Kuopio Dance Festival, Day 1: Here Comes the Rain Again

Finnish National Ballet Summer Tour: Snork Maiden is about to be entangled by some flesh-eating Angosturas... Excerpt from Anandah Kononen's ballet Moomin and the Comet. Artists of FNB. Photography (c) Johanna / Pointe Til You Drop.

The first day of the Kuopio Dance Festival began with sunshine but ended in rain for the Finnish National Ballet's Summer Tour. Because of the moist stage, all pointe numbers had to be cancelled, and the 1-hour programme was shortened to 15 minutes. The same thing happened last year in Helsinki. Which is why I made a detour to Lahti that summer, to see the full show performed on an indoor stage. Sadly, today was the last tour date, so no chances for a rain-check. But at least we got to see four great numbers instead of none!

The first piece shown was a contemporary solo choreographed by Ville Valkonen, commissioned as a birthday present for dancer Kailey Kaba - what a cool gift! Beautifully danced too, especially under less than ideal circumstances. Finnish summer is fickle, either cold and rainy or warm sunshine. Usually, a mix of everything with no guarantees whatsoever. Any outdoor performance comes with weather reservations - although not for audiences. Finns are quite used to dressing weather-appropriately.

The ballet highlight of the short show was a pas de deux performed by Tuukka Piitulainen and Elena Ilyina. Although Elena did not dance en pointe, it still took a lot of guts from both dancers to lift and leap across a moist stage! Elena has an amazing jump, and a beautiful presence on stage - she didn't seem bothered by the cold and rainy weather at all! Tuukka was her gorgeous partner, strong and secure. Just the kind of man you'd want, in any given situation. Okay, he's way too young for me, but a girl can dream, right? 

The Summer Tour ended with an excerpt from the Anandah Kononen's Moomin ballet: fabulously costumed, flesh-eating Angostura flowers (but no too scary for the kids) and a cute pas de deux by the hippo-like Moomin couple. The kids loved it, as did the adult audience. As an extra special surprise and condolence for the shortened show, the company donated a bunch of signed pointe shoes to the fastest in line. Oh my goodness. Young ballet girls rushing to the stage like starved wild animals! Four pairs of pointe shoes were clearly not enough, so the dancers donated every pair from that last Moomin ballet: tangerine-dyed Angostura pointes. Their new owners could not have been happier!

Dance festival newbie

It's the first time I'm in Kuopio, but I almost did not make it here. I was delighted when I received the press invite, but Kuopio is a long distance from Helsinki. I had to arrange travel and accommodation on a next-to-zero budget. Luckily, I got super-cheap round trip bus tickets for a mere 20€. Which is a bargain, considering the drive takes over five hours! Then I found accommodation via the "International Network of Ballet Dancers": a friend of a friend (actually more than one, it's a small world of dance) is hosting me for the entire festival. There's even a cherry on top: the flat is right at the town square, and within easy walking distance to all dance studios and theatres. In fact, my jazz class is in the next building across the street!

All that jazz

I was crazy enough to sign up for Pattie Obey's jazz intermediate (course aimed at adults), even though I took my last jazz class back in the 90s. Talk about dancing outside your comfort zone! Usually, I don't go that far above my skill level, but there was no basic jazz course available, and I figured that my strong background in ballet would help. Guess what? It's surprisingly hard to do pliés and tendus and pirouettes in parallel! My legs keep turning out all by themselves, so deeply ingrained is ballet in my body and brain. And oh boy with the coordination of arms and head and the hips are moving and developpés are in releve plié... I had also forgotten about syncopated steps and triplets and whatnot. But Pattie teaches old school classic jazz (in a variety of styles), and you really need to be fluent in ballet as well. At least I got some moves right! It's a lot of fun though.

And Ballet Too

Of course, no dance festival without ballet class. I was happy to see that Arja Tervo is teaching ballet, because I really enjoyed her classes when she substituted for my regular teacher (Marie-Pierre Greve) this past spring. Arja is a super teacher, she's very friendly, gives lots of hands-on corrections and that all-important feedback and encouragement. Classes are challenging, but there's no progress if you don't push yourself every class you take. What I love about Arja's classes: she really cares about her students, and you can tell that she loves teaching all levels and ages. She makes us work hard, but we always have a great time. You know what else is fun? The change of scenery. Taking ballet in new surroundings, with different people.

Things I love about Kuopio

Ballet. Jazz. Everything within easy walking distance. Good coffee, and cheaper than in Helsinki. Found this great lunch place, three-course gourmet food for 10€. Friendly people. Views to the lake. And I keep bumping into old dance friends everywhere!


Coming up: Day 2 & 3, plus review of Compagnie Käfig's mindblowing, jaw-dropping, hip hopping, boxing Boxe Boxe!

On my daily walk to ballet class.

Dance studio

View from class. Really.

Studio. The floor is really springy!

Walking to and from class has never been this scenic.

VIP tickets for the shows!!

Cute Cafe Kaneli (cinnamon).

Street view in Kuopio.