Alpo Aaltokoski Company: Ali & Alpo | Ethno Contemporary Ballet: Fertility

A pair of dance performances: Ali & Alpo combining Arabic traditional music and Finnish contemporary dance, and Ukranian group's piece Fertility.

Alpo Aaltokoski Company: Ali & Alpo

Arabic traditional music and Finnish contemporary dance meet in an escaping dialogue

“There is a man, dance and music. That’s all it takes, they are enough to say a great deal, and straight from the heart. It brings a lump to your throat. […] It is hard to hold back the tears, at the very latest, when both dancer and musician come on stage for the final bows.” Helsingin Sanomat 17.3.2017

The original aim of Ali & Alpo – a joint work by Iraqi oud lute virtuoso Ali Alawad and choreographer and dance artist Alpo Aaltokoski – was to expand the dialogue between music and dance into a co-existence, and ultimately a dialogue, between two mutually alien cultures; to contemplate the similarities and differences between Arabic and Western art and culture. But things turned out differently.

The rejection of Alawad’s asylum applications dramatically affected the genesis of the work, and its final form. In order to avoid forced repatriation, Alawad fled Finland in March 2017 – two weeks before the premiere. Nevertheless, Ali & Alpo was staged according to Alawad’s wishes, since he still took part in the performance via a video projection. The piece touchingly brings out the human experience of and a human viewpoint on the consequences of an increasingly restrictive asylum policy.

Alawad and Aaltokoski began collaborating in spring 2016, when Alawad took part in the celebration of Aaltokoski’s 30 years as an artist at the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki. Ali Alawad had arrived in Finland as an asylum seeker in September 2015. In the past few years, he had been forced to keep his profession secret in his home country of Iraq. “Working as a musician in Iraq can be risky, since some extremist groups see being a professional musician as contrary to Islam,” Alawad says.

Team
Choreography and Dance: Alpo Aaltokoski
Music: Ali Alawad
Light Design: Kari Gratseff / Kalle Paasonen
Sound Design: Johanna Storm
Costume Design: Marja Uusitalo
Video Shooting: Thomas Freundlich
Video Script: Alpo Aaltokoski
Video Editing: Joe Davidow
Photography: Alejandro Lorenzo, Tanja Ahola
Production: Alpo Aaltokoski Company and Culture Centre Caisa

Duration: 40 minutes
Premiere 15.3.2017 Kulttuurikeskus Caisa, Helsinki
Summerhall Lustrum Award 2019 for best festival moments

Ethno Contemporary Ballet: Fertility

Ukranian Ethno Contemporary Ballet group’s work handles a woman’s experience of creation in the midst of humility, disobedience and girlish passion. How does gentle friendship turn into a bitter battle.

“Fertility / rite that brings abundance “
Who are they?
Where and why do they drag their stones?
What prevents them from getting rid of this heavy burden?
Fear of something higher and not subject to simple human understanding...
... or do they themselves represent it above?
What must a woman go through to give birth?
What tests does the Goddess face on the way, before creating something?
They carefully carry their Dharma’s in fine sieves.
They will not be able to sow a single seed until they have lived it all! The road became...
Girlish passion and obsession.
A tender friendship turns into a bitter struggle.
Humility and disobedience.
The old must die, because only death can give birth to life!
A stalk of wheat dries under the scorching rays of the July sun...
Its grain sprouts through the warm, soft earth... and the dance begins.

Approximate performance duration: 30 min
Stage directors and choreographers: Vadim Esaulenko and Nina Bulgakova
Artists: Anastasia Mostovaya, Nina Bulgakova, Ekaterina Zhuravleva
Musical accompaniment: DakhaBrakha (Ukraine); Laboratorium Pieśni / Song Laboratory (Poland)

Tickets 20 € / 15 €
Combined duration: ca 1 h 30 min, including an intermission