Seireenien laulu

Our objective at the Saari Residence is to work on a stage performance piece called Sirens’ Song, which combines elements of dance with human voices. Our working group consists of dance artists Johanna Karlberg, Ella-Noora Koikkalainen, Taru Koski and Lotta Suomi, sound designer Miki Brunou, set designer Bea Tornberg and choreographer Heli Keskikallio.

The piece celebrates the female voice, body and space. It paints a landscape contoured by echoes of strange and peculiar female bodies. Underpinning the whole performance is an ethereal choral motif that ripples through the bodies and shakes the foundations of being. Other premises for the work are reminiscences and utopias of feminine corporeality, fluidity, fragility and Helene Cixous’ essay Sorties. The piece is inspired by myths about sirens, echoes of feminine history and the pursuit of a feminine future.

At the Saari Residence, we will be studying the relationships between song, voice, body and movement in order to better understand the power of feminine energy and its place in the world and our society. Our goal is to escape the social, cultural and physical place that phallocentric patriarchies have created for the feminine. We want to imagine an existence and a world where diversity is possible and where differences are not derived from otherness or oppositeness. The feminine is often pushed aside and not given an opportunity to open up and flourish. The feminine is still frequently silenced – or it silences itself because it has been taught to do so. The history of the oppression of the feminine is one of the key motives driving our work. Sirens’ Song is a celebration of the female voice and its echoes, as well as a critical intervention stemming from utopian thinking and an attitude based on love.