Reetta-Kaisa Iles I Ville Rauhala I Janne Teivainen: Gallinago gallinago – A corporeal concerto for dancing, double bass, and electronics.

The Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a kind of mythical bird, whose rattling call brings good luck in the evenings, but at night is said to be a harbinger of death.

It is a soul-bird, especially for old women. Within the snipe lives the soul of a
gambler who has cheated death; one who, unable to enter Heaven or Hell, is
doomed to forever soar between worlds.

“We, the insignificant gray rattlers, wade through life trying to escape our inevitable
end. We fear death so much that we dare not live. We fear life, because it reminds
us too much of death.”*

The musical backbone of the work is created by a dialogue between the human
voice, double bass, and electronics. Visuals and fashion design – strongly inspired
by Karelian folklore – create a unique performance universe, whose core is a dark,
archaic-avant-garde sound world. The performative narrative is shaped by the
synthesis of movement and the human voice, where dance merges with breathing,
singing power, rustic ethnic tones, and spoken word. The creators draw from both
folk traditions and 1970s New York loft jazz. The multilingual texts are closer to
post-pop poetry than to traditional song lyrics.

A beautiful and macabre concerto for all of us poor souls who have lost our power, who have exchanged our shamans for pop stars.

Duration: 1 h

Vocals, dance, choreography, composition, text: Reetta-Kaisa Iles
Double bass, composition, sound design, text: Ville Rauhala
Lighting and video design, sound design, text: Janne Teivainen
Performers: Reetta-Kaisa Iles, Ville Rauhala, Janne Teivainen
Costume design: Antrea Kantakoski
Harri Kuorelahti: concept mentoring / tour production
Mortti Saarnia: photography

Reetta-Kaisa Iles is a doctoral researcher in the MuTri Doctoral School for Artists at
the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Gallinago Gallinago is
the first artistic component of her doctoral research. The work has been supervised
by choreographers Ervi Sirén and Elina Pirinen, as well as researcher Anne
Tarvainen.

*Quote: Reetta-Kaisa Iles