ANON – The Act of Waiting
ANON
(adverb)
in a short time; soon
at another time Archaic
at once; immediately.
Is tolerance of waiting essential to our growth and development as people?
Who has the power to keep others waiting and who agrees to wait? Who do we wait with?
In her latest work ANON – The Act of Waiting choreographer Johanna Nuutinen utilises her customary medium of virtuoso dance to explore the unavoidable senses of surrendering and uncertainty created by waiting. ANON also examines the temporary communities created by the act of waiting and questions the power structures of waiting.
The ever accelerating pace of life is a global phenomenon. To combat the fragmentation of our concentration we have to make a conscious effort to focus longer on a single thing and accept the amount of time a slower development takes. ANON questions our perception of time, gently inviting us to slow our pulse and bring our focus to the detailed physicality of the performers. The critics have described the work as bold, captivating and intense. The performers have been praised for their capacity to flow through the different dynamics of the movement effortlessly. The all-Finnish design team offers visually captivating stage imagery and strong aural experiences wrapped up in delicate costume design. The universal theme of time is something everyone, despite their nationality, can relate to.
Depending on the stage or the auditorium the audience gets to choose their seats from in the round audience structure or from a conventional seating plan which faces the stage from one end of the room.
PRESS
“Nuutinen is a master of creating in-depth well-planned, strongly visual works of art. She has found something very own and is already a name that is also in demand internationally.”
Jenny Jägerhorn / HBL 23.11.2018
“Nuutinen takes the mundane event of waiting and creates aesthetically polished art out of it. Waiting shows itself as a diverse and fluctuating psychophysical state. The dancers Jenna Broas and Oskari Nyyssölä’s movement flow from one dynamic to another is pure unyielding intensity.”
Mia Hannula / Liikekieli.com 18.2.2019
“ANON – The Act of Waiting is a bold and captivating work. Choreographer Johanna Nuutinen shows that with enough patience and skill, the body tells everything. The duet speaks its own language and demands a perfect physical and psychological presence.”
Raisa Rauhamaa / Teatteri ja Tanssi + Sirkus 1/19
“Jenna Broas and Justus Pienmunne’s dance doesn’t have a single misstep, no unnecessary ranting nor a single extra word of body language. The movement is plastic, economical and natural; like magma that various mediums form into skilful sculptures. Sound designer Tuuli Kyttälä and Joonas Tikkanen, who designed the impressive visuals, squeeze the intense atmosphere to its limit, when the lifeforms’ greed of space, light and the mastery of the movement inside the glass cube grows.”
Laura Laakso / Keskisuomalainen 28.9.2019
“In addition to a strong emotional tension the performance also made for beautiful viewing. … As a whole, ANON was a perfectly formed and intensive experience that met the expectations created by its theme.”
Linnea Peurakoski / Kujerrus -blog 9/19
“I completely agree with the person sitting next to me who said that the performance got under their skin. It was at the same time therapeutic and cleansing. I could have watched this soulful story forever.”
Kirsti Päärnilä / Blyygi Blumsteri -blog 11/19
“The performance was like a holy meditation where small is beautiful and nothing is not too slow to still be beautifully alive and full of energy. The dancers did an amazing journey within themselves and together. The physical language is bare and clear. I felt that I was at the very source of life, in a state where waiting is rewarded. I thought that is was wonderful that I had the permission to just be and wait, not alone but together with the dancers.”
Audience feedback
LENGHT
55 – 65 min
TEAM
CHOREOGRAPHY
Johanna Nuutinen
DANCE
Jenna Broas, Oskari Nyyssölä / Justus Pienmunne
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN
Tuuli Kyttälä
SCENOGRAPHY AND LIGHT DESIGN
Joonas Tikkanen
DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT
Miranda Laurence, Jarkko Lehmus
COSTUME DESIGN
Erika Turunen
PRODUCING
Johanna Nuutinen
SUPPORTERS
Finnish Cultural Foundation
Arts Promotion Centre Finland
City of Helsinki
Seoul Dance Center
Zodiak – Center for New Dance