Sari Palmgren is a choreographer, dancer and performer. She works widely in the dance sector with stage works, immersive and site-specific works, theatre, different social choreography projects and dance films. Since the 2000s she has created performances that have been presented at festivals and venues in Finland and internationally, including Zodiak– Center for New Dance, Routa Company, Rimpparemmi, Helsinki City Dance Company, Helsinki Festival and Seoul International Dance Festival. Palmgren graduated with a master’s degree from the Department of Dance at the Theatre Academy of Finland.
Her recent works have dealt with the animalistic side of humans, mortality, power structures, posthumanism and the state of the environment. Palmgren has been working as the in-house choreographer at Zodiak – Center for New Dance 2019-2021. Since august 2023 Sari Palmgren has been working as artistic director at Routa Company.
Choreographer Sari Palmgren's latest work, Last Dance, is a poignant ballad of biodiversity loss set against a soundtrack of popular hits. Infused with hope, the piece envisions a shift in the human-nature relationship – turning towards the other and the unknown – before the last shared dance.
A weary hiker becomes one with the landscape and confronts their limits. On a hummock of moss, through the lens of a microscopic world, they revisit their wilted connections – and rediscover a fragile bond.
Individuals form pairs Pairs form chains Chains create networks I imagine stems twining around me Branching, merging, swaying When a plant and fungus embrace, it’s hard to imagine a more intimate connection.
Last Dance premiered in Kajaani, Finland on November 28, 2024. On Zodiak Stage the work will be seen eight times starting on February 27, 2025.
