Works
Resurrecting Dead Darlings - A Palindromic Process of Artistic Rebirth
(2024-)
Thar Be Dragons' three-phase project, Resurrecting Dead Darlings - A Palindromic Process of Artistic Rebirth, explores how unused ideas and personal documentary archives can be brought back to life through redefining performance. The project is divided into three phases: incubation, gestation and birth/resurrection.
In 2024, we will start the first phase of our three-part project, incubation. Dance artists Ryan Mason and Annamari Keskinen and sound designer Timo Tikka will resurrect their creativity by searching, archiving, curating and sharing their dead darlings in their new incarnations. The project emphasises the artistic process as a dynamic journey - a continuous change, an embrace of the unfinished and a platform for creative exploration, which also embodies the symbiotic relationship and interaction between makers and viewers. We aim to break away from the traditional stage format and its inherent hierarchical structures by placing our projects in studio and museum environments. Our aim is to continue to challenge prevailing norms about how dance is interpreted and encountered and to create a more open dialogue between the audience and the artists.
Thar Be Dragons will organize open rehearsals/demo events and actively share their artistic work online. TBD has ever evolving exposition visible now in the Research Catalogue online platform that focuses on artistic research. Stay tuned and become an integral part of this evolving artistic tapestry!
DEMOS 2024
07.03 at17:30, Hakasalmen huvila, Mannerheimintie 13 B, 00100 Helsinki
30.04 at 17:30, Hakasalmen huvila, Mannerheimintie 13 B, 00100 Helsinki
27.07 at 21:30, b12 festival/Eden studios, Breite Str. 43, 13187 Berlin
24.09 at 17:30, Tekstin talo/Permantosali, Lintulahdenkatu 3, 00530 Helsinki
The demos are free events.
PERFORMANCES 2024
K&C Space, Cable Factory, 1, C-hall, 4th floor.
Helsinki Finland
17.10 at18:00 - premiere
19.10 at 14:00 - matinee
23.10 at18:00
24.10 at 18:00
26.10 at 14:00 - matinee
30.10 at 18:00
31.10 at 18:00
02.11 at 14:00 - matinee
Choreography and performance: Annamari Keskinen & Ryan Mason/ Thar Be Dragons
Music and performance: Timo Tikka
Big thanks to our supporters!
Thar Be Dragon - production
Kekäläinen & Company - production and co-partner
Raekallio Corp. - Co-production
Supported by: Finnish Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural foundation, City of Helsinki, City of Helsinki
Partners: Hakasalmen huvila, Tekstin talo, b12 festival berlin
Picture: Manuel Meza
critical mass/b12 festival 2023
Black and white pictures at home page Nikola Majtan
b12 festival 2024
PARTICLE ACCELERATOR (2023)
Particle accelerator is a performance research project that was created by Thar Be Dragons (Annamari and Ryan) and 16 dancers during ten days in b12 festival in Berlin July 2023.
10-day performance project Particle Accelerator:
Thematically, our work explores the boundary lines of abstraction and representation through shifting proximities of sound and imagery. It is the materiality of sound and bodily illusion, where the materials extend into each other, qualities blending into a warm, detailed fuzz where a specificity, without definition, is created. the reverberations and echoes left over are singular and leave space for the interpretation of the spectator. The starting point of our work comes from the individuality of the people we work with - who they are, how they think, how they feel, and how they move with this. A significant part of this process is getting to know each other. from there, we create the artwork. our working process places the performer in a state of heightened attention, open and responsive to the different effects cohabiting the space. placing the mind and its attendance to different states that are enlivened by images or sound leaves us with the question of what xxxx feels like. what does thinking feel like?
The work was shared to public 22,,23 of July 2023
Dock 11 theater in Berlin
Concept: Thar Be Dragons (Annamari Keskinen and Ryan Mason)
Choreography: Thar Be Dragons in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Roberta Ceginskaite, Anna Roth, Nick Lamaina, António Pocinho Rivotti, Anette Toiviainen, Peaches, Jenna Davis, Alix Kuijpers, Emily Jerant Hendrickson, Mari Budgey, Chela Portillo, Salya Berraf , Nancy Martin, Olivia Kleven, Simone Ballan, Nadia Tereszkiewicz
Sound design (live): Annamari Keskinen
Light design (live): Ryan Mason
The work was commissioned by b12 festival Berlin
Full recording by Keren Chernizon
Picture:
BETWEEN THE NOT YET AND THE ALREADY NO MORE
-A synergy of four choreographic works
Between the not yet and the already no more -performance installation (2022), Masticate (2022), Sonic Bile (2022) and, Swan Song (2022)
In these four works, I focus on the flux of temporal spaces that continually change and transform within the framework of bodily discourse. My interest has predominantly lain in devising a unique performance method for interacting with soundscapes and voice, one that blurs boundaries between sounds and their corresponding actions, as well as the manner in which the body phases synchronously and asynchronously with sound, text, voice, and utterance. My recent creative endeavours have involved movement research rooted in nuanced psychological stimuli, bolstered by potent sound environments. The transformation and manipulation of sound, time, and space engender fresh connections for me, creating an interstitial space that serves as a conduit to alternative realities. A trauma-informed approach utilized in my practice, shines a light on the software or belief systems that our bodies hold, exploring their manifestations in us and revealing what lies beneath. Central to my work is the acknowledgement and embrace of our inherent vulnerability, and the recognition that strength emerges through acceptance of this deep-seated trait.
The creations can be seen as independent works or, alternatively, understood as a body of work - a network of ideas that inform and borrow from each other.
SWAN SONG (2022)
Swan Song is a death practice and a gesture of recreation performed by ten dancers. Here they look inwards and meet their pain bodies, where generational and transgenerational leftovers are prominent. Here they create a ritual of letting go, excavating space for new beginnings through their concrete corporeal and ghost bodies. The world created resembles a liminal dream-like space where meanings are ambiguous and ever-evolving. Together they create a community that calls ancestral spirit guides in the quest for healing.
Premiere: Trafo House, Budapest, Hungary 15.12.2022
Duration: 60min
Concept: Annamari Keskinen
Choreography: Annamari Keskinen in collaboration with the dancers
Sound design: Annamari Keskinen
Performance: Aggeliki Michalaki, Anna Fauro, Cecilia Weidacher, Coline Hemery, Eleonora Corelli, Fanny Mansot, Ines Lopez, Manon Campion, Opal Gelman, Shaked Tadmor
Production: SUB.LAB.PRO
Full recording by Gergely Ofner
Picture: Domolky
MASTICATE (2022)
And, this body is ours, and it does many things.
Comissioned by Sozo Visions in Motion
Created with the 3rd year students
Premiere: 15.07.2022
Choreography: Annamari Keskinen, in collaboration with the dancers
Performance: Friedrike Wagner, Franziska Ulrich, Emma Fechtner, Johanna Junghans, Sophie Sengle, Lucille Seibert, Julia Pfister, Hannah Froese, Amanda Marin
Sound design: Annamari keskinen in collaboration with Kaj Mäki-Ullakko
Production: Sozo Visions in Motion
Pictures: Karl-Heinz Mierke
Full recording by Soso Visions in Motion
SONIC BILE (2022)
Sonic Bile is a pneumatic digestion - the song of transformation, song of letting go.
Sonic Bile is a developmental process that transforms through time and space.
Through sonic and corporeal maceration, the performer churns emotions in acid dreamscapes, insides turned out. Gastric agents linger in the dripping slimy folds of skin and spectre, smiling and smacking and grimacing - the mind of the belly of bacterial emotional juice. Sonic bile bridges the distance between what was and what could be. In this work, we are looking into our bodies' generational and transgenerational leftovers. We are digesting and breathing into those spaces, exploring the potential of letting go to find a more available place for reimagining ourselves in the now.
Sonic bile -berlin premiered 02.09.2022
DOCK11, Berlin, Germany
Direction : Annamari Keskinen
Choreography: Annamari Keskinen, in collaboration with Krista Arppo
Performance: Krista Arppo
Sound design: Annamari Keskinen in collaboration with Kaj Mäki-Ullakko
Set design: Aino Koski
Production: Thar Be Dragons, in collaboration with DOCK ART
Supporters: Dance Promotion Centre Finland, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, TelepArt
Video extract by Keren Chernizon
Pictures: Jussi Ulkuniemi
Full recording by request.
Video by Karen Chernizon
BETWEEN THE NOT YET AND THE ALREADY NO MORE (2022)
performance installation
Between the not yet and the already no more - performance installation
Could developing an understanding of reality as a fluid changing state foster an availability to thrive within its flux?
In this performance we focus on temporal internal and external spaces that live in constant movement. We aim to provide a space for observation and reflection, exploring the potential for change, differences and similarities within us. Embodied conversations are concretised in sound and movement, creating an intimate encounter between 19 dancers and 500 audience members in Springboard Danse Montreal June 2022..
The performance installation was created with the dancers of Springboard Danse Montreal 2022. Annamari was invited to Springboard Danse Festival as one of the four invited emerging choreographers.
Premier 25.06.2022, Usine C, Montreal, Canada
Duration: 20min
Direction and choreography: Annamari Keskinen in collaboration with the dancers
Performance: Lou Amsellem, Abby Castora, Ilia Dergousoff, Maddie Douglas, Graham Feeny, Jazzmin James, Emily Jerant-Hendrickson, Matthew Johnson, Raven Joseph, Gabe Katz, Natalie Leibert, Daria Mikhaylyuk, Matt Retcho, Marcus Sarajeant, Lily Sheppard, Megan Siepka, Cyrie Topete, Christian Warner, Maeva Cochin
Sound design: Annamari keskinen with Kaj Mäki-Ullakko
Production: Springboard Danse Montreal
Supported by: Finnish Cultural Foundation mobility grant and Alfred Kordelin foundation
Picture: Thar Be Dragons
BLINK (2022)
Big stage production BLINK explores themes of rhizomatic thinking through identity, where inner landscapes collide with external surrealities.
BLINK is a collaborative creation between Annamari and Ryan, which Staatstheater Braunschweig commissioned in 2021. This creative process involved a company of 11 dancers, Ryan and Annamari, in conversation around overlapping spectrums of physical and emotional states or experiences. The overall structure was framed by scores developed out of long improvisation sessions guided by physical and psychological prompts within the soundscape of Curgenven’s 1-hour track, Bardo. There is an objectless presence about Bardo. It is sonically multilayered in scope: heavy drones of sub-bass layered with harmonic overtones, vinyl static, fragments of instrumentals, reverberated chambers of static overlapped with binaural frequencies, and industrial-like sounds. It contains no central plot or narrative, and its content is more experiential than representational. The soundscape provided an unpredictable rhythm of shifting tension filled with false beginnings and endings, long uninterrupted silences, and loops of faintly audible songs one might recognize but not quite place. The sonic space was often ‘empty,’ and when sound came, it never told what it was. This work offered a temporal and relational space for the performer and spectator to explore. A primary goal of the work was to avoid the definition of what was happening yet to describe it in great detail - something that Robert Curgenven’s work excels.
Premiere 18.02.2022 Staatstheater Braunschweig, großes haus
Concept, choreography, direction: Thar Be Dragons/ Annamari Keskinen & Ryan Mason
Choreography and performance: Alice Baccile, Fenia Chatzakou, Levente Bálint, Anna Degen, Brendon Feeney, Joshua Haines, Mariateresa Molino, Nils Röhner, Sofia Romano, Mátyás Ruzsom, Adrian J. Wanliss
Dramaturgy: Ira Goldbecher
Light design: Katharina Möller & Daniel Bock
Sound in the house: Thomas Bohnsack
Stage manager: Sonja Horisberger
Sound desing: Thar Be Dragons & Kaj Mäki-Ullakko
Text: Thar Be Dragons in collaboration with the performers
Video in the performance: Gregor Dobiaschowski
Production/Co-commission: Staatstheater Braunschweig
Full recording by cumana film experiment
Pictures: Lioba Schoeneck
ETERNAL RETURN (2021)
Eternal Return is a strange ride- a nod to greek tragedy, science fiction, and the Giallo.
Imagine being able to view your entire life from any vantage point. What if you could observe your older self through the eyes of your youth or watch yourself from the perspective of a houseplant in the dusty corner of your childhood living room? Set in an otherworldly waiting room, we watch as one deals with the trials and tribulations of a predetermined experience. In this uncanny space, a story unfolds and refolds in on itself, stumbling through an ineffable existence from multiple viewpoints.
Premiere 05.11.2021 Valvesali - Oulu, Finland
Duration 50min
Concept, direction and choreography: Annamari Keskinen
Performance: Annamari Keskinen, Meriheini Luoto, Ryan Mason
Original music: Meriheini Luoto
Sound design and mixing: Meriheini Luoto and Kaj Mäki- Ullakko
Text: Annamari Keskinen, Ryan Mason
Light design: Jukka Huitila
Set design: Aino Koski
Production: Jojo Oulu Dance Centre, Thar Be Dragons
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Alfred Kordelin foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Dance All Year Long, Shawbrook Dance, Tanssin talo
Photo credits: Janne-Pekka Manninen
Full recording by Keren Chernizon, b12 festival Berlin, 2022
EI (2018)
In EI we reflect on how unexpected events, move us in new and unpredictable directions. How to deal with the uncontrollable and watch it happen. How as a community we keep on striving, running endlessly in order to grasp some kind of sense in the everyday chaos. What are we giving birth to with our own actions and what is simply given to us. The almost cinematic, neo noir approach and nonlinear storyline moves us into ineffable dreamlike landscapes with this Thar Be Dragons's first large stage work.
Created for the Dance Company of Staatsheater Kassel in 2018
Premier: 01.12.2018
Duration: 50min
Direction and Choreography: Thar Be Dragons/ Annamari Keskinen and Ryan Mason
Choreography and performance: Alison Monique Adnet, Cree Barnett Williams, Morgan Bobrow - Williams, Luca Ghendini,, Dafni Krazoudi, Niv Melamed, Safet Mistele, Alessia Ruffolo, Shafiki Seggayi, Georgy Vysotsky
Stage design: Matthieu Götz
Light design: Brigitta Hüttmann
Costume design: Evelyn Schönwald
Dramaturg: Lauren Rae Mace
Sound Design: Ryan Mason and Annamari Keskinen
Sound Mastering: Donato Deliano
Rehearsal director: Victor Rottier
Pictures: Nils Klinger
Video: Jörg Landau
Full recording by request
DYING ANIMALS DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR THEMSELVES (2018)
When was the last time you were shot by an arrow and wandered the desert for a week?
Dying animals don't feel sorry for themselves ponder the existence of fate. A ride through the testimonial, magical realism, and carnivalesque - a collage of images within the microcosm of the bar. At times surreal, the performance pulls the carpet back on the mind of two souls floating through their own lonesomeness. We observe the beautiful effort of people passing through life.
This production was supported by grants from the Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland/Taike, and Samuel Huber Art Foundation.
Premiere October 2018, KAIKU club Helsinki
Duration 1h 30min (with a short break)
Direction and choreography: Thar Be Dragons/ Annamari Keskinen & Ryan Mason
Performance: Ryan Mason, Annamari Keskinen, Elias Devoldere,
AND Amina, Iris Blauberg, Pinja Eskelinen, Johanna Honkanen, Anna Häkkinen, Panu Isoaho, Katriina Kantola, Nikolai Karentzki, Unna Kitti, Ahti Parviainen, Anni Puupera, Minttu Pietilä, Mira Mattila, Lotta Wichmann
Music: Elias Devoldere
Producer: Kirsi Tikka
Lighting design: Mikko Törrönen
Sound design: Mikko Korhonen
Bartender: Lisandra Kuuste
Stage manager: Krista-Julia Arppo
Full recording by Teemu Kyytinen
Picture: Ryan Mason