Zero Gravity Company: Iiris Collective

The Zero Gravity Company is a modern circus company established in 2010. Since its foundation, the group has been gently pushing its own limits and those of the circus arts.

The group’s latest production, IIRIS, started with workshops held in the summer of 2015, in which the director Reija Tapaninen wanted to try creating a circus performance through improvised exercises. After the workshops, 17 circus artists signed up for the project. The collective is complemented by sound designer Joonas Pehrsson, costume designer Annika Saloranta and lighting designer Anniina Veijalainen.

The themes and dramaturgical structure of IIRIS revolve around the T. S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men (1925). The poem’s bleak depiction of the state of mankind inspired the collective to explore the question: could things be different? How?

In the Saari Residence, the collective will start its collaboration by immersing itself in group dynamics and various improvised exercises. The goal of the residency period is to create, for future residencies, guidelines on working as a group and building a performance.

The performance will premiere in Verkatehdas, Hämeenlinna on 5 May 2017.

COLLECTIVE: Reija Tapaninen, Joonas Pehrsson, Annika Saloranta, Anniina Veijalainen, Netta Lepistö, Susanna Keski-Kohtamäki, Salla Hakanpää, Elina Sirkiä, Sanni Sarlin-Takayama, Mia Silvennoinen, Satu Hakamäki, Marjukka Erälinna, Petra Lesonen, Saana Peura, Vilja Parkkinen, Lida Kuusisto, Sanna Leinonen, Helmi Lähteenmäki, Heidi Miikki, Sara Nurminen and Vesa Purokuru