Virpi Pahkinen
THREE SOLOS
Sagittarius A, Prayer, Morpho Z
This solo evening starts with Sagittarius A and enters the realm of darker domains. Archer of the Milky Way waits in the silence of the horizon. She collects moonbeams and chases in rhytmical spirals. Wrapped in silver and black fabrics she sends a reflection of Aurora Borealis behind herself and in the end seems to float freely in the space.
The second piece, is a meditative Prayer to the gentle sounds of Japanese bells. It triggers the imagination with the visions of a pharaoh changing into a cobra and a butterfly leaving it´s cocoon.
In the last solo, Morpho Z, the sounds of the jungle leads the spectator to the winding path, where Mercy´s iron goddess stretches out the braided root. Wild birds are shouting, the movements get hectic until the dancer finds an emerald green symmetry and radiates out clarity of mind.
choreography and dance: Virpi Pahkinen
music: Akemi Ishijima, Jonas Sjöblom, Luis Cortés
light design: Erik Wiedersheim-Paul, Miriam Helleday
costume design: Helene Thorsell
Press quotes
She is a wandering desert, a stupa incarnate.
Dagens Nyheter, Sweden 13/10 2009
In the final section the fabric unfolds like wings and Pahkinen is transformed into Nike, enveloped in Japanese composer Ishijima´s delicate bells.
Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden 9/10 2009
Tan bello como impresionante fue el tercer solo de Virpi, Morpho Z.
El dominio del fisico y la total concentración en sus evoluciones no estuvieron peleados con la pasión que despedia en cada movimiento.
Mazatlán Interactivo, Mexico 20/4 2008
The aura which surrounds Virpi Pahkinen is truly magnificent.
Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden 28/3 2008
Finland-born and Sweden-based Virpi Pahkinen has been successfully touring the world in her dual role as choreographer and solo dancer. Her solos have met critical acclaim in over 40 countries including Australia, Mexico, South Africa and Lebanon. She has also created works for several companies as Ballet Poznanski, Vietnamese National Opera Ballet, North 59° and The Young Dance Company.
Her musicality and her interest in light as architecture has attracted artists of the highest quality, the lighting designer Jens Sethzman for instance, the composer Akemi Ishijima and live-musicians such as Jon Rose (violin,etc.) and Sussan Deyhim (song).
Recently The Swedish Section of International Association of Theatre Critics awarded The 2009 Dance Price with motivation: "Virpi Pahkinen is one of Swedish dance’s most unique artists. In her solo work she creates her own universe through her vibrant musicality and sense of form. Her distinct and extremely flexible gestalt seems at times to have crawled out from the dry waves of vast desert, at other times to be a transparent membrane for cosmic power”.
www.pahkinen.com
[photo José Figueroa]
