To escape the constraints of gravity and the limits of the body – isn’t that every dancer’s dream? Touch of Gravity plays with optical illusions and video to defy the laws of nature. Poetic, intense and hypnotic, the piece masterfully explores the interplay between the pull of the ground and the lure of weightlessness.
Choreography Susanna Leinonen
Sound design Kasperi Laine
Costumes Erika Turunen
Video Jouka Valkama
Lighting design Joonas Tikkanen
Dancers Sanni Giordani, Tiia Huuskonen, Sara Kovamäki, Aksinja Lommi, Liisa Pietikäinen and Elisa Tuovila (Natasha Lommi, Susanna Leinonen)
Duration 60 min
Premiere 21.8.2014 Almi Hall, Helsinki
Next performances:
13.9.2019 Touch of Gravity, Stoa, Helsinki
14.9.2019 Touch of Gravity, Stoa, Helsinki
15.9.2019 Touch of Gravity, Stoa, Helsinki
Production Susanna Leinonen Company in cooperation with Helsinki Festival and Stoa
Financially supported by National Council for Dance, National Council for Music and City of Helsinki
Reviews
“The end comes almost too fast. As if in flight, the fifty minutes are up as Finnish choreographer and dancer Susanna Leinonen explores, overrides and plays with the laws of gravity in her 2014 performance “Touch of Gravity”.” / Karin Schütze, OÖNachrichten, 15/03/2015
Uncompromising and spectacular dance
“The darkly hued piece was in every way a polished performance that spoke to the audience with its uncompromising and abstract beauty. Though both Jouka Valkama’s video art and Joonas Tikkanen’s lighting design were an essential part of the ambitious visuality of the piece, movement remained central. It was sharp and physically challenging movement, that the dancers had internalised to perfection.” / Annikki Alku, Savon Sanomat 16/06/2015
