Connective patterns (2008)
Connective pattern solo combines documentary film and contemporary dance on the stage. Solo performance draws up the paths connecting us in the environment and in the body.
Photo: Päivi Kettunen/Sari Palmgren
Choreographer-dancer Sari Palmgren and cinematographer Päivi Kettunen traveled to meet six different choreographers / dancers in Europe and in Asia. They documented in Finland, the Philippines, Greece, Estonia, Thailand and Japan, describing the dancers' everyday life, their daily routines and the environment, which creates rules and structures that limit our movement. In the stage the solo performance includes dancer- choreographers Sirithorn Srichalakom from Thailand and Maria Donna Gray Miranda from the Philippines through video.
History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves. - Jared Diamond
The working group looks for structures that are created by ourselves and created by the environment, and which limits our movement. How are we communicating with our environment and each other? What are the body patterns and habits? What kind of routes and routines do I do daily? Do you recognize them? What if part of a chain is broken? How does my movement here in Helsinki affects in Manila? As with the butterfly effect, small changes in the initial state or in the intermediate stages result in major changes in the system. Even a slight change in the system's momentum may lead to major changes in its future. Choreography as a broad concept means structures and their connections. All structures and systems are interconnected; the system can not be viewed without its environment.
Choreographer Sari Palmgren met with these Asian and European dancer -choreographers in Japan, Tokyo, at ASEF's Pointe to Pointe workshop in September 2005. Soolo is the first part of the Connective patterns project, the second part is an independent Dance documentary film that premiered at the Loikka Dance Film Festival 2015.
Total length of the performance: 30 min.
Press quotes
Sari Palmgren's Connective Patterns, a dance that is both dramatically and visually monumental. Rarely, the video, space and the dance face so full-bodied way. From personal, even casual starting point the performance is expanding to global, urban cultural analysis and criticism. -Jukka O. Miettinen, Helsingin Sanomat 27.4.2008
(Connective Patterns) was physical, which was charming. The solo specifically drew attention to itself and during the performance it was not necessary to think about any meanings.
Sari Palmgren's style was playfully risk taking, and it was pleasant and flowing to watch when the dancer knows her own body so well. When I returned home I began to observe my environment and everyday life in a new way. -Heini Tuoresmäki, Liikekieli.com 2008
The performance brought out cultural, environmental processes and spaces, and on the other hand, transcultural links that make it possible to understand that we are facing the same things, for example, the transitions and how they relate to meanings or meaningless. That we are all in the same boat, even though the transitional ways are variable and the local proportions are different. -Katja Keränen, Liikekieli.com 2008
Team
Choreography and dance: Sari Palmgren
Dancers on video: Sirithorn Srichalakom (Thailand) and Maria Donna Gray Miranda (the Philippines).
Cinematography: Päivi Kettunen
Light and video design: William Iles
Sound design: Tuomas Norvio
Production: Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Sari Palmgren
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Culture Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation and City of Helsinki
Premiere: 25.4.2008 Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Other performances: 26.4-5.4.2008, Short excerpt in Kedja encounter, Vilnius 2008
Full performance video and rider by request: sari.palmgren(at)gmail.com