I will focus on exploring the nuances of the work in relation to this target group and plan the structures for the discussion and workshop,” Mäkelä describes. Her artistic work will take place in the gym hall of Ylihärmä School Centre. The sound technician for the work is musician and Master of Music Tiina Palmén.
Don’t(!) Say Goodbye premiered in May 2022. The work originated from a sorrowful chain of events that happened to a close friend and from the artist’s own need to form a relationship to what had occurred. The artistic process was a way to try to understand the situation and to process grief through different characters and images. In the solo piece, Mäkelä explores how originally personal themes were transformed into movement-based actions and structured into a performance. The work approaches themes such as loss, mental fragility, friendship, and grief from different perspectives.
Can there be wholeness in breaking?
How do memories and the present moment layer within movement?
What remains?
The solo aims to propose compassion and foster understanding toward different life situations. “I’m curious to see how the students will receive the work,” Mäkelä comments.
The post-performance discussion offers an opportunity to ask questions and share impressions evoked by the work. Mäkelä also wishes to spark thoughts about the possibilities of dance as an art form and as a tool for self-awareness, as well as about different ways of approaching dance as both creator and viewer. The artist meeting aims to provide insight into the creative process and working methods.
“I think it’s important to give students the experience that dancing is possible even without previous training. In the workshop I lead as part of the programme, I introduce the principles of safer space. We explore the dimensions of dance in an accessible way, moving from everyday gestures toward more structured, task-based movement exercises, both individually and collectively. Supporting a sense of community and recognizing participants as dance-makers are the foundations of the workshop,” Mäkelä says.
23–27 October 2023 | Performance tour | including the upper secondary schools of Kauhava, Alahärmä, and Evijärvi