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.