The invitation to DANCE ALL YEAR LONG residency got me thinking about my relationship with Kokkola. What memories do I have with the city? How do I experience the city now and how can I remember things from my childhood and the days of my youth. I grew up in Kokkola but I moved away from there in 1988. However the city has remained close to me all of my adult life and I’ve worked there various times in the past 30 years. During this residency I will be working on a project where I look into the encountering of memories and the current present through dance and human voice.
Raatihuone (the historic city hall), which will be our working space during the residency, brings a strong environment for the project. The building located in the center of the city also brings an interesting opportunity to create a contrast between modern dance and music. Moments from K will be a poetry filled dance performance in which movement, human voice and chamber music merge together. At the end of the residency the audience has the opportunity to come watch the performance at Raatihuone.
The music will be composed by Ralf Nyqvist, who is a musician and a composer from Vaasa. Members of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra are participating in this performance.
Dance: Mia Malviniemi and Nanna Rahikainen.
Quartet: Teija Pääkkönen, Annica Brännkärr, Ari Hanhikoski ja Ulla Lampela.
The performance is on Thursday the 6th of August at 6 pm. Artist talk after the performance.
Second performance at 8 pm (no artist talk after).
Limited seats available for the audience. Make sure you get a place by e-mailing: eleni@danceallyearlong.com
Dance artist Mia Malviniemi
Mia Malviniemi is a freelance choreographer and dancer from Vaasa, Finland. She has been working in the field of dance since 1996 when she graduated as a choreographer from Theater Academy. Malviniemi lived and worked in Helsinki until the year 2008. She used to be part of the organisation Tanssimaisterit ry as a choreographer. In 2008 she moved to Vaasa. During her career Malviniemi has worked in various different projects and theaters around the Kokkola-Seinäjoki-Vaasa region. She has created 27 dance performances and several choreographies for musicals, operas, musical theatres, circus and revue shows. Some of her most notable performances are Hero Colours (2019), People Pollution (2017 & 2018), Sydämen kukat (2016), People Conflictus (2015) and Hiljaisuus (2014). In 2018 a dance film called Roots was first premiered and Mia was responsible for the choreography in the firm. The film was awarded at the 2018 Screendance festival in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2011 she founded Malviniemi Company dance group and works as its artistic leader. She has been awarded the Finnish state grant in 1999, 2013, 2014 (6 months) and 2015 (6 months). In 2018 she was also given an annual artist grant by the Etelä-Pohjanmaa culture fund. Malviniemi received the 2013 dance artist award at the Krea-gala in Vaasa, Finland. In her artistic work she has worked extensively with musicians and composers. Since 2010 she has collaborated with musician and composer Ralf Nyqvist on their performance series called “People”. The use of live music has become a signature element in the dance performances of Malviniemi.
In her work Malviniemi has also designed and led many projects as well as worked as a producer and publicist for the Malviniemi Company. Mia worked as the artistic director for the Winterdance in Kokkola festival in 2012 and between the years 2015 and 2018. She has been actively participating in developing the visibility and accessibility of dance arts in the region of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaa). In 2012 she was the regional dance artist of the Pohjanmaa arts committee.
Malviniemi is experienced in working with applied arts. In 2016 she worked on a dance performance ‘Sydämen kukat’, which was targeted at elderly people with memory illnesses. The next year, in 2017, she was a culture designer at the culture center of Vaasa. During that year she designed and coordinated the pilot of Taiteilija kotona ("Artist at home"). Since then Taiteilija kotona has become part of her work every year. It is a project directed at elderly people who live at their homes but are unable to go out on their own.
During 2017-2019 Malviniemi was a member of the Finnish dance and circus artists association’s board. Currently she is on the board of Pohjanmaan tanssi ry which in charge of the region’s dance activities.
Dance photo: Ulla Nikula
Profile photo: Ville Lindberg
