by 
Two approaches to space, spatiality of the body and to performing
- Concept, direction, choreography: Jaana Klevering
- Dance: Jaana Klevering (A Solo for Myself), Pirjo Yli-Maunula (A Solo to the Other)
- Performance, music, sound: Eija Kankaanranta (A Solo for Myself), Jaap Klevering (A Solo to the Other)
- Music: Mustarastas (Blackbird), composition by Juhani Nuorvala and kantele improvisation
- Light Design: Jukka Huitila
- Production: Flow Productions and JoJo – Oulu Dance Center
- Premiere: Nuku-keskus, Oulu, 28 September,2008
- Duration: 60 min.
- Sponsors: National Council for Dance, Niilo Helander Foundation
“A Solo for Myself creates space through breathing, silence and listening with multiple senses, groping for the hovering boundary between the performers and the audience. The ideas of philosopher Luce Irigaray on yoga, breathing, detachedness and community specificity are some of the driving forces on the background.
In A Solo for Myself, I ask myself if, while performing, I’m able to reach the experience that once felt so real of my own detachedness disappearing, of the porosity of the boundary between myself and the others? Do I reach the unity achieved without speech and emerging through movement and breathing between myself and those sharing the space with me? My goal is to perform simply and quietly, creating and perceiving a common space.
Kantele music played by Eija Kankaanranta makes space for the experience of silence and for listening with multiple senses.”
A Solo to the Other is based on the personal experiences of a performing artist of one’s own space, of one’s own self and own identity, coloured with self-irony, melancholy and humour. The sound environment tells a colorful story about a woman who doesn’t want to stay still or always be the same, in one and the same space.
A Solo to the Other got started by the ideas of the historical continuum of the stories of some female artists and, decades back, of the claim of Virginia Woolf for her own room.
A Solo to the Other got started from the observation of movements of the other and from the questions set forth; how do your desires, your wishes and goals turn into space and movement on stage?
In A Solo to the Other, Pirjo Yli-Maunula dances, moves and talks, without avoiding self-irony, within the very personal issues dealing with being an artist. The sound environment of Jaap Klevering tells a colorful story about a woman who doesn’t want to stay still or always be the same, in one and the same space.
A Solo for Myself and to the Other is part of the artistic doctoral theses of Jaana Klevering (Theatre Academy, Department of Dance) and Eija Kankaanranta (Sibelius Academy, DocMus Dept.).
Critics of the newspaper Kaleva, Choice of the Year 2007: Dance performance of the Year, Jaana Klevering: A Solo to the Other (to Pirjo Yli-Maunula)
Kaleva 30.12.2007
In A Solo for Myself by Jaana Klevering, the choreographer has gathered the viewers around her on stage. She also comes very close to the audience, but completely relaxed and appearing harmonious. Energies are flowing peacefully. She reveals at the end that her space consists of the common breathing. The connection between a viewer and the performer makes her a fearless target of the gazes.
A Solo to the Other by Klevering reveals the fabulous performer in Pirjo Yli-Maunula. This ‘woman of thunder’ claims spaces for herself, as a reference to Virginia Woolf. She marks the step marks of her life; everything has to be in tip-top shape and in order. “The Girl of straight A’s” creates a profile of an over-achiever whose life is pure upward flying and nothing but a facade. This work of Klevering is strangely funny and Yli-Maunula has the major responsibility in the successful outcome. She sets herself in the game with undaunted self-irony.
Jussi Tossavainen, Helsingin Sanomat 29 March, 2008
Authors:
Jaana Klevering , Dance Artist, M.A. in Dance Art (Helsinki)
has been operating since 1983 as a choreographer, performer and trainer. Studies of ballet and modern dance in her childhood and youth years, studies of new dance in Amsterdam (SNDO) and her thorough involvement in improvisation and the somatic nature of dance have been strongly shaping her artistic identity. Central to her work has been her way of working as widely as possible across various art forms and operation and performance environments. In her artistic work, she has been focusing on the purpose of space and spatiality and she has created various performances and events for various landscapes and city spaces. Her works have also been presented in a number of established dance arenas and festivals. In 2004, Klevering started her PhD degree on the bodily authorship of the dancer, gender and space-site -specific performing at the Department of Dance of the Theatre Academy.
Jaap Klevering, Sound Artist (Helsinki)
is an improvisor, a developer of new, daring ideas, an innovative developer of various projects, a sound artist and a performer of physical art. Klevering is of Dutch origin and he has been living and working in Finland ever since 1983. In 1999, he was granted a 3-year arts grant by the state.
The artistic work of Klevering cannot be placed in one single category as he uses his own voice, movement and speech as well as digitally produced sounds and manipulated video images as means of his expression. He has been co-operating with musicians, dancers and visual artists and has been teaching in the study programs of dance and theatre. The basis of art making for Klevering is in silence and in the ability to stop. Operating outside of major centers and living in the countryside have had a major impact on his views on art.
Eija Kankaanranta, musician (Helsinki)
graduated as a Master of Music in 2000. She is a young generation reformer of the kantele music and she operates both as a solist and chamber musician in Finland and abroad. Contemporary music, improvising and co-operation with dancers are central forms in her artistic work. Kankaanranta has had the very first performance of the music of, for example, Timo Alakotila, Kirmo Lintinen, Juhani Nuorvala and Olli Virtaperko and she has been playing new music in Avanti, Zagros, in the quartet Virtaa and the Swedish Ensemble Ars Nova. In 2003, she had a premiere of the electric kantele concerto of Kimmo Hakola and in 2005 she had in premiere the work Lito of Leonid Bashmakov. In 1999, Finlandia Records published a CD based on the (kantele) arrangements of Kankaanranta and Mervi Yli-Vainio. She currently teaches at the Tampere Conservatory and at the Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences and she is preparing her artistic PhD in the DocMus unit of the Sibelius Academy. In 2006-2007, his major projects consisted of the co-operation with the Dutch NBE Orchestra and singer Sanna Kurki-Suonio as well as of the recording of his own record published in the autumn of 2007. Eija’s homepage: http://eijakankaanranta.net
Jukka Huitila is a visual artist graduated Master of Arts from the the Theatre Academy of Finland. He is one of the most luminous designer in the field of Finnish performing arts. His versatile career includes lighting, set and video design for interiors, exhibitions, live events and stage performances. He has collaborated in contemporary dance with a great number of the most recognized Finnish choreographers and this artwork has been seen in over twenty countries. Currently Huitila is interested in taking his art into more proprietary direction such as establishing status in the live art scene.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY:
Premiere:
- Nuku-keskus, Oulu 28.9.2007
Other performances:
- 29 Sept. -12 Oct., 2007 Nuku-keskus, Oulu (5)
- 27 -29 March, 2008 Ateneum Hall, Helsinki (3)
- 10 Oct., 2008 Dance Festival Barents, Hammerfest (1)
- 3 Dec., 2008 Sibelius Academy, Helsinki (Solo To Myself)
