Veronika Lindberg: Thesis project Saudade

17.12.2015 0 Tykkää 0 kommenttia

I got the idea for the premise of my thesis project from feelings of distance and absence with a person close to me. I was taken aback by moments when a person who was spiritually and physically close to me suddenly started to feel strange and absent. I felt a sense of longing and unfamiliarity with this person who was dear to me and right there by my side. The Portuguese word ‘saudade’ describes a longing for something that isn’t there, a deep sense of nostalgia and melancholy. It’s an ambiguous feeling of something constantly missing.

There are four people on stage, and for them, being in the present moment causes twisting and turning of joints. These four contorting figures don’t really know how to survive in the world, but they try to find their place, adapt and encounter other people in a constant state of rearranging. They gather around hollow kitchen ruins, where social interaction in everyday life becomes distorted and the space is filled with phantom sounds from the past. In between the logic of incessant building up and tearing down, we see flashes of absurd frozen images: a woman with her head sunk in the kitchen sink, school girls who are smiling to the camera warily, four figures who jam themselves in the same tiny closet while surrounded by immense space.

I feel that we created a performance that is set in a world that is nostalgic and somewhere in the past, but light and playful at the same time.

– Veronika Lindberg

Choreography: Veronika Lindberg (TeaK, artistic thesis project of MA in Dance Performance)
Sound design: Markus Lindén (TeaK)
Lighting design: Anniina Veijalainen (guest)
Set design: Sari Paljakka (Aalto Arts)
Performers: Soili Huhtakallio (TeaK), Veronika Lindberg (TeaK), Tiina Santavuo (TeaK), Elisa Tuovila (TeaK)

Teksti on julkaistu aiemmin Taideyliopiston IssueX-lehdessä.