Our summer intensive FLIP is approaching and spots are filling up quickly. This year FLIP is held 20/7 – 1/8/2026 and we’re bringing back some familiar faces as well as introducing some new ones. The teachers for the two-week-intensive are:
The participants will be divided into groups that have the same classes but in different daily order. There are two morning warm up classes to choose from: yoga and games/acrobatics. Workshops are held in English and are suited for professionals and students in the field of dance, circus and performance art.
Besides the daily classes FLIP also includes evening activities such as board games, hanging outs and end of the week parties on both Saturdays.
The Spring Break Dance Festival is being organized for the sixth time! This year’s program features the Finnish premiere of Kinetic Orchestra’s workBolero, which received an enthusiastic reception last summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Directed by Jarkko Mandelin and performed by Hugo Sellam and Luca Bologna, the piece is a blend of dark humor and acrobatic, high-energy movement—a performance about the making of a performance.
The program also showcases dance art from a new generation, as dance students from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki present their works during the Students’ Evening. Both performance evenings are happening at Cirko – Center for New Circus in Helsinki.
The festival program also includes Diving into Bolero -material workshop, where Kinetic Orchestra’s dancers Luca Bologna and Hugo Sellam guide participants into the world and movement materials of Bolero. The workshop is held on Sunday 10/5/2026 at Kinetic Orchestra’s studio in Mekaanikonkatu and is suited for professionals and students in the field of dance, circus and performance art. To register for the workshop send an email toinfo@kineticorchestra.fi.
Kinetic Orchestra’s newest dance work will premiere at Stoa Cultural Centre from 27.11.-3.12.! Tickets on sale, get yours soon atLippu.fi.
What is a dancer’s physical labour? Can an artist be a blue-collar worker? How does work appear in us, affect us and move us?
Kinetic Orchestra’s latest dance work Working Class Heroes is a story about funny guys who both work and create art with their whole bodies. The strong and acrobatic movement language characteristic of Kinetic Orchestra is transformed on stage into a work that explores physical labour and its uncompromising nature.
The work premieres at Stoa Cultural Centre on 27.11. On stage we see an amazing cast of dancers: Sanni Giordani, Oskari Turpeinen, Hugo Sellam, Viktoria Radin, Antoine Bouhier, Oiva Mandelin, and in an alternating role Anni Koivusalo, Malla Aaltonen, and Riikka Lyra. Sound designer Janne Hast, costume designer Maria Sirén, and lighting designer Niila Rantala create the visual and auditive world of the piece. The concept is Jarkko Mandelin’s, and the work is choreographed by Mandelin together with the dancers.
The characters in the work are fictional, but their experiences of being outsiders and questioning their passions may seem familiar to many who are dedicated to doing something physical.
Autumn is kicking off with rehearsals forSilence, the latest work from Kinetic Orchestra. This co-production with Helsinki City Theatre and Dance Theatre Minimi is set to premiere on October 9th, 2024. Tickets are selling quickly, so be sure to secure yours soon for this must-see performance of the season!https://hkt.fi/esitykset/silence/
Jarkko Mandelin’s latest work, Silence, takes his signature choreography—an innovative blend of contemporary dance, acrobatics, and martial arts techniques—even further.
“Silence is a dance performance inspired by the presentation of classical music. The dance troupe forms an orchestra that echoes the tradition of classical music and does everything possible to bring the concerto’s movements to life. Silence is the moment when a movement of the concerto ends, the created world vanishes, and preparation for the next begins.”
Jarkko Mandelin has developed his own distinctive style and is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary dance partner techniques and floor work. Mandelin is the founder and artistic director of the Kinetic Orchestra dance company. His previous work, Gravity, was featured in the Helsinki City Theater’s program for an exceptional two seasons, from 2021 to 2023, playing to sold-out audiences.
Picture from Silence: Petra Tiihonen
picture: Sanni Giordani
Sunday Workshops
Sunday Workshops have started! Come training with us on our weekly classes on Sundays 18.30-20.30 at Kinetic Orchestra’s studio, Mekaanikonkatu 17, Helsinki. The classes include floorwork, contemporary dance, acrobatics, partnering and playful games.
Visiting artists Akira Yoshida & Lali Ayguadé bring a duet Together To Get There, offering a recount of human nature. ”An encounter between two, a hug, the feeling of the other, communication without words, the feeling of time immersed in a world created between two. A mutual support. A time that expands and stops as if it would never end.
A transformation, a shift. Parts begin to fall, others to hold. That instant is forgotten and differences come to light; opposite poles, fragility and strength; the letting go and the desire for control. Balance and instability. The true human nature.”
Kinetic Orchestra & JoJo – Oulu Dance Centre’s co-production Daltonit offers performances for the whole family over the weekend. Speed, danger and emotion are not lacking from the adventures of the Dalton brothers, when circus artists Onni Toivonen and Kalle Lehto, joined by Kinetic Orchestra’s founder Jarkko Mandelin’s dancing children, interpret the story of these comic book anti-heroes. Daltonit had a premiere in November 2023 and was warmly received by the audience. “Daltonit is a sparkly experience that brightens up your day.” -Eeva Kauppinen, Kaleva, 5.12.2023
The co-evening of two pieces from Turku Youth Company and Laajasalo Folk High School’s dance programme introduces young professional dancers and dance students. Turku Youth Company (TYC) is a contemporary dance group from Turku aiming to bridge the gaps between dancing recreationally, in professional studies, and professionally. ON THIN ICE, choreographed by Kinetic Orchestra’s dancer Suvi Nieminen, is a bodily voyage to the edges of exhaustion. How does life feel when the road is too heavy, but the wheels keep rolling and everyone else takes it on too? When the world roars and societal structures wobble, can we still trust someone to pull us up if we fall?
Laajasalo Folk High School’s dance programme was initiated this year in collaboration with Kinetic Orchestra dance company.The piece part of this co-evening will be made as a part of Dancer’s work in a production -course, during which students will experience working as a dancer in practice. The piece will be choreographed by Kinetic Orchestra’s dancers Sanni Giordani and Mia Jaatinen during the spring season. Information about the piece will be published later.
The festival also offers series of workshops for professional dancers and advanced movers from Saturday 18.5 to Wednesday 22.5. Workshops include floor work, contemporary dance and partnering classes from visiting artists Akira Yoshida and Lali Ayguadé, Kinetic Orhcestra’s artistic director Jarkko Mandelin and dancers Oskari Turpeinen and Sanni Giordani. Find more info about the workshops, schedule and registration:https://springbreakdancefestival.com/blog/workshop/
Like There’s No Tomorrowis coming back to the stage, this time with three shows at Dance House Helsinki in August 2023! Performances 2., 3. and 4.8.2023 on the Pannuhalli stage.
In Like There’s No Tomorrow the dancers, things, and objects on stage reorganize, pause into still pictures and transform continuously, creating surreal sculptures and landscapes. The piece is inspired by Philippe Halsman’s iconic photographic work Dalí Atomicus (1948), portraying artist Salvador Dalí flying through the air with three cats and water splashing from a bucket.
Created in close collaboration with the working group, Like There’s No Tomorrow ties seamlessly together sound art, visual abundance and Kinetic Orchestra’s recognizable movement language combining acrobatic partnering and contemporary dance with martial art techniques. Light designer Veli-Ville Sivén’s gravity-defying scenography and costume designer Maria Sirén’s fine art inspired costumes build up a strong visuality on stage. The through-composed soundscape is created by musician Janne Hast together with guitarist Petri Kautto.
Excerpt from a review from last year’s premiere at Stoa:
“The soft and viscous movement is like a dream, and nothing seems to be impossible for the four dancers: Anni Koskinen, Kalle Lähde, Suvi Nieminen and Oskari Turpeinen. The contacts are steady and precise, and despite the technically demanding and fast material, the dancing is marked by freedom and ease.” Demokraatti 9.12.2022, Annikki Alku
RAJA (Dividing line)by choreographers Mirva Mäkinen and Katja Mustonen will have its Helsinki premiere at the festival on 9.5. There will only be one performance of RAJA, so make sure to get your tickets! The piece is produced by Dance Theatre Minimi and had its premiere in Kuopio 13.4.2023. RAJA (Dividing line) is a performance for five dancers about being on edge, creating boundaries and overcoming limits. The work also explores those moments when the dividing line disappears. The piece approaches the concept of a boundary primarily as a physical experience but draws inspiration from some social and cultural phenomena while pondering on a more significant symbolic meaning of the borders.
Mostly Massby Sanni Giordani and working group is Kinetic Orchestra’s own co-production and features company dancers Mia Jaatinen, Anni Koskinen, Kalle Lähde, Oskari Turpeinen and Giordani. The piece premiered in 2021 and was very warmly received by audiences, and now this rippling, bursting and joy-filled performance comes back to the Stoa stage. Mostly Mass is a corporeal poem – through sweat, repetition, fumbling, sensitivity and joy this piece surrenders itself to bodily instincts and wildness. It is a rippling world of bodily joy, drift, and noise in which the human body is seen as a constantly reorganising mass, organic and bursting with possibilities.
Gravity will be a part of the Open Studio programme at Tanzmesse and excerpts from the piece will be presented by Kinetic Orchestra at tanzhus nrw on September 2nd at 2 pm and 4 pm. Kinetic Orchestra dancers Anni Koskinen, Sanni Giordani, Oskari Turpeinen and Kalle Lähde as well as producer Sofia Suomalainen will take part in the Tanzmesse together with the group’s artistic director and choreographer Jarkko Mandelin.
Gravity, a high-paced and physical performance for eight dancers, premiered at the Helsinki City Theatre 11.11.2021 and is a co-production with Helsinki Dance Company.
Jarkko is excited about the opportunity to showcase both the group and the performance at Tanzmesse: “We have a strong desire to tour more internationally as a group. In addition to performing for larger audiences, touring is about the exchange of ideas. We often organise workshops as an extension to the performances and meet new people and other dancers on our trips which energises us and keeps the mind fresh. All of this eventually makes its way into artistic thinking as well.”
Thank you to all the amazing participants and dancers!!!<3
Flip is Kinetic Orchestra’s intensive course in partnering and contact improvisation aimed towards professionals and people studying to become professionals in dance and circus. For the first time ever, the course was extended to cover two weeks with 67 participants from nine different countries.
The workshop teachers this year were Jarkko Mandelin with Kinetic Orchestra dancers Anni Koskinen and Oskari Turpeinen, contact improvisation expert Mirva Mäkinen and floorwork virtuoso Akira Yoshida. Flip concluded with an after party for all the participants with dancer and dj Softis (Noa Kekoni) setting the atmosphere.
Flip is a way of sharing information gathered during a whole year of working with partnering and floorwork with a larger group of people, and the teachers also always learn something new from the participants. The community created during the course and the spirit of doing things together plays an important part in Kinetic Orchestra’s year.
Next year the course will be organised in the same time period at the end of July and registration for the course opens in January. This autumn a short weekend course Late Flip will take place 26.-28.10.2022.
