Ballet Finland It’s Time

The program consists of contemporary dance works by three leading Finnish choreographers. Works created by Hanna Brotherus and Johanna Nuutinen for Ballet Finland dancers both premiered in 2024, and the evening concludes with Kenneth Kvarnström’s joyful and beloved classic Carmen?!. The evening is organized by Ballet Finland.

Song of Sorrow

Hanna Brotherus’ Song of Sorrow is a stirring outburst of energetic dance by seven movement professionals of different ages and backgrounds, reaching for the simultaneous lightness and weight, sorrow and hidden beauty. 

“We walk through our grief in ignorance until we suddenly realize that we share the same burden with others. Despite our differences and different backgrounds, it is precisely these differences that made it possible for us to connect with each other in the empty space.” 

EVER 

Johanna Nuutinen’s work EVER focuses on the ambiguity of the concept of the end. The end can mean an inevitable conclusion, a pause or a transition, but it can also be a new beginning or a continuum in which nothing really ends, but rather transforms into something new. The work invites the viewer to pause and reflect on what “the end” means to them – and whether anything is truly “over forever.” Joonas Pehrsson’s sound design and Lauri Porra’s composition Matter create a rich atmospheric framework for the work. 

Carmen?! 

Kenneth Kvarnström’s beloved classic Carmen?! premiered in Kuopio in 1993. Since then, it has been performed in various configurations and forms around the world, usually with four male dancers and always without a female lead in the role of Carmen. The version now on display has been spiced up with some new elements. The music is Rodion Shchedrin’s dramatic and rich Carmen suite.