30%OFF – new dance at Caisa!

The abundant work discusses thirds and something less. In our time, everything seems to accelerate and be experienced in real-time. During the rehearsal period for this work, Mirva Mäkinen has strived for the opposite; delaying the doing, stretching time and doing less. The artistic objectives are dialogues between sound, movement, music and video art and meetings between artists.

Below you can find some excerpts of audio recordings played in the performance and produced by the work group while pondering the meaning of 30%OFF:

I have stood in a supermarket in front of items priced at 30% off and thought about discounts and expiring products. This resonated with me and got me thinking about my own aging. Faced with an ecocatastrophe, I was unable to avoid thinking about how I should cut my consumption by at least 30% and learn to live in a different way. What is the price of my own supposed success and how can I justify consuming more while making art compared to my everyday life?
– Mirva Mäkinen –

Less is more, if you remove the less crucial part. Take away the third, average good and bad, 70% of the money left is sad. No new third could make up for it. That’s thirty per cent less genocide, torture, excessive plastic consumption, less misanthropy, being verbally cruel. Less meat eaten, the climate-destroying fuel.
– Dagmar Ilonoja –

Thirty per cent less laughter, joy, love, feeling, fervour. Thirty per cent fewer times that they hug you. Then again, it could be thirty per cent less hate, sorrow, disgust, horror, tears, abandonment. How would it feel, if we said less, did less, loved less or lived less?
– Oona Eronen –

What does freshness mean in art or making things, and what does the ‘best before’ date on things mean? When will I be ready to sell myself for less…? As a dancer and performer I am interested in searching, finding, trying and repeating something, but first and foremost, I am interested in what happens to the performer during the performance. What if the content of the work could be attained by leaving 30% of it out? Could lightness and slowness be virtues?
– Mirva Mäkinen –

Choreography and direction: Mirva Mäkinen and Tuomas Juntunen
Dance performance: Otto Akkanen and Mirva Mäkinen
Cello: Sergio Castrillon
Sound design: Jaakko Autio
Video art: Kim Saarinen

Dance students from Kallio Upper Secondary School: 
Viivi Amrane, Oona Eronen, Aurora Eskelinen, Kaisa Iho, Dagmar Ilonoja, Aino Katila, Rosa Kemppi, Kerttu Lätti, Milla Mikkola, Vilma Nikkarinen, Laura Oosi, Ada Pääskysaari, Livi Pösö, Martta Saari, Kerttu Saraste, Anni Utter and Nilla  Yliluoma

Lighting: Johan Karlstedt

Duration: approx. 1 h

Recommend age: 10 and older

Performances:
Wed 26 February at 7 pm (opening night) and
Thu 27 February to Sat 29 February at 7 pm

Cultural Centre Caisa, Kaikukatu 4 B, Helsinki
Tickets: €10/€6

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Mirva Mäkinen:

Mirva Mäkinen has been teaching dance at Kallio Upper Secondary School since 1999. She has taught dance internationally in more than 40 countries. As a dancer, she has worked in pieces by Karttunen Kollektiv, Circo Aereo, Mikko Orpana and Joona Halonen. During the past six years, she has worked in various works by Valtteri Raekallio.

In her own choreography, Mäkinen is especially interested in the performer’s relationship to the viewer and the viewer’s position. She has created both pieces bound to their location and pieces for the stage. For a long time now, she has been considering different ways of changing the viewer’s position from watching performances from one direction determined by the seats to a more spatial element.