No-No

Helsinki Dance Company, the dance ensemble of Helsinki City Theatre, brings Kenneth Kvarnström's no-no to the intimate stage - one of the most significant works in Finnish contemporary dance. The piece premiered at Helsinki City Theatre in autumn 1996 and launched a new era of powerful physical contemporary dance. In November 2026, the work celebrates its 30-year legacy with a new version featuring nine dancers.

Balancing between extreme physicality and sensual poetry, no-no unfolds for the audience as an intensive movement ritual. It is a work that does not explain its themes but trusts dance to express itself through itself.

Alongside Kenneth Kvarnström's movement language, the complete work is shaped by Jens Sethzman's lighting and spatial design, and music that carries the dancers from ecstatic embodiment toward a delicate reaching toward the sacred. The work was last presented at Helsinki City Theatre in 2008 to sold-out audiences.

Choreography: Kenneth Kvarnström
Set and lighting design: Jens Sethzman
Costume design: Sari Salmela
Sound design: Jyrki Sandell
Make-up design: Tuula Kuittinen

Performers: Matilda Bjärum Bengtsson, Sofia Hilli, Jyrki Kasper, Anni Koskinen, Aksinja Lommi, Pekka Louhio, Mikko Paloniemi, Justus Pienmunne, Inka Tiitinen