Les Sylphides
Tomi Paasonen's new dance piece for the Tavis Dance Company is based on Les Sylphides, a gem of the romantic ballet era that premiered in 1907. The piece is a dance piece celebrating Tavis Dance Company's 10-year anniversary.
Tavis Dance Company (TDC) started in 2013 for ordinary people from Kuopio which grew up from the dance workshops started by Tomi Paasonen. The people of Kuopio were urged to be curious, to come and try movement expression, bodily creativity and let thoughts, senses, memories and emotions move their bodies. The idea was to bring dance and movement thinking closer to people who had no previous dance experience. The community became the Tavis Dance Company, which will complete 10 years of activity in 2023, including weekly training groups and many different projects.
In the project to be implemented in 2024, Tomi Paasonen returns after 10 years to create a new all-night stage dance work for the group based on Les Sylphides, a gem of the romantic ballet era that premiered in 1907. The original work is a romantic dream focused purely on dance, where Sylphids, i.e. spirits, fairies or ghosts dance around the dreaming poet. The dance piece realised with the Tavis Dance Company is the embodiment of spirituality, which creates a poetic and rugged whole from the participants' personal dreams, horrors and ghosts in their own lives, which straddles the border between dreams and realism.
We live in a chaotic world that needs dreams and something to believe in and hold on to. Escaping to the other side of the imaginary world takes on deeper meanings when we try to endure the world and cope with everyday challenges. The show searches for these imaginings, asking where do we get strength and joy? What fantasies fascinate us? If I were a ghost and had forever, how would I spend it? What scares you and which dreams are achievable?
Choreography, direction and costumes: Tomi Paasonen
Soundscape: Vincent Masse, based on Frédéric Chopin
Lighting design: Vilma Vantola
Producer / Practitioner: Anna-Maria Väisänen
Tavis Dance Company: Milla Bouquerel, Tanja Holma, Kaie Hyvönen, Eila Kankaanpää, Pinja-Annina Jussila, Heli Konola, Tuula Koivukangas, Jaana Korkiakoski, Airi Kostet, Päivi Leppävuori, Anni Marin, Anneli Niskanen, Enni Nuora, Riitta Pasanen, Nelli Pirskanen , Lea Pulkkinen, Hannu Suontausta, Merja Suurniemi, Kim Tamio, Jos Verbeek.
Production: Eastern Finland Regional Center for Dance
Supporter: Taike Pohjois-Savo
Promo photos: Sampo Jaakkola
Press photos: Karri Lämpsä
The show premiered in 2024 at ITAK-stage in Kuopio, Finland.
Tomi Paasonen's new dance piece for the Tavis Dance Company is based on Les Sylphides, a gem of the romantic ballet era that premiered in 1907. The piece is a dance piece celebrating Tavis Dance Company's 10-year anniversary.
Tavis Dance Company (TDC) started in 2013 for ordinary people from Kuopio which grew up from the dance workshops started by Tomi Paasonen. The people of Kuopio were urged to be curious, to come and try movement expression, bodily creativity and let thoughts, senses, memories and emotions move their bodies. The idea was to bring dance and movement thinking closer to people who had no previous dance experience. The community became the Tavis Dance Company, which will complete 10 years of activity in 2023, including weekly training groups and many different projects.
In the project to be implemented in 2024, Tomi Paasonen returns after 10 years to create a new all-night stage dance work for the group based on Les Sylphides, a gem of the romantic ballet era that premiered in 1907. The original work is a romantic dream focused purely on dance, where Sylphids, i.e. spirits, fairies or ghosts dance around the dreaming poet. The dance piece realised with the Tavis Dance Company is the embodiment of spirituality, which creates a poetic and rugged whole from the participants' personal dreams, horrors and ghosts in their own lives, which straddles the border between dreams and realism.
We live in a chaotic world that needs dreams and something to believe in and hold on to. Escaping to the other side of the imaginary world takes on deeper meanings when we try to endure the world and cope with everyday challenges. The show searches for these imaginings, asking where do we get strength and joy? What fantasies fascinate us? If I were a ghost and had forever, how would I spend it? What scares you and which dreams are achievable?
Choreography, direction and costumes: Tomi Paasonen
Soundscape: Vincent Masse, based on Frédéric Chopin
Lighting design: Vilma Vantola
Producer / Practitioner: Anna-Maria Väisänen
Tavis Dance Company: Milla Bouquerel, Tanja Holma, Kaie Hyvönen, Eila Kankaanpää, Pinja-Annina Jussila, Heli Konola, Tuula Koivukangas, Jaana Korkiakoski, Airi Kostet, Päivi Leppävuori, Anni Marin, Anneli Niskanen, Enni Nuora, Riitta Pasanen, Nelli Pirskanen , Lea Pulkkinen, Hannu Suontausta, Merja Suurniemi, Kim Tamio, Jos Verbeek.
Production: Eastern Finland Regional Center for Dance
Supporter: Taike Pohjois-Savo
Promo photos: Sampo Jaakkola
Press photos: Karri Lämpsä
The show premiered in 2024 at ITAK-stage in Kuopio, Finland.
