Tag Archive: Samuli Poutanen

Much story, little dance

26. March 2025

“Édith Piaf – La vie en rose”
Finnish National Ballet
Opera House
Helsinki, Finland
March 15, 2025 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. T.Myllymäki (Édith Piaf), “Édith Piaf – La vie en rose” by R.Wäre, Finnish National Ballet 2025 © J.Lundqvist 2. T.Myllymäki, L.Haakana, H.J.Kang, and S.Kunnari (Édith Piaf); “Édith Piaf – La vie en rose” by R.Wäre, Finnish National Ballet 2025 © J.Lundqvist Two weeks after its world premiere, the Finnish National Ballet streamed its latest piece, Édith Piaf – La vie en rose, live on the online platform Stage 24. Sami Sykkö presented the live stream and conducted several interviews during the break. I was able to watch a recording a few days later.

Javier Torres, the company’s artistic director, assembled an entirely Finnish artistic team for Édith Piaf – La vie en rose. It is choreographer Reija Wäre’s (whose previous work stretches various genres, including opera and street dance, TV shows, and sports events) first full-length production. Composer Jukka Nykänen also has a reputation as a pianist. Jani Uljas designed the set; Erika Turunen, the costumes. (more…)

Lucky He

31. December 2024

“A Christmas Carol”
Finnish National Ballet
Opera House
Helsinki, Finland
December 2024 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. J.Xia (Fred) and J.Pakkanen (Scrooge), “A Christmas Carol” by D.Bintley, Finnish National Ballet 2023 © R.Oksaharju Last Christmas, I missed the Finnish National Ballet’s new A Christmas Carol on arte.tv. Luckily, the channel rescheduled the recording for this December. David Bintley, the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s former director, choreographed the two-act production and was the first to adapt Charles Dickens’s novella about the chronically ill-tempered miser, Scrooge, for the ballet stage.

In Act I, Bintley introduces the old merchant, Scrooge (Johan Pakkanen), who hates people in general and Christmas in particular, along with his antitheses, Fred (Jun Xia) and Bob Cratchit (Frans Valkama). Both are family men but represent different social classes. Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, is well-off and in the most buoyant of Christmas moods when he invites his uncle for Christmas (he’s, of course, immediately rebuffed). Bob, Scrooge’s conscientious but underpaid clerk, feeds his family of six on a limited budget. He, too, is happy and generous by nature but worries about the serious illness of his youngest son, Tiny Tim (Janne Kouhia). (more…)