Hope you enjoy this trailer filmed and edited by Jukka Mantere!
Next show in Kuopio on the 19th of June. See you there.
Johanna
Author Archives: Johanna
a week of sports
Today I did a longer aerobic workout and went for a Nordic walk for about 95 mins. I took it very easy as I’ve been exercising a lot this week (about 10 hours including Zumba, functional training, Kinesis, cycling and Nordic Walking) and my body feels a bit tired. But I wanted to do one longer aerobic exercise so this afternoon was a good moment to do that. It was surprisingly warm and it was ok to just have a t-shirt on as I walked the Jynkänvuoren pururata twice. As I was Nordic walking and listening to music, I was thinking why I feel so tired. This week my body has physically felt tired because of rather hard exercise but I’ve also felt tired in relation to my work. Strange as this hasn’t been the busiest time ever. But I guess I have a few processes going on which always take more energy than expected. Two new works that I’m planning and working on, the ANTI Festival programme and our upcoming book…
I’m so excited about being invited to perform Acts of Clothing in the autumn in few festivals. I was so happy to get a phone call last week from one artistic director and to be invited to a festival I’ve never performed before. Great! And of course we have a show of Twirling World in June at the Paikallisliike event as part of the Kuopio Dance Festival.
Oh well, now it’s time for the ice hockey world championship final!
Johanna
the most stylish person in Kuopio?
Kuopion Kaupunkilehti is looking for the most stylish person in Kuopio! You can vote until noon on the 27th of May by email kuopio.toimitus@kaupunkilehti.fi or by visiting certain shops in Kuopio. Remember to explain why the person you vote is the most stylish one and leave your contact details – you might win something.
Do you think there are stylish people in Kuopio?
Johanna
a few more pictures from Brussels
London & Brussels
I had the luxury of visiting London and Brussels last week. First we worked two days in London with the ANTI Festival’s core team; me, Laura and Gregg. We are so used to Skype and email that it felt so luxurious to actually be in the same physical space. And we accomplished so much! There are a million big & small details to discuss and decide with the festival programme which we are hoping to launch in the end of the month or in the beginning on June. So I was so pleased with our meeting. Very useful. And it was great to see Gregg, sniff the air of London a little bit and see my friends’ house for the first time. Inspiring!
Gregg pointing out that he’s having tea while me & Laura are enjoying something else…
We were there just a day before the royal wedding so I had to buy a Will & Kate T-shirt. When I was buying it on Oxford Street, I got interviewed for French TV. They asked me why I bought it and I said because it’s so kitsch. Probably not the right answer! We also had a lovely dinner in a wonderful tapas place with Laura in Soho. By the way, if you are in London, check out FrenchMottershead’s photographic exhibition in the Photographers’ Gallery. Saw some images before they went to print and they looked very intriguing.
From London we took the Eurostar to Brussels. It was my first time on Eurostar and I was amazed how quick and easy it is! Less than two hours and you are in Brussels. It feels like a miracle comparing to Finland where it takes four hours for me to get even to Helsinki….
In Brussels we had A Space for Live Art project meeting with all the partners. The meeting was during the Trouble Festival so evenings we spent watching works. Rosie Dennis was doing her Downtown project there and it was great to see her working in a different context, different city and language. She performed in Les Halles but I must say that I really preferred her shows in Kuopio as they were not hidden in some art space. Also the work of Mitch & Parry was great.
We had a wonderful time with Laura. The weather was great, +23 degrees and we enjoyed the city a lot. On Saturday afternoon we had a little time to pop into the city centre for shopping. I brought Laura to the Pierre Marcolini chocolate shop… I didn’t remember how amazing the chocolate really is! It blows your mind. Laura will probably hate me forever for bringing her to the Cora Kemperman shop…where we both did some shopping. Again we had wonderful tapas and on Sunday just amazing mussels in La Pré Salé. Oooh. Unforgettable.
La Pré Salé:
1st of May:
Laura’s Belgian waffle:
This week has been hard trying to adjust to the normal rhythm. Every time I’m away and then come back home, I feel that so much work has piled up I don’t know where to start. But I’ve been happy cycling, going to Zumba and getting my energy flowing. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to Functional Training with Pipsa and on Saturday a Zumba marathon with Outi! Yeah.
Johanna
an attempt
I’m trying to survive the shock of the ‘True Finns’ becoming one of the biggest parties in Finland. Since the elections, I’ve rejoined the Green Party, and certainly I’m not the only one in my community who is doing the same, expressing their political views more publicly.
One of the politically seriously questionable claim of the ‘True Finns’ is that the traditional parties want to Islamize Finland. I mean…WTF??? So when Tatu & Pekka were jamming last night, I couldn’t help but laugh with Anniina at their attempt to Islamize us…
Enjoy – but be careful!
Johanna
working on the sauna
Today I finally had some time to work on our sauna project. This is the luxury of having a long weekend at home. Painting is so rewarding and weather was great today! This pic has been taken a few days ago but today we finished all the walls with first black coat and 3 walls with the second layer.
And what a pleasure it was painting while the kids were baking bread and muffins! Justiina’s muffins were seriously the best I’ve ever had and kids served them with coffee. Heaven on earth!
Johanna
ARS11 opening & Helsinki
lovely Sunday morning
What a nice morning! +10 celcius degrees, sunny although a bit windy. I decided to take a risk and test how my operated knee feels about running. I wore my Nike Free trainers and run about 40mins. I wanted to take it very easy so I walked a few minutes in the beginning and was able to run without stopping after that. What a great feeling! My knee did hurt a little bit a few times but not so much that I would have had to stop. Also the kind of stinging pain went away so I’m not really able to analyze what causes it. I think I just have to let the knee to get used to running very, very slowly. I’m also thinking that maybe the very light trainers without any extra support actually work best for my knee. Don’t know. Anyway, I felt happy and strong and I can really feel all that functional training and Kinesis workouts in the strength of my legs. Running itself feels easy and light, it’s just the knee that is troubling me.
After my run I had a quiet breakfast reading Helsingin Sanomat and enjoying gorgeous pecan bread that I bought in Maatilatori in Helsinki. So delicious! It was really inspiring to spend a few days in Helsinki. I went to the opening of ARS11 in Kiasma with Pekka, saw Lea & Pekka Kantonen’s exhibition in Taidehalli and hang out with my daughter. Lovely. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to see Maija Hirvanen’s new choreography in Zodiak but hopefully I will have a chance to see it somewhere else soon.
Today I have some writing, budgeting and thinking to do. Also my home office is waiting to get organized a bit better…
Johanna
a post about Twirling World (in Finnish)
Read here what 20 year old Ansku has written about Twirling World performance, in Finnish.