Ismo Dance Company A Photo Remains, photography exhibition

A Photo Remains – A photographic overview of Ismo-Pekka Heikinheimo’s choreographies 

The themes of Heikinheimo’s dance works explore communication between people through movement, dance, spatiality, light, costumes and set design. The specific themes include gender, sexuality, the aesthetics of the body, the relationship between dance and architecture, and the way that the dancer interacts with light.

Together with his collaborators, Heikinheimo has created several large-scale dance productions for the theatre hall of Cultural Centre Stoa, including the works Tule pian sillä näen tähtiä (1992), ToF (1998), Afrodisias (2000) and Paina Nappia! (2002), three of which premiered at the Helsinki Festival. The photos of the works were all taken by photographer Sakari Viika.

Sakari Viika is one of the best-known Finnish photographers to have captured dance on film. The long-running collaboration between Viika and Heikinheimo began back in 1991 when he filmed the work Jokamiehen niksikirja, which was created for Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth. This collaboration has resulted in the documentation of almost 40 choreographies through photography. The photographs help to shed light on the history of Finnish dance.

Examples of other photographers featured in the exhibition include Minna Hatinen, Matti Häyrynen and Risto Salmijärvi.

Exhibition open during Wed 23.9.2026 – Sun 11.10.2026, within Stoa’s opening hours:
Mon– Thu 8–20
Fri 8–18
Sat 10–16
​​​​​​​Sun 12–18
and during events held in Stoa.

Free entry