Moving in November Matilda Aaltonen: To follow your tail

Halla, Sumu, Viima, and Lumi are foxes who have escaped from fur farms and now live at the Tuulispää Animal Sanctuary. Over the course of a year, dancer and choreographer Matilda Aaltonen has visited them and learned to dance with them. She has stepped among the foxes, leaving behind the anthropocentric view of art.

To follow your tail is a leap into the fox’s perspective—one in which understanding the other does not depend on human language. Instead, a new language must be learned: the language of movement, play, and presence. The performance weaves together video art, dance, and poetry. It reveals the many shades of our relationship with other animals and invites us to sense a connection that moves across species boundaries.

Premiering at Moving in November, To follow your tail is the first examined part of Aaltonen’s artistic doctoral research. Conducted at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, the research explores dancers’ practices of performing with nonhuman animals.

Together with Aaltonen, the artistic working group includes Jani-Matti Salo, Pauliina Haasjoki, Jussi Ulkuniemi, Jo Sulalampi, and Joonatan Aaltonen.

Language: Finnish and English

Please note: After the performance on the 12th of November, there will be a discussion titled Dancing with foxes, where Matilda Aaltonen and Laura Gustafsson will focus on animal and fox perspectives. The talk is organized together with Eläinoikeusakatemia, and it will be held in Finnish. Conversation starts at 21.30.

The performance is part of Moving in November 5.–15.11.2026. As part of the festival, Aaltonen will take part in an open Soup Talks discussion on the 14^th of November at noon in Eskus.