Kuopio dance festival - been there, seen some

As I promised myself I have finally managed to go to Kuopio Tanssii ja Soi festival. I have seen three performances:
- Lost blanket - free entrance, for kids
- Skånes Dansteater - contemporary dance performance
- Ballet Argentino

I went to see the first performance because an acquaintance was performing there. I also thought that because it is meant for children I might be able to understand it :D The show was lovely. Main plot: a girl loses her favourite blanket and travels around the world with her "friend" - button to search for the blanket. So she visited snowy part of the world (picture), she travelled seas on a chest (picture), went to Africa to finally find her blanket and return home. There was live music - band and some vocalists making various sounds that created the atmosphere of different places visited.

Second show (by Skånes Dansteater) was quite a different one. Contemporary dance, at least as I have seen it in this show, is about creating a message to the audience with the bodies and music. So I couldn't make out any plot and focused on impressions. There were two parts. The first part of the performance was very dark and even frightening at some points. Dancers weren't like humans, there was something mechanical about them. Music was dark and gloomy. Second part was more lively, more dancers at the stage at the same time, but still it was not the most cheerful show I have seen.Maybe the reason for the dark, gloomy atmosphere was the fact, that one of the choreographers was Finn :)

The third show was my favourite: it was lively, with great music, at some points it was even funny. Smaller parts of the show were combined by a lady singing with a strong voice in Spanish. Unfortunately I was not able to understand her singing, but her voice conceived passion, love, tragedy on a different than linguistic level. If somebody has seen Mulholland Drive by Lynch there is also a lady singing in Spanish - the lady during the show was singing in a similar manner. Also in Almodovar's High Hills this motive has been used. It spices the show with emotions.

So apart from the entertaining part with some ladies-gentlemen plot there was a room for a bit of thinking, consideration. Therefore I think this was the best show I have seen. Taking pictures was forbidden so I didn't take any, therefore unfortunately I have no visual material to share with you. All in all it was worth to go and see different dance styles and different ways of creating atmosphere with music and dancing people. Hopefully next year there is also an interesting programme to choose from.

I hope you liked my report! Until next post!