Online Feature

Finnish Tero Saarinen kicks off N4th festival

by Bridgit Lujan

N4th Theater kicks off “Out Of the Ordinary,” a festival of art with a point-of-view, with a performance by the acclaimed European Tero Saarinen Dance Company from Finland. Several international companies will perform on other nights, some featuring dancers with disabilities.

Tero Saarinen’s company is currently performing in Portland, where we spoke with Saarinen by phone. They will present their Triple Bill of three choreographies: “Westward Ho!,” “Wavelengths” and “HUNT.” Four featured dancers include Henrikki Heikkila, Carl Knif and Sini Lansivuori, with Saarinen himself performing the final work of the evening which features multimedia effects that haven’t been seen before in Albuquerque. This group has performed in prestigious U.S. theaters including the Joyce Theater in New York and Jacob’s Pillow.

Saarinen described these pieces as very different but all contain “dramaturgy.” Each has a unique theme based on the exploration of basic human emotions. Saarinen describes his style as “a blending of classical ballet, Butoh and Japanese traditional dances, as well as Western contemporary dance.”

“Westward Ho!” was Saarinen’s first choreography when he founded this group in 1996. Featuring three men, it is based on American artist Laurie Anderson’s lyrics: “There is no pure land now. No safe place. And we stand here on the pier, watching you drown.”

It explores friendship, selfishness and betrayal, according to Saarinen, and is so titled, “Because the piece suggests the eternal quest for [personal] better[ment].”

“Wavelengths,” a duet between a man and a woman, explores the “pas de deux” or duet in both traditional and contemporary ways. Saarinen originally set it for classical dancers at the Finnish National Ballet and describes the choreography as “paying a homage to the traditional form of a duet,” although he is attempting a fresh approach to this form by basing it on a couple seeking a fresh approach, attempting to escape routine and the dead ends of an established relationship.

The final piece, “HUNT,” is a solo by Saarinen, who said it is based upon a question he asked himself as he created it: “Are we sacrificing ourselves and all our ancestral knowledge for the flood of information and new attractive inventions?”

Saarinen wanted to “dive into the mind and the inner conflicts of a person being sacrificed and of a person who offers himself as a sacrifice.”

“HUNT” is set to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and Saarinen felt he needed more than choreography to stand up to this intense score. That led to collaborations with lighting designer Mikki Kunttu and Marita Liulia, Finland’s leading multimedia artist. The basic struggle between past and present is brought to life as man verses media in a struggle not to be overpowered.

Additional information about the company, photos and videos are available at terosaarinen.com.

Performance one night only on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway SE. $20 general, $12 student/senior. For reservations call 344.4542. Tickets also available at SBCC (848.1320).