Some basic information of Finnish theatre life, and links to theatres, theatre organisations and festivals you can find from our website www.teatteri.org/english/index.html
In this issue:
Nominations
News from the Theatre Academy of Finland
Translation competition
Upcoming festivals
Vaeltaja in Norway
Juha Valkeapää and Kristian Smeds took their Vaeltaja (Wanderer, based on a Russian spiritual book Way of a Pilgrim) to Norway in February. The piece could be seen in Black Box Theatre, Oslo and at the BIT Theatre Festival in Bergen.
The premiere of Vaeltaja was in Kajaani in 2003, and since then Valkeapää and Smeds have visited several theatres and festivals around Europe with their performance: Estonia, Latvia, Brussels, Moscow, Paris. Juha Valkeapää is a writer and a voice-artist, and Kristian Smeds is one of the most praised young directors and playwrights in Finland.
More information: http://www.houkat.net/vaeltaja.html
Day of sensitizing to Finnish culture in Caen, France
15th Festival of Les Boréales takes place in France, in the region of Basse-Normandie, in November 13th-26th. Les Boréales is a platform for Nordic creativity, and in 2006 the main focus of the festival is in Finland.
Before the festival the regional centre for literature will organize “days of sensitising” to Finnish culture. The first day is in March 9th at the Library of Caen. Cinema scholar Satu Kyösola is going to introduce Finnish literature and cinema, and author Riikka Ala-Harja will be interviewed by a French author Frank Lanot.
Satu Kyösola has done her dissertation in Sorbonne on Aki Kaurismäki’s films. Riikka Ala-Harja’s books have been translated in French, and she lives partly in France.
More information: http://www.crl.basse-normandie.com/
Finnish actor in a French theatre group
Finnish actor Timo Torikka works in a French theatre group Le Panta Théâtre. Group’s latest performance Plus loin que loin (Further than the furthest thing)
has been praised by the critic of the magazine La Terrasse.
Further than the furthest thing is a fascinating play by a young British playwright Zinnie Harris.Plus loin que loin is on tour in France during this spring, and can be seen in Festival d’Avignon in July, too.
Meri Nenonen’s one woman show to Sarajevo
ITSELAUKAISIN (SELF-TRIGGER) or when the I becomes the self is a funny and intensive solo by Meri Nenonen, based on nonverbal theatre. The skillful actress searches for herself and her expressive powers at a fictional casting call, where the only witness is the self-trigger of a camera. The surrealistic performance can be seen in Teatarfest, Sarajevo International Theatre Festival in May 12th-21st.
Ankkuriton sukupolvi group awarded in Venezuela
Ankkuriton sukupolvi (= anchorless generation) is a Finnish theatre group specialized in physical and visual theatre. In the 7th International Festival of the Theatre San Martin (Fiesta Internacional del Teatro San Martín) in Venezuela, the group’s performance Alaarm! was awarded as the best performance of the festival by the international jury. Alaarm! was regarded as the best performance by the audience, too.
Raija-Sinikka Rantala new Artistic Director in ITI
Theatre director, chairperson of the Finnish Theatre Information Centre, Ms. Raija-Sinikka Rantala has been nominated to the artistic director of the International Theatre Institute (ITI). The executive council of ITI made its decision in its meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh in February.
Ms Rantala’s cv can be found on ITI:s online exhibition Women of Theatre: http://www.iti-worldwide.org/women/index.php?lang=en
New Managing Director to The Association of Finnish Theatres
Matti A. Holopainen will be the new managing director of Suomen Teatteriliitto (Association of Finnish Theatres) from 1st August 2006. The current managing director Tuomas Auvinen starts as the administrative director of The Finnish National Theatre in August.
Matti A. Holopainen works in his current position as the administrative director of the Helsinki City Theatre. Association of Finnish Theatres is a familiar organization to Mr Holopainen: he acted as its managing director from 1992 to 2002.
The Association of Finnish Theatres is an interest and employer organization of Finnish professional theatres.
Organization’s homepage: www.teatteriliitto.fi
The Department of Lighting and Sound Design back to Helsinki
The Department of Lighting and Sound Design of the Theatre Academy of Finland is moving from Tampere to Helsinki on 1st July 2007.
The Department of Lighting and Sound Design was founded in 1986, and it is one of the most appreciated departments of its kind in the world. The degree programme familiarizes the students with the use of lighting and sound as instruments of artistic expression in the performing arts and media. Degrees at the Academy include Bachelor and Master of Arts.
The website of the Theatre Academy: www.teak.fi
Transmission Art Education seminar "The Cross-Sectoral Artist"
The Finnish national seminar day of Transmission Art Education project will be held on Thursday, March 23rd , at 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., at the Theatre Academy Auditorium 1, Haapaniemenkatu 6, Helsinki.
"The Cross-Sectoral Artist" -seminar is aimed at those performing artists and students of performing arts, who are either interested in or have prior experience in the field of cross-sectoral arts and the methods of applied theatre and dance. Such experience might include performing arts projects in hospitals, day-care centres and schools, rehabilitation, prisons, homes for the elderly, integration and other communities with special needs for new ways of communicating and finding health and learning through the arts.
Transmission Art Education is an international project run by theatre schools and art organisations in six countries: Austria, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. Finnish co-organisers are the Theatre Academy of Finland and the Finnish Theatre Information Centre (TINFO). The project is funded by the Leonardo Da Vinci programme of the European
Commission.
More information, program and registration: lotta.vaulo(at)teak.fi
The Finnish Centre for Culture, Science and Economy in Hungary (Finnagora) is organizing a translation competition for translators from Finnish to Hungarian. The competition is organized together with Finnish literature Information Centre (FILI) and Finnish Theatre Information Centre (TINFO). The objective of the competition is to raise interest in Finnish language, and in contemporary literature and its translation. The aim is primarily to promote contemporary Finnish drama in Hungary.
The texts to be translated and the rules of the competition are available at Finnagora, Dózsa György ùt 84/1, 1068 Budapest, tel. + 36-1-478 1010, e-mail hennasalo(at)finnagora.hu
The translated texts must be at Finnagora by 3rd April 2006.
More information, texts and rules can be found at www.finnagora.hu
The fourth Bravo! festival will take place 11.-20.3.2006 in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. It is an international theatre festival for children organized every two years.
The aim of the Bravo! -festival is to present new and different ways of making theatre for children in order to evoke new ideas among the Finnish theatre people and, naturally, to bring beautiful shows for Finnish children to see. ASSITEJ Finland also celebrates the ASSITEJ World Day within the festival.
The programme in 2006 will consist only of foreign performances:
Abok - Théâtre du Chocolat, Cameroon
El soldadito de plomo, Omar Alvarez Titeres, Argentina
Terres, Théâtre de la Guimbarde, Belgium
Ô, Cie Balabik, France
Hoppande Mus, Ellika Lindén, Denmark
Little night tales, Teatro Matita, Slovenia
This life, Richard Swarts, Namibia
Je te tendrai les bras, Au près de ma blonde, France
The programme in the net: www.bravofi.org
World premieres, updated classics, ethnic rhythms, and dramatic flamenco are some of the ingredients in next summer’s Kuopio Dance Festival’s programme.
- There will be top names from Europe like Nederlands Dans Theater II and Aterballetto, as well as leading Finnish dance artists and new phenomena; Jyrki Karttunen, Susanne Leinonen, and the Kareliagaala, reveals the artistic director Jorma Uotinen.
Finland Festivals has nominated Kuopio Dance Festival as the “Festival of the Year 2006”.
More information: www.kuopiodancefestival.fi
Other festivals:
Mukamas International Puppet Theatre Festival
May 8-13 in Tampere
The International Children’s Theatre Festival in Kuusankoski
May 16-25 in Kuusankoski
More festivals: www.teatteri.org/english/festivals/index.html or www.festivals.fi
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