OLEMA

OLEMA is a contemporary circus performance that explores the dismantling of anthropocentrism and the experience of connection. The work's dramaturgical core grows from the extinction story of the kiwi bird: the species' last male was left singing alone half a duet after the last female disappeared with Hurricane Ivan in 1982. The performance features a 1987 Cornell University recording in which the song opens into ever-longer silences - spaces for a second voice that no longer answers.

On stage, acrobatics, dance, balancing, and electroacoustic music interweave. Circus history is woven into the boundary between humans and other species - snake women, animal tamers, and legacies of bodily dehumanization - and the work uses this context to explore what remains after loss and whether the disappeared can still be visible in body, voice, and movement. Costume design brings movement against opposing surfaces: friction and gliding, shine and matte. Lighting and set design construct a world on stage where forms, reflections, illusions, and materials with their shadows are characters in their own right.

Direction and dramaturgy: working group
Performers: Aino Savolainen, Ella Jaakkola, and Felicia Hedman
Contemporary circus choreography: Aino Savolainen and Felicia Hedman
Composition, music, and sound design: Ella Jaakkola
Lighting design and set design: Saana Volanen
Costume design: Riina Leea Nieminen
Material research and sewing: Jenni Räsänen
Creative support: Henna Kaikula and Anni Koskinen
Conveners: Aino Savolainen and Ghia Lumia
Production: Aino Savolainen, Ghia Lumia, and Ella Jaakkola
Supporters: Kone Foundation, Taike (Arts Promotion Centre), SKR (Finnish Cultural Foundation), Cirko - Centre for New Circus, CircusNext, Subtopia, Soiva Metsä Festival, Tanssiteatteri Hurjaruuth, R.E.D. Arena Norway, Cornell University

Performance language: the performance contains no spoken dialogue
Age recommendation: 14+
Performance duration: 60 minutes