Holding Sand
Friday 30th August – Sunday 1st September: Holding Sand
“Holding Sand” is a dance and music performance which researches touch, close contact, sand and glass. The artists look at the complexities of the relations between bodies by focusing their attention on hugging. Where are the edges of being in contact when hugging? And how many ways can the reading of embraces be complexified? The work queers and bends the ways of touching beyond family, non-romantic, sexual or clinical relationships. It offers an alternative to the existing normative ways of being that dominate culture.
In this work the performers share the space with materials of sand, wetsuits and glass. The materials touch the personal pasts/identities of both dancers – connecting the beaches of the Australian South-East coast with the raw materials of the Nuutajärvi glass blowers.
The sound score for the creation will consist of poems that the dancers have written themselves mixed with the sonic possibilities the materials of glass and sand offer. The project is aimed for people who are interested in questions around and the politics of touch. It is also aimed for people interested in glass art and interdisciplinary artworks.
This work has been supported by Helsinki City and Outokumpu Old Mine Residency.
WORKING GROUP
Dance makers: Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen & Jacqueline Aylward
Sound designer, performer: Juska Ojajärvi
Images: Emma Kokko
PERFORMANCES
Friday 30th August at 7 pm (premiere)
Saturday 31st August at 7 pm
Sunday 1st September at 5 pm
Duration: 60 min
There are no any content warnings.
TICKETS
Regular ticket 10€
Student, senior, unemployed, conscript and civilian service personnel 5€
Students of Uniarts, Aalto Department of Film ELO, Näty Theatre Arts 0€
Pay what you can.
Support ticket 25€
Payment methods on site are exact cash and MobilePay.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Jacqueline Aylward (@bunchofscrumps)
I am a dance artist from Naarm (Melbourne) Australia who is currently based in Helsinki, Finland. My artistic practice is preoccupied with dance and dancing as a space of excessive nonsense, material playfulness and fiction; for both the performer and their audiences. My approach is interdisciplinary and intuitive. At the moment it feels important for me to work closely and personally with big ideas and questions. This work is supported and sustained through friendship, love and perseverance.
Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen (@sonjakaroliinaaltonen)
I am a dance maker, dancer/performer and dance teacher working internationally as a singular artist and as part of collective branches. At the moment, I have my base in Helsinki. What currently moves me as a dance maker are practices lingering with curiosity, playfulness, touch and sensuality. Among many other topics, I find urgency in community and enjoyment. In artistic work, I often ponder around questions of “how” and the performative which I reflect in ways of working, artmaking and in researching dancer’s/performer’s practices.
Juska Ojajärvi (@juskapitalismi)
I’m a hybrid artist—a musician, sound designer, visual artist, and dancer—primarily based in North Karelia (Outokumpu, Joensuu, Kesälahti) and sometimes in Helsinki. My curiosity has always led me to explore various fields, leading me to wear multiple hats. For most of my life, I’ve focused on music, specializing in Finnish and Nordic folk music, klezmer, genreless or multi-genre compositions, avant-garde, and improvisation. As dance began to occupy more space in my life, my musical practice naturally evolved toward sound design. I enjoy surprises in my work, often intuitively combining elements until they miraculously come together. What keeps me going is meaningful dialogue and the supportive community that surrounds whatever I’m doing.
