During the course of one week, the artist Sonja Jokineimi worked with a group of local artists and performers who answered her calling. This performance is the outcome of that workshop.
Sonja Jokineimi is a choreographer, performer, and artist. Jokineimi is living and working in Helsinki, Finland, and Luzern, Switzerland. Graduate of DasArts MA program in Amsterdam (2013) and has a BA degree in contemporary dance from Laban Center in London (2006). Sonja’s works are frequently exhibited across Europe and are supported by establishments such as STUK (Belgium), Zodiak Centre for Dance (Finland), and others.
“When approaching this invitation of a calling, there are many thoughts running through and a few avenues I could take. Currently what grasps me to stay longer with, is this experience of passing – passing as a way of passage of life, passing as a way of passing through or passing by, of passing on; information, knowledge, memories, ornaments, objects, traditions, rituals, ways of thinking, gestures…
When thinking of passing, I think of work, work of our mothers and fathers, of our grandparents, of the communities they grew up in. I think of the hands and their meaning today. I think about the hand’s work, of the tactile connection to matter. I think about the body and its connection to the surrounding environment. I think of senses, of persistence and repetition.
Next, I thought of mutual creation. What kind of togetherness is proposed and what kind of work is created. I think about the difference, of polyphony, of abrasion points as well as fluidity. I think about disturbance and collaboration. And of textures and language. Language beside the spoken.
During the workshop we might weave and sew together. We might submerge in textures. We might build something together. We might destroy it also. We might play with ideas of object and subjecthood. We might bring forth our subjective threads of ornaments and narrations. We might story-tell, repeat, and disrupt. We will work with choreographic scores that stem from previous works and take them to another dialogue.”
photo credit: Taina Koistinen