Nasty is a strikingly topical work that centers on the expectations, limitations and attacks targeted at our bodies. The piece presents an unvarnished vision of our world, where evil hides in the structures of the society but also in ourselves: we pass along the injustice and cruelty we have experienced.
Susanna Leinonen Company’s works are known for their extremely skillful and demanding movement. This time choreographer Leinonen and her ensemble have chosen to examine our bodily limits , as well as how constantly being looked at and under conflicting demands and expectations shape the female body and experience. In the center of the work are dancers and their bodies as tools of artistic work. In Nasty, the highly trained physique becomes a machine that stretches, bends and creaks to fulfill its full potential. But the question remains: who gets to define that potential?
Leinonen’s choreography doesn’t revel in violence and corporality, but rather spells out the everyday viciousness we direct at ourselves and at others. Harsh words take their place on the surfaces of the space and on the skin of the dancers as an unstoppable stream of information and opinions. Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s delicate and expressive music contrast and completes this stark vision the world.
Choreography Susanna Leinonen
Music Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhansson, Hildur Gudnadóttir & Robert Aiki Aubrey, Teemu Korpipää
Sound design Teemu Korpipää
Costumes Sari Nuttunen
Lighting design Harri Peltonen
Video projections Ville Seppänen
Dancers Emmi Hakala, Camilla Keihäs, Elina Lindfors, Tatiana Urteva and Elisa Tuovila
Premiere September 7th 2018 at 7pm, Stoa, Helsinki
PLEASE BE ADVICED! This production contains: strobe lighting effects, sudden loud noises and strong imagery. Some scenes may trigger an adverse reaction. Not suitable for children.
Upcoming performances:
4.9.2021 at 7PM, Dance Theatre MD, Tampere, Finland
5.9.2021 at 5PM, Dance Theatre MD, Tampere, Finland
30.9.2021 at 19, Alexander Theatre, Helsinki, Finland
Nasty employs black humour and innocent beauty as an antidote to fear
“Nasty protects our right to keep our secrets and deftly side steps the soap box to powerfully address the issue of feminism and women’s rights. What a dead place the world would be without mystery, without darkness, without the subconscious. In an atmosphere of fearfulness, Nasty’s complexity and depth of feeling create a sense of freedom, it holds space for the audience as we find it in ourselves to face up to the unknown within.”
Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat 8.9.2018
Susanna Leinonen’s iconoclastic Nasty is as fierce as it is powerful
“….utterly brilliant and undoubtedly one of the finest contributions to the debate on women’s right to self-determination.”
Annikki Alku, Demokraatti 10.9.2018
Review: Susanna Leinonen Company’s stunning new contemporary dance production lays bare the aggression and demands directed at the female body
“Scene by unfolding scene, Tiia Huuskonen, Elina Häyrynen, Natasha Lommi, Elisa Tuovila and Erika Vilander demonstrate their incredible power for endless creative and expressive transformation. They are at one with Leinonen’s fascinating and demanding movement language. All five are skilful martial artists, whose vocalisations carry a real sense of menace, and who later evolve into corporeal forms that observe each other and the audience with a critical, uncompromising gaze.”
Kaisa Kurikka, Turun Sanomat 9.9.2018
Female bodies – feared and objectified
“There are plenty of familiar elements of course: Leinonen’s incredibly considered and distinctive movement language, executed with unfailing attention to detail, as well as the highly and consistently talented dancers, the gorgeous visuals and the first class creative team. And yet, I have never seen her come out with anything quite as outspoken as this. The effect is entirely refreshing.”
Tove Djupsjöbacka, 8.9.2018
