ANNI KLEIN, JARKKO PARTANEN /Helsingi
Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing is dirt and dancing in various forms.

Dirty Dancing is foul stench and incredible beauty.

Dirty Dancing is a strange orgy.

Dirty Dancing is making a mess.

Dirty Dancing is cleaning up.

Dirty Dancing is stained pop.

Dirty Dancing is hedonism.

Dirty Dancing is pastel tones.

Dirty Dancing is sensitive and majestic.

Dirty Dancing is death.

"Dirty Dancing" has its starting point in the dance film with the same title. Made in the 1980s, this popular culture gem is set in 1963 when dancing mambo was considered dirty and inappropriate. This "Dirty Dancing" is not a copy of that film, but a performance about dirt and dancing. In the center of the performance is a state of ambivalence in which actions we might consider ugly or repulsive can appear as beautiful or even arousing. Dirt is only apparent when set against order. During the piece, the performers work with form and formlessness, order and disorder, creating the dramaturgy anew in each performance. Every performance reaches toward the uncontrollable, letting the movement, music and space organise themselves from the inside.

Anni Klein graduated as a director from the Theatre Academy Helsinki and has been working as a freelance director, dramaturge and performer. Her work has been seen among others at the Baltic Circle -festival, Zodiak - Center for New Dance, The Finnish National Theatre and in the Von Krahl Theatre, Tallinn. She is interested in sound design in contemporary theatre, feminism and text in the post-dramatic context.

Jarkko Partanen is a choreographer and performer who graduated from the MA Choreography program at the Theatre Academy of Helsinki. Prior to this he studied at Laban in London and at the MA SODA in Berlin. He is concentrating on developing his work with varying working groups, finding new possibilities and strategies and continuing the already started investigation and dialogue with the people he works with.

Idea, performance: Anni Klein, Jarkko Partanen
Coreography, performing: Wilhelm Grotenfelt, Samuli Laine, Aksinja Lommi, Heidi Soidinsalo, Jarkko Partanen
Light and set design: Samuli Laine
Sound design: Heidi Soidinsalo
Producers: Zodiak Center for New Dance, Anni Klein, Jarkko Partanen
Residency support: Kanuti Gildi SAAL
Supported by: Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Arts Promotion Center Finland, Samuel Huber Foundation
Performances in Tallinn are supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Nordic-Baltic Culture Mobility Program
Premiere: 24.10.2014 Zodiak Center for New Dance
Language no problem

NB! The performance is not suitable for children and it contains strong smells and lights.

Listen

IN MEDIA

Arvustus. "Dirty Dancing" püüab muuta koledat kauniks -Katariina Rebane, kultuur.err, 29.12.2015 (in estonian)