​Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing is dirt and dancing in various forms.
Dirty Dancing is foul stench and incredible beauty.
Dirty Dancing is a strange orgy.
Dirty Dancing is making a mess.
Dirty Dancing is cleaning up.
Dirty Dancing is stained pop.
Dirty Dancing is hedonism.
Dirty Dancing is pastel tones.
Dirty Dancing is sensitive and majestic.
Dirty Dancing is death.

Dirty Dancing has its starting point in the dance film with the same title. Made in the 1980s, this popular culture gem is set in 1963 when dancing mambo was considered dirty and inappropriate. This Dirty Dancing is not a copy of that film, but a performance about dirt and dancing. In the center of the performance is a state of ambivalence in which actions we might consider ugly or repulsive can also appear as beautiful or even arousing.

Dirt is only apparent when set against order. During the piece, the performers work with form and formlessness, order and disorder, creating the dramaturgy anew in each performance. Every performance reaches toward the uncontrollable, letting the movement, music and space organise themselves
from the inside. 

Concept and direction: Juni Klein & Jarkko Partanen
Choreography: working group 
Performers: Hanna Ahti, Wilhelm Grotenfelt, Samuli Laine, Aksinja Lommi & Heidi Soidinsalo
Scenography / lighting design: Samuli Laine
Sound design: Heidi Soidinsalo 
Pproduction: Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Anni Klein, Jarkko Partanen 
Residency support: Kanuti Kildi SAAL (Tallin, EST)
Premiere: October 2014 - Zodiak Center for New Dance
Photos Katri Naukkarinen
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Samuel Huber Fundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation

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