Burning Bridges

Hard things to Swallow is a moral-philosophical contemporary performance and an orally fixated show. The piece combines elements of theatre, dance, and acrobatics—text, movement, and tricks. Its thematic focus includes responsibility, the avoidance of responsibility, rehearsal, and swallowing as a repetitive act. During the Saari Residence, the working group begins their collaborative process on the project.

PIPSA 

Pipsa Enqvist (MA, MTA) is a dramaturg, director and screenwriter who works both in the free field of art and in institutions. She is interested in multi-materiality as a principle of art making, broad temporal perspectives, playing with traditions, and sincerity on stage. 

Enqvist has been awarded the Koura Grand Prize (2025) for the fiction series What Would Samira do (YLE) and the Norwegian Short Film Festival Critics Award (2022) for the short film “The Director”. She is a member of Theatre “Kolmas tila” and the playwrights’ association “Tekstin ydin”.  

CAMILLA 

Camilla Rantanen is a dramaturg, playwright, scriptwriter, and performance maker. Since graduating from the Theatre Academy of the Arts University Helsinki, Rantanen has worked with wide variety of media, especially in the realms of stage and audio. Currently, she is especially interested in text and its potential in abstract contexts. The core values that run through Rantanen’s work are consent, playfulness, and a transparent relationship with both the working group and the audience. She is a board member of the playwrights’ association “Teksti”. Among her works, the audio drama ‘Stripparit virantoimituksessa’ has received international attention, representing Finland at the 2021 Prix Europa. 

BURNING BRIDGES
Enqvist and Rantanen together form the collective “Burning Bridges.” In addition to their shared background in dramaturgy, they are connected by a mutual understanding of essayistic stage aesthetics, a passion for extensive background research, a sense of justice, and shared adversaries. Through their work, they aim to challenge perceptions of high culture and the boundaries between art forms. They are drawn to grandeur, text, and the coexistence of complete images. They cultivate a stage language that does not conform to drama or any single technique. For the piece Hard Things to Swallow, Rantanen and Enqvist have gathered a group of respected artists and friends to collaborate.

TEO 

Teo Lanerva (1988) 

Teo Lanerva is a freelance lighting designer (MA, Theatrical Arts) based in Helsinki, Finland. He works with contemporary performances, concerts and events ranging from small underground clubs to festivals. He has been granted a säde-award and his designs have been performed in more than ten countries. 

Lanerva’s recent works include Okon Fuoko by Alpo Aaltokoski and Kosmos – Reunion by Mikko Hyvönen at Dance House Helsinki, Koneistos at LUX Helsinki by Mechanit Project, Vaarna by Nuua at Cirko, opera FLASH FLASH composed by Juhani Nuorvala at Musiikkitalo and Espoo Theatre in the program of Musica Nova festival. 

teolanerva.com 

VILI 

Vili Pääkkö (alias Vili Aarre) is a sound-based artist working mainly in contemporary performing arts and music.

Vili makes sounds that work as premonitions. To Vili being uncertain but still audible is honest and fragile in a way that can reach beyond the everyday.

In June 2025 Vili is interested in mountains, tuning, dreams and being underwater. 

CORINNE 

Corinne Mustonen is a contemporary dancer, actor and writer. Corinne is commited to practising, sharing and facilitating multidisciplinary, corporeal art. All of the art they make and/or organises, derives from or relates intimately to the body; to their physical body, to other bodies, to otherwordly bodies and the to the contexts that these bodies manifest through.