Culture|Dance review
Each scene in the work is photographically meticulously designed and executed.
Roots Cultural Center in Stoa 5.3. Susanna Leinonen Company, choreography Susanna Leinonen, music Kasperi Laine, costumes Sari Nuttunen, visualization Susanna Leinonen and Sari Nuttunen.
In the process when Susanna Leinonen Company’s latest work Roots feels topical and important because of its way of doing things, it seems schematic and calculated.
At present, almost any work can be interpreted and mirrored through a crushing world political situation. Dystopic and incisively cold Roots also allows for this.
Roots21 dancers are involved in the work. About half of them are professional dancers and half are seniors with no professional background in dance. The production is part of a project to promote culture and exercise for the elderly in the city of Helsinki.
Through the project, cultural and artistic organizations have been able to apply for funding for activities that support the well-being and ability of older people through new approaches.
Starting point is interesting and the production of the work has certainly been rewarding for all parties. As a choreographer too Susanna Leinonen has been facing a new one. Of course, through the young professionals, there is still a detailed, precise and accentuated but flowing movement throughout the body. However, the presence of seniors has also required a different approach.
Simple movement always gets strength from the group, and this has been exploited by various choreographers in numerous works. When the dynamics of the movement work and the direction of the gaze is clear, the power of the bodies multiplies.
Bodies with different backgrounds show their strength as well In the roots. The group does not have dance professionals and seniors, but equal dancers. Leinonen knows how to run a movement by grouping dancers, and this is what he does with his professional dancers.
The risk of encountering a young and old body has only been taken a few times. It’s a shame, because both the short duet that mirrors the movement of two women of different ages and the encounter between a man and a woman work great.
When professionals cannonize Leinonen’s demanding movement with mathematical precision, seniors are faded as walking or standing assistants. None of the scenes take place in the older bodies above.
No real layers of life are created when the fragility of bodies is not dared to be brought out. Roots strives for a uniform, strong uniform, and does not trust in the attractiveness of difference and different ages.
Kasperi Laine the world of sound created by it fits the cold and heavy image of the work. It hisses and rhythms the movement.
Sari Nuttusen the costume gives space to the movement. Together with Leinonen, Nuttunen is responsible for visualizing the work, and each scene has been photographically meticulously planned and executed.
Scenes are therefore easy to associate with the painful subjects of the present. When Roots ends, an unusually long silence arises. Anxiety should be returned to the safe audience to applaud the team that has come a long way.
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