People
Artistic director, choreographer and dancer Mia Malviniemi
Choreographer Mia Malviniemi (MA) has been working with dance art since 1996, when she graduated as a choreographer from the dance department of the Theatre Academy in Finland.
She has produced tens of dance pieces during her career and has also worked with theatre, opera and contemporary circus.
Establishing her own company in 2011 has made it possible for Malviniemi to concentrate on her own artistic work. She has been awarded several artist scholarships; for example The Centre for Arts promotion Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation – South Ostrobothnian Fund have supported her artistic work.
Malviniemi was the artistic director of the Kokkolan Talvitanssit – dance festival during 2012 and 2015-2018. In 2012 she also worked as the regional artist in dance for the Centre for Arts promotion Finland. In addition her work has entailed the planning and delivery of several projects and she has actively worked to promote dance art in the Ostrobothnian, Central Ostrobothnian and Southern Ostrobothnian regions.
For Malviniemi dance is the movement of feelings, thoughts, memories and the present, and a corporeal interaction between the performers and the audience. She has always found inspiration in live music, and collaborations with composers and musicians has characterized several of her choreographies.
Malviniemi has used her artistic skills in working with elderly people suffering from dementia. These are choreographic and dance-based moments are encounters that take place in the homes of the elderly in close interaction with them. Malviniemi has the ability to in a delicate way take into consideration the elderly and to make room for their stories, stories that are refined into brief dances.
’Dance is the movement of feelings, thoughts, memories and the present.’
Mia Malviniemi
DANCERS
Leena Gustavson
Kari Harju
Hanna Korhonen
Arja Koukku
Saija Luukkonen
Jouni Majaniemi
Ari Numminen
Nanna Rahikainen
Jaana Saaranen
Antti Seppänen
Heidi Suur-Hamari
Elisa Tuovila
Mirva Väänänen
MUSICIANS / COMPOSERS
Stefan Lindblom
Antti Paalanen
Eero Paalanen
COSTUMIER
Päivi Uusitalo
Nina Vana
SET DESIGNER
Sonja Backlund
LIGHTNING DESIGNER
Katja Muttilainen
SOUND DESIGNER
Stefan Backas