Press quotes

 

SKIN HUNGER / Dance House Helsinki 2023   

 

“The six dancers of the piece form a strong and highly skilled group whose mutual contact and presence is intense but light. They are also individuals, not just moving bodies. That’s why, when you get used to the new sound experience, it is their dance that is the most rewarding to watch in the performance.”

Annikki Alku, Demokraatti, 26.10.2023

 

“Choreographer Johanna Nuutinen does not disappoint. SKIN HUNGER is a diamond of imagination, senses and mind-blowing contemporary dance. It is daringly strange, serenely beautiful, sensitive and powerful.”

Raisa Rauhamaa, reviewer of Theatre & Dance + Circus -magazine, 26.10.2023

 

“The show as a whole was incredibly impressive.”
“A really great multi-sensory show, I’ve never seen/experienced anything like it.”
“This piece made such an impressive statement and I will remember this piece forever.”
“An intimate, intense and meditative experience.”

Audience feedback, 25.-28.10.2023

 

SURGE / for Finnish National Ballet 6.-20.5.2022

 

“Johanna Nuutinen’s Surge exudes fine dining with many subtle flavors”

“Overall, Surge is a real hit. Johanna Nuutinen’s movement language flows strongly in waves in seamless collaboration with the music. All dancers seem to feel at home in the expression and especially Salla Eerola impresses in her solos.”

Tove Djupsjöbacka, HBL , 14.5.2022

 

“Nuutinen’s Surge paints a cosmic, at times even an apocalyptic vision.”

“I myself associate the work as a version of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which presents the cycle of a human or better, the cycle of humankind.”

“Impressive!”

Jukka O. Miettinen, Helsingin Sanomat, 7.5.2022

 

“At the latest now, Johanna Nuutinen makes a lasting breakthrough as an original artist.”

“The dancers were an incredible sight as they emerged through the fog-like stage haze, which was at times tinted with strong primary colours.”

“A performance experience which is not easily forgotten.”

Annikki Alku, Demokraatti, 9.5.2022

 

“Every aspect of this work was clear, brilliant, consistent in style and powerfully expressive.”

Minna Tawast, Teatteri&Tanssi+Sirkus, 17.5.2022

 

“Surge is a wave which dashes in and out of the dancers’ bodies and fills the space.”

“The music billowed into the space with equal strength as the dancers and continued the movement to higher spheres.”

Sara Nyberg, Etelä-Suomen sanomat

 

 

Hz / for Tero Saarinen Company 31.3.-9.5.2022

 

“I was especially impressed by the ability of the work to evoke powerful mental images.”

“Joonas Tikkanen’s technically complex, but seemingly simple visualisation and Tuomas Norvio’s soundscape are strong elements in the work along with the dancers. Together with the aggressive lighting, the soundscape takes the spectator deliberately close to the pain threshold.”

“It was especially remarkable that Tero Saarinen Company’s double bill, the opening performance of Dance House Helsinki, was so well-rounded.”

Jukka O. Miettinen, HS, 1.4.2022 

 

“The dancing in Hz was top notch. The dancers Elina Häyrynen, Natasha Lommi, Saida Solla, Eero Vesterinen and Riccardo Zandoná were like finely tuned instruments, and every part of their bodies reacted extremely sensitively to the surrounding sounds.”

Annikki Alku, Demokraatti, 1.4.2022

 

“Hz is divided in parts where various bodily impulses are expressed through the movements of the superbly dancing and intensely present five dancers.”

Kaisa Kurikka, Turun Sanomat 2.4.2022

 

“Johanna Nuutinen felt like an excellent choice as the first visiting choreographer of Tero Saarinen Company.”

“In the new creation Hz Nuutinen’s movement language feels delicious and enjoyable, the dancers impress.”

“There is a sensitivity in their skin and a deep humanity in the dancers.”

Tove Djupsjöbacka, HBL, 1.4.2022

 

 

OPIA / Zodiak – Center for New Dance 2021

 

“★★★★★” 

“A mesmerically beautiful triptych of two solos and one duet”

“I am looking forward to the two other pieces Nuutinen is working on as part of her three-year project on the senses of hearing and touch.”

Stephanie Green, broadwaybaby.com, 2021

 

“Dance films and neuroscience have always had a special role in Nuutinen’s work. Nuutinen has said that instead of movement, she is interested in physical imagination”

“Rigorous work in the intersections of art, science and social emotions has resulted in a timeless work”

“Through the polished details and precision Opia has a strength which downright sprains/warps/contorts the mind and the gaze.”

Maria Säkö, HS 2.4.2021

 

“Seedlings of the narrative and living lyrics of dance”

“The flow of movement from one dynamic to another is hypnotic to watch. Scenes filled with senses are imprinted in the body, recorded as living images and they open a path to the power of imagining and knowing by sensing”

Mia Hannula, zodiak.fi, 6.2.2021

 

“Opia as a whole is a thrilling experience, not only because of the soundscape, lights or the periodical “surge of open space”. Opia makes one ponder about the operating of the senses and their relations. The aesthetic experience opens finally to the realm of ethics.”

Kaisa Kurikka, TS, 7.9.2021

 

“The intensity of the performance is conveyed surprisingly well by the camera, which operates with the entirety and details in an empathetic and effective way.”

Jan-Peter Kaiku, Hufvudstadsbladet, 2.4.2021

 

ANON-The Act of Waiting / 2019

 

“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