Tero Saarinen Company: Rekindling connection through movement

By Ndéla Faye

Tero Saarinen Company’s mission is to create, perform and teach powerful and engaging contemporary dance at the highest levels of artistic excellence in Helsinki, Finland and internationally, based on Tero Saarinen’s artistic vision.

Humanity. Body-awareness. Primal. Ritual. Community. Those are all words to describe Tero Saarinen’s approach to his dance company, which he founded in 1996 after a successful international career as a dancer. Since then, Tero Saarinen Company has carved a name for itself as one of Europe’s leading dance companies and achieved major critical acclaim across the globe with performances in 40 countries.

Saarinen was the first Western contemporary choreographer to work with the National Dance Company of Korea. Photo: PARK Hyun-keun

Managing directors Iiris Autio and Tero Saarinen are proud of the studio, which offers residencies for multidisciplinary artists and collectives working in performing arts. Photo: Henni Hyvärinen

Through its innovative and thought-provoking pieces, Tero Saarinen Company aspires to bridge the gap between performers and audience members, fostering a sense of togetherness and community. Witnessing the raw emotion and physical prowess of the dancers reminds us of our shared humanity and capacity for empathy. This collective experience transcends language and cultural barriers, promoting a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Zimmermann Trio, commissioned by the LA Phil, is an example of combining live music, dance and visual design in a compelling way. Photo: Mikki Kunttu

Dance as a ritual

Saarinen believes that in recent history, people have become alienated from their bodies. He wants to reawaken the deep connections of body, movement and human connection that have been at the very core of humanity for millennia. “Dance has an exceptional amount of potential in terms of shaping how we view ourselves and the world around us,” he states. “To me, dance is something primal and ritualistic – and a person’s need and ability to express themselves through movement and the body is a universal and timeless phenomena.”

Multidisciplinary interpretation of Macbeth presents a current exploration of greed and deception. Photo: Ilkka Saastamoinen

In spring 2023, Tero Saarinen Company and TTT Theatre, a leading Finnish drama theatre, joined forces to present a multidisciplinary interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The performance received international acclaim and is an amalgamation of dance, drama and juggling, creating a current exploration into greed and deception. The company’s take on Macbeth will re-premiere in Tampere, Finland at TTT’s Main Stage in September 2024.

Breath will be seen at Dance House Helsinki on 6–8 June. Photo: Mikki Kunttu

Creations and performances to feed the senses

Perhaps one of the overarching themes throughout Tero Saarinen Company’s ethos is its commitment to multidisciplinary and international collaboration. Saarinen believes performances should be a perfect union of dance, live music and visual design. “I believe in creating works that feed various senses and stand the test of time. These are at the core of my company’s activities,” he says.

Tero Saarinen’s signature solo HUNT has been labelled as one of the most significant contemporary reinterpretations of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Photo: Marita Liulia

Humanity – and daring to push boundaries and going beyond the comfort zone are what drive the dance company forward, while leaving its mark on the world of dance in innovative ways. The Dance House Helsinki – a house entirely dedicated to dance – has been a long-awaited milestone in the history of Finnish performing arts. After touring for almost 30 years, Tero Saarinen Company finally has a home stage in Helsinki as one of Dance House Helsinki’s official programme partners.

Saarinen and musician and composer Kimmo Pohjonen’s acclaimed duet, Breath, will return to the stage at Dance House Helsinki in June. The performance – a powerful interweaving of sound and movement – first premiered in Canada in 2018. “The performance is about two opposing worlds colliding, which feels very relevant, especially in these times we’re living in,” Saarinen says. “Breath is a study on the importance of communication and tolerance and the often absurd and comic ways we instinctively try to shield ourselves, our mental boundaries, our privacy.”

For Saarinen, dance is a way to attempt to understand human nature and its multiple manifestations – friendship, love, and strength of spirit. “With my dance, I want to reach the unspoken, the inexplicable, the unnamed. Dance is something that is innate in humans and I believe in dance that touches and that speaks for itself. And that is exactly what I think our performances do,” he concludes.