Ira Wuolle, Mia Jaatinen and Janina Rajakangas have created choreographies for the students of Dance School Tanssivintti, to be performed on Zodiak Stage.
The starting point of Ira's choreographpy has been the personal dreams, hopes, and aspirations of the dancers in the Nuoret tanssijat (Young Dancers) group — as well as their concerns and fears related to the future, being a dancer and an artist, and the world we live in. The piece creates a space on stage where each performer’s individual dreams intersect and interact with the shared need for togetherness. Another guiding theme of the process has been the group's collective exploration of dance styles new to them — breaking and punking/whacking — through collaboration and encouraging each other to embrace new experiences.
Mia has been working with the Intensiivit group on a piece that is rooted in improvisational, task-based, and precisely structured performance work, incorporating various modes of expression and interaction. “We focus on functioning both as individuals and as a group, as well as on the themes of interaction, playfulness, and gentleness. The content emerges from the performer group itself, which is a particularly rewarding way of working.”
Janina has choreographed a piece with the Young Dancers set in an imagined swamp. The piece begins with the image of a male hero rising from the swamp, from a ruined city or other challenging terrain. But this time, it is not a man who rises from the swamp — it is a group of young people. They gather in the swamp to share knowledge about animals driven to extinction, forming a community that dances in memory of these creatures.
Nuoret tanssijat is a performing group co-organized by Tanssivintti and Zodiak, created out of the need to provide young dance enthusiasts with opportunities to practice performing and to engage with the process of creating a piece. Intensiivit is a group that has been active at Tanssivintti for decades, serving as a unique bridge between amateur dancers and the professional field.
Tanssivintti is a dance school that has operated in Helsinki for nearly 40 years, actively working to bring together dance enthusiasts and the professional dance scene. The school’s teaching includes advanced-level open weekly classes and a more in-depth program. A key aim of Tanssivintti is to serve as a support network for young people who want to pursue dance as an art form even before applying to professional dance education. During the evening, audiences will also see solo works by the students, which have been developed into a cohesive performance.
The choreographers
Ira Wuolle is a dancer-choreographer based in Helsinki and Stockholm. Her dance background is rooted in breaking and punking/whacking. Her artistic methods are characterized by multi-passionate enthusiasm, polyrhythmic curiosity, interdisciplinary tinkering, and a DIY spirit. She aims to create works based on honesty, community, warmth, and generosity. In addition to dance, she also creates rap and performance poetry.
Mia Jaatinen is a dancer-choreographer and pedagogue working in the field of contemporary dance. She holds a Master’s degree in Dance from the University of the Arts Helsinki (2015) and a degree in Dance Pedagogy from Oulu University of Applied Sciences (2013). Mia works with the Kinetic Orchestra dance group and the MMM collective. She also produces her own artistic projects, the latest of which include RIEHA (Zodiak 2023) and Red Desert (2022). As a dance artist, Mia is interested in exploring and playing with different performer-based practices, such as task-based dance, set material, partnering, and various modes of being.
Janina Rajakangas is a choreographer, performer, and teacher based in Helsinki. Janina’s works include Kielo (2025), Tanssija (2023), and Venus (2022). Her choreography has been presented at events such as the Baltic Circle International Theatre Festival, Liikkeellä marraskuussa, the CODA International Dance Festival, and in productions by Zodiak – the Center for New Dance and the Norrdans group, as well as at Kiasma and The Place theatre.
