Esitys - A Performance (2016)
Esitys – A Performance subverts the relationship between performers and audience, fusing contemporary dance with experimental performance and questioning the power structures of the stage event. Who ultimately watches whom, and who holds the position of power in a performance?
The production continues Raekallio’s lauded collaboration with poet Eino Santanen, and is based on Santanen’s upcoming poetry collection Yleisö (Audience). Their previous joint work was the critically acclaimed Edustaja (The Representative), which premiered in 2014 and was performed 26 times to sold-out audiences. The Representative was also nominated as one of the top productions of the year by the cultural departments of YLE broadcast news and the Helsingin Sanomat national daily newspaper.
In Esitys – A Performance, two different performances, built on contrasting conventions, happen simultaneously on the same stage. The finely wrought movement-based duet by Mäkinen and Vesterinen explores the changing dynamics of a couple’s relationship. At the same time, Raekallio’s performative solo, based on Santanen’s text, continuously redefines its own basis for existence and asks the audience, what do they see when they look at dance? The representations of the different performances take place concurrently and leak into each other.
What are the limits and possibilities of dance on the stage and in an audience relationship? How many “social performance contracts” can be in force at the same time? If the performance looks at the audience, who has the power? Can the divide between rhetorics and motorics be bridged? Can this gap be performatized?
What the critics say:
"The always interesting Valtteri Raekallio now digs into the anatomy of performance, and the audience. With passion and fury based on Eino Santanen's poetry, Esitys - A Performance puts the conventions of performance on display, and then deconstructs them into bits and pieces."
"But Raekallio is merciful and forgiving. Even though we, the audience, are attacked verbally, at least no physical excrement is thrown our way. As it happens, I enjoyed the performance immensely. Valtteri Raekallio turns out to be an excellent orator when reading Santanen's text. He is hypnotic when whispering, raging and bellowing."
"In the beginning, the fine dancers Mirva Mäkinen and Eero Vesterinen are led blindfolded to perform a "real" dance piece downstage, once they have been freed from under plastic - as if from a reserve of dancers. Not as parody, but fulfilling the tradition of dance, the dancers perform a beautiful relationship duet, which is thoroughly enjoyable, even if the performative paradigm is subsequently questioned and shattered."
-Jussi Tossavainen, Helsingin Sanomat
"Santanen's hard-hitting text and Raekallio's character's unashamedly narcissistic desire to both manipulate the audience and beg for its attention propel the performance ahead with force. The boundary between performers and audience is most concretely transgressed in the scene in which the naked protagonist, declaring his humility, approaches the audience blindfolded."
"As it progresses, the performance is revealed as a tragedy. From the central character's point of view, it is impossible to bring about a satisfactory audience relationship with the elements available. On the other hand, the events on the small stage also take their own course in ways that question the authority of the central controller."
"The entire performance can be understood as a study of the selfish motivations of creating art, its internal power games, and the highly complex audience relationship that is at the core of the performative arts. In the way that is typical of dance art, the work operates at the edges of multiple art forms and problematizes the performance space as well as the boundary of the audience."
"Everything shows that a lot of thought has gone into this work, and that it is a result of true emotional commitment. For the viewer, it is rewarding on the level of critical analysis, while also offering stimulating tensions. The power of physical expression is also present particularly in the duet dance."
-Tuomas Rantanen, Voima-magazine
Esitys - A Performance
Premiere: 19th February 2016, Oulu, Finland
Concept and realization: Valtteri Raekallio
Performers: Mirva Mäkinen, Eero Vesterinen ja Valtteri Raekallio
Light design: Jukka Huitila
Poetry: Eino Santanen
Translation: Thomas Freundlich
Set design assistant: Aino Koski
Production assistant: Anni Leino
Production: JoJo – Oulun Dance Center & Raekallio Corp. / Pohjoinen liike ry
Duration: 60 min.
The Performance is not suitable for children.
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Esitys - A Preformance (2016)
Esitys – A Performance nyrjäyttää esiintyjien ja katsojien suhteen sekä törmäyttää nykytanssiesityksen ja kokeellisen esitystaiteen kyseenalaistaen esitystilanteen valta-asetelmia. Kuka lopulta katsoo ketä ja kenellä on esitystilanteessa valta?
Teos jatkaa Raekallion kiitettyä yhteistyötä runoilija Eino Santasen kanssa ja pohjaa Santasen seuraavaan runokokoelmaan Yleisö. Heidän edellinen yhteistyönsä Edustaja (2014) sai ylistävän vastaanoton ja esitettiin loppuunmyytynä 26 kertaa. Edustaja valittiin myös YLE:n ja Helsingin Sanomien kulttuuritoimitusten vuoden kiinnostavimpien teosten joukkoon.
Esitys – A Performance -teoksessa kaksi eri esityskonventioiden ympärillä toimivaa ja eri keinoin rakennettua esitystä toteutuvat samanaikaisesti samalla näyttämöllä. Mäkisen ja Vesterisen taidokas ja intiimi duetto piirtää liikelähtöisesti esiin muuttuvan parisuhteen dynamiikkaa. Samalla Raekallion alati itseään uudelleenmäärittelevä performatiivinen soolo nojaa vahvasti Santasen tekstiin ja kysyy suoraan yleisöltä: Mitä he näkevät, kun he katsovat tanssia? Eri esitysten representaatiot tapahtuvat samanaikaisesti näyttämöllä ja vuotavat toisiinsa.
Mitkä ovat tanssin rajat tai mahdollisuudet näyttämöllä ja yleisösuhteessa? Kuinka monta erilaista ”sopimusta esitystilanteesta” voi olla samanaikaisesti voimassa? Mikäli esitys katsoo yleisöä, kenellä on esitystilanteessa valta? Voiko retoriikan ja motoriikan välistä kuilua ylittää? Voiko tuota kuilua esityksellistää?
Esitys - A Performance
Ensi-ilta: 19.2.2016 JoJo – Oulun Tanssin Keskus
Taiteellinen suunnittelu ja toteutus: Valtteri Raekallio
Esiintyjät: Mirva Mäkinen, Eero Vesterinen ja Valtteri Raekallio
Valosuunnittelu: Jukka Huitila
Runot: Eino Santanen
Käännös: Thomas Freundlich
Lavastusassistentti: Aino Koski
Tuotantoassistentti: Anni Leino
Tuotanto: JoJo – Oulun Tanssin Keskus & Pohjoinen liike ry / Raekallio Corp.
Esityksen kesto: 60 min.
Esitys ei sovellu lapsille.
