Description
Paluu pohjoiseen (Return to North) is a dance film about womanhood. The film examines the roles, norms, and expectations associated with womanhood in the Nordic countries and Central Europe through the experiences of female artists who have lived in multiple cultural contexts. The film will be directed by Vilma Tihilä and Meri Pajunpää.
Meri Pajunpää is working on the project in a residency supported by the regional dance centre in Vaasa in March, in connection with the Ostrobothnia Dances festival. Pajunpää opens up the process through a movement demo, a video demo, and an open discussion on Saturday, 21 March at 2:00 PM at Vaasa Art Hall. At the same event, Kati Raatikainen will present a demo from her own residency project at 3:30 PM. Admission to the entire event is free.
The core questions of the project arise from the makers’ observations as returnees and as women within Finnish culture. Pajunpää has lived for 16 years in the Netherlands and Belgium, worked in Norway and the United Kingdom, and spent longer periods also in Spain. Sixteen years abroad have left their mark. Pajunpää has adapted to life as a woman in very different societies and cultures. Layers from the years spent abroad remain in the body, while the body also carries childhood years spent in the forest, as well as deeper historical layers passed down from ancient foremothers. Returning to Finland prompts a renewed reflection on the expectations placed on women in this society and on the distinctiveness of one’s lived experience of womanhood in relation to Central European cultures.
The film asks: What does it mean to live as a woman in different cultures? What surfaces when one returns to the place one once left? When viewing one’s own culture with new eyes, what kinds of spaces, roles, and expectations does it assign to women? The physical and visual modes of narration open compelling perspectives for the creation of the film: the body itself functions as the film’s “stage,” and the narrative is freed from dialogue. Editing, varying camera angles and image scales, a moving camera, the possibilities of manipulating time, and the significance of changing locations provide extensive tools for integrating cinematic techniques into the choreographic process and thematic exploration.
The film is a Nordic collaboration with a working group consisting of four female artists who have followed international paths and later returned north: Meri Pajunpää (FI/NL/BE), Vilma Tihilä (FI/UK), Riikka Kosola (FI/NO/FR), Bára Sigfúsdóttir (IS/NL/BE/NO), and Liza Penkova (RUS/BE/SV). All members of the group have their own strong artistic voices and choreographic practices, shaped through cultural encounters, adaptation, and reflection.
Working group:
Meri Pajunpää – convener, director, performer
Vilma Tihilä – director
Liza Penkova – performer
Riikka Kosola – performer
Partners:
Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts, Helsinki
Art House ry
Kekäläinen & Company
Regional Dance Centre of Ostrobothnia
Arts Management Helsinki
Pracownia Wyobraźni Foundation (Poland)
The project has so far been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Samuel Huber Fund, the Regional Dance Centre of Ostrobothnia, and the Nordic Culture Fund.
