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Ville Walo & Kalle Hakkarainen Keskusteluja (Discussions)

A New Circus performance about communication and the lack of it. Visual appeal of live image, surrealistic situations and plástic movement of juggling. The modern and highly interesting Finnish new circus group of juggler Ville Walo and magician Kalle Hakkarainen brings now to Kiasma Theatre already their third premiere together; titled Keskusteluja (which translated into Engiish would be Discussions). The performance focuses on the theme of communication in relation to juggling, magic and video. In thè performance circus and video projections also communicate with thè fresh music of varying tones composed for thè performance by Kimmo Pohjonen / Samuli Kosminen Kluster. The performance's strong visual quality reflects thecourse oftime.Through the means of moveable projection surfaces,the choreography ofthe circus arts grows into choreography ofthe whole stage, Images from an old silent movie are combined with modern-time video sequences.Time and reality levels interlace and mix. Identity and communication Stretch over almost a whole decade, as the performers pinned in present-day encounter the visual world that has been chosen and modified from a 1920's movie. The circus group, which has become known for the juggling style ofWalo, that balances on the boundary surfaces between juggling, puppet theatre and dance, and thè scale of expression of Hakkarainen, that reaches from film to object manipulation and magic, has toured with their previous performances Odotustila and Katoamispiste in Norway, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and Croada as well as Brazil. Keskusteluja has been produced in co-operation with Cirko - Centre Of New Circus in Finland and with Centre des Arts du Cirque de Basse-Normandie. Keskusteluja was first performed on the 12th of October 2006 in Kiasma Theatre, in Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland. Ville Walo is a pioneer, Innovator and reformer of Contemporary juggling, who in his work explores new juggling techniques and physical and spadai movement in juggling. Walo has expanded the expression ränge of juggling towards visual theatre and object theatre. Walo is artistic director of Festival of New Juggling as well as Cirko Festival of New Circus in Helsinki. Besides this group and solo work, he has been working together with Jéròme Thomas Company. His most important pieces ofworksofar bave been thè solo performance Waloville in 2002 and Odotustila (2003) and Katoamispiste (2004) together with Kalle Hakkarainen.The Arts Council of Finland gave Walo a 5-year artist grant starting from 2006. Kalle Hakkarainen is a magician and a video artist from Helsinki. In his work he examines the new kinds of expression possibilities provided by video image and its capacitles related to time and space. As a magician Hakkarainen has specialised in developing new tricks and new kinds of magic. His inventions have been published in the most important professional magic pubiications such as the MAGIC-Magazine.Year 2000 he won third price in the world championships of magic (FISM) in thè Inventions category. In addition to his workas a magician Hakkarainen has worked asa director, editor and animator in TV programs, commercials and short films. At thè moment he is studying in the Academy of Fine Arts in Department of Media Studies. The group of Ville Walo and Kalle Hakkarainen has toured with their previous performances Odotustila and Katoamispiste in Norway, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Czech Republic and Brazil.

COLLAGES OF COMMUNICATION

Keskusteluja, thè latest co-operation project of juggler Ville Walo and magician Kalle Hakkarainen, is a challenging piece of experimental new circus, and therefore most enjoyadle. As the name implies, the hour-long performance contémplales on communication, but also aiong with it, on a lot of other subjects. The leisurely piece offers a total experience, in which Walo's dance-like juggling and Hakkarainen's manipulations that combine with cinema and video projections get impressive audio frames from thè music composed forthe performance by Kluster of Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen. Surrealismi and experimentalism are the essential keywords to describe thè mentality of this piece of art.