Finnish dancer to perform in Jakarta

Finnish dancer to perform in Jakarta

The Jakarta PostB, Jakarta

Choreographer and dancer Tommi Kitti is one of Finland's leading
contemporary dance artists.

He and his dance company are due to perform at 8 p.m. on Sept.
30 and Oct. 1 at Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki,
Central Jakarta, as part of Art Summit Indonesia 2004. Tickets
will be available at Rp 20,000 and Rp 30,000.

In a career spanning three decades, according to the summit,
he has danced with, among others, the Cullberg Ballet, the
Helsinki City Theater, Raatikko Dance Company and the Finnish
National ballet.

As a choreographer, he has created over 40 works both in
Finland and abroad.

Tommi Kitti has been granted the highest artists awards in
Finland, including the Finnish National Arts Award in 2000 and
the Pro Finlandia medal in 2003.

Tommi Kitti & Co. was founded in 2000. The repertoire of the
company consists of even length and shorter ensemble works as
well as Tommi Kitti's solos.

The company's virtuosity and intimate human relationship to
dance have firmly established Tommi Kitti & Co. at the forefront
of Finnish and international contemporary dance.

Kitti has commented on the forthcoming performance as follows:
"The music for this dance work was recorded in Chennai in January
2001, as a collaboration between Finnish and Indian musicians.

"Though I am the composer of all the selections, on this
record the creative input of the performing musicians is even
more important than usually.

"The musicians of my own Nada ensemble, Pentti Lahti, Heikki
Nikula, Sampo Lassila and Markus Ketola, bring to the music their
wide-ranging experience of jazz and classical music.

"The group of top Indian musicians, led by rhythm maestro
Karaikudi R. Man, lends a strong flavor of Indian music to the
compositions.

"In my role as composer, I have sought to build a totality in
which all the elements integrate seamlessly, and in which each
musician has ample space to develop his own fantasies.

"The composer provides the starting point and the form to the
improvisations of the ensemble of musicians. The choreographer
interprets the results of the musicians' collaboration through
his own movement language."

Tommi Kitti's choreography seldom reflects the surface of the
music. He delves deep into melodies and rhythms, revealing the
inner dynamics of their structure. At times, the dance proceeds
in opposition to the music for a few moments; in dialogue,
commenting.

Most often, however, Tommi's dance moves together with the
music, but the contact between the music and dance is always
light, almost playful.

In the end, the swing does not come from the dancers charging
from one end of the stage to the other, but from the way they
emphasize and bring to light the progression of musical rhythms
through the finely-tuned phrasing of their own movement.