Seuraksi (to accompany), 2013                                                                                                                               

Seuraksi ("to acompany") was created for Haapajärvi's Herättäjäjuhlat, summer festival of this humble and pietistic religious movement inside of Finnish Evangelican Lutheran church. Piece conforms the stucture of the meetings inside the movement, speeches and psalms taking turns with peacefull and thoughtfull silence.

Dance has been traditionally avoided and even seen as bad thing in this movement as in so many others so it was thrilling to meet all expactations of what might dance in this comunity and more importantly about these themes and psalms be like. Piece got warm welcome and audience singing along with the loved psalms. Dance arouses from bodiment of modesty, cultural codes of religion and this particular movement, it searches it's way throuhg the rythm of the psalms and effects that singing and dancing at the same time have to the body. It asks if we can be accepted as we are and argues that we share movement in our human bodies wether we dance or not.

Concept and direction: Soili Huhtakallio
Dance and choreography: Soili Huhtakallio, Elisa Keisanen, Anna Kupari, 
Johannes Purovaara, Katja Sallinen, Katriina Tavi and Elisa Tuovila
Music: Psalms of the Sion
Duration: 60 min
Premier: Haapajärvi, 2013
Photos: Jouko Lassila