SKIN HUNGER
Premiere 25.10.2023 at Erkko Hall, Dance House Helsinki
Visceral and hypnotic, SKIN HUNGER explores the grounding force of tactile human experience—the sense of touch.
The largest exterior interface of the nervous system, skin remains the site of our most tender and most brutal impulses. As we emerge from the radical sensory-deprivation of a global pandemic especially, the tactile takes on extra resonance: physical proximities become at once more vulnerable, more luminous.
Through the multifaceted and delicate language of movement that draws from the dance of the subconscious, SKIN HUNGER summons a powerful counterforce to the often disembodied experience of our digital age.
The audience will experience the soundscape of the performance via headphones. The binaural soundscape forms an intimate 3-dimensional sound environment for each audience member in this unique staging, creating an immersive auditory connection to the bodies of the 6 international performers.
We all receive the first and the last sensations of our lives through touch. We hope this work serves as an invitation and motivation to be more in touch with ourselves and each other.
The work is part of the SPARKS -project by Dance House Helsinki and Finnish Cultural Foundation.
SKIN HUNGER was chosen to be part of the Art Testers for Young Audiences -project!
In this project all 8th graders in Finland will get to visit an art institution.
With the support of the Art testers program around 1.400 14-year-olds will see the work at Dance House Helsinki!
More information: https://www.tanssintalo.com/en/performances/johanna-nuutinen-skin-hunger
WHY PROGRAM THE WORK?
- The piece offers top-tier contemporary dance performed by an international team.
- It creates a new kind of relationship with the audience, providing a unique viewing experience through a binaural soundscape.
- The work presents both accessible, recognisable phenomena and richly nuanced narratives that challenge the imagination.
- SKIN HUNGER was selected as one of the most impactful stage productions of 2023 by Theatre & Dance + Circus magazine
LENGHT
1h 15 min
TECHNICAL RIDER
PRESS
“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.”
“Nuutinen’s assured skill as a choreographer is familiar from her previous works. Central to them is an original starting point, an insight or an idea, where every small detail serves the whole and everything unnecessary has been cleaned away. The end result is a clear, but uncompromisingly original work of art.”
“Tuomas Norvio’s sound design is amazing. It surrounds the listener three-dimensionally, conveying the speech, breathing and steps of the dancers equipped with sensors as if directly on the skin. The auditory sensation is immersive, the sound world immerses the viewer in the middle of the stage events.When giving away the headphones, it was time to return to the noisy reality – senses stimulated and thoughts about the meaning of touch clarified.”
Raisa Rauhamaa, reviewer of Theatre & Dance + Circus -magazine, 26.10.2023
“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
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
“The show as a whole was incredibly impressive.”
“Spellbinding, sensitive, vulnerable, aurally immersive.”
“A really great multi-sensory show, I’ve never seen or 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
TEAM
DIRECTION
Johanna Nuutinen
DANCE
Auri Ahola, Jonna Aaltonen, Amie-Blaire Chartier, Jack Traylen, Yi-Chi Lee, George Pelagias
CHOREOGRAPHY
Johanna Nuutinen and the dancers
TEXT
Melissa A.Thompson, Johanna Nuutinen and dancers
SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC
Tuomas Norvio
SPACE, LIGHT and VIDEO DESIGN
Joonas Tikkanen
COSTUME DESIGN
Joona Huotari
DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT
Melissa A.Thompson
TECHNICAL PRODUCTION
Lauri Lundahl (space), Eero Keskinen (sound)
PRODUCTION
Johanna Nuutinen
CO-PRODUCTION PARTNERS
Dance House Helsinki
SUPPORTERS
Arts Promotion Centre Finland, City of Helsinki, Kone Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation