Them Merphing Live

Them Merphing Live is a breathtaking and intense contemporary dance performance, where dance celebrates the human experience. The piece is a research of a surrendering body, the experience of being seen, and the kind of movements that one cannot hide behind. The piece is a remake of Them Merphing (2021).

Choreography: Kati Korosuo, Dance: Live Vocational College's dance students, Sound design: Mitja Nylund, Lighting design: Olivia Pohjola based on Immanuel Pax's original version, Costume design: Annika Saloranta, Photography: Niko Ahokangas, Production: University of the Arts Helsinki & Live Vocational College

Premiere and performances:

12-13 April 2024, Live Vocational College, Espoo

15 August 2024, Live Vocational College, Espoo

7 October 2024, Live Vocational College, Espoo

The Artist Is at Home

The Artist Is at Home is a banal spectacle from a narcissistic artist for a scandal yearning audience. Documentary footage and use of self as material are highlighted in its egocentricity to the point of annoyance. Our time is a stage, on which everything has already been said and done, shown and seen. What can the body of the performer still reflect?

The solo performance is based on Kati Korosuo's recurrent nightmares about tortoises. She has dreamt about them for almost 25 years. In 2012, she began to document her dreams on video. This deliciously honest video diary juxtaposes the perverted bodily experience of dreams to the daily realities of the artist, acting as a bridge between the private subconscious and the collective consciousness. In the movement-based performance the laconic video material collides with a nightmarish stage body.

Concept and performance: Kati Korosuo, Scenography and costume design: Annika Saloranta, Lighting design: Outi Vedenpää, Sound design: Miikka Ahlman, Moving image: Sanni Priha, Seamstress: Pia Lasonen, Mentor: Maija Nurmio, Photos: Erica Nyholm, Performance photos: Venla Helenius, Trailer: Timo Wright, Production: Helsinki City Theatre's Stage for Contemporary Performance, Kati Korosuo, Höyhentämö - Pluckhouse

Premiere and performances: 

23-29 August 2022, Studio Pasila, Helsinki City Theatre

Them Merphing

Them Merphing is a breathtaking and intense contemporary dance performance, where dance celebrates the human experience. The piece is a research of a surrendering body, the experience of being seen, and the kind of movements that one cannot hide behind.

Choreography: Kati Korosuo, Dance: Jaana Kovanen, Meeri Lempiäinen, Marlon Moilanen, Meri Pajunpää, and Sofia Simola, Sound design: Mitja Nylund, Lighting design: Immanuel Pax, Costume design: Annika Saloranta, Photography: Sanni Priha, Production: Höyhentämö - Pluckhouse, Helsinki

Premiere and performances:

20-23 May 2021, Puppet Theater Sampo, Helsinki

26-28 May 2021, Online Streamings on Facebook and YouTube

M3

M3 is a contemporary dance installation combining live performance and video. Performed in changing gallery venues, the work suggests and challenges different kinds of bodily materialities.

M3 is fleshy and delicate while also being sensual and grotesque, diving into human bodies with two dancers who embody different aesthetics of physical presence. The installation inhabits familiar and strange surroundings, exploring realms of trance, frenzy and oblivion.

Choreography: Kati Korosuo, Dance: Jaana Kovanen and Meeri Lempiäinen, Sound design: Mitja Nylund, Video: Riikka Theresa Innanen, Lighting design: Anniina Veijalainen, Costume design: Annika Saloranta, Photography: Riikka Theresa Innanen, Ulla Kudjoi, Pekka Lempiäinen, Production: Höyhentämö - Pluckhouse, Helsinki

Premiere and performances:

4 October 2017, Gallery Pirkko-Liisa Topelius, Helsinki

16-17 December 2017, Gallery G12, Helsinki

Merphing 2

Merphing 2 is a contemporary dance performance based on the Dances to a Beat (DTB) technique. Dances to a Beat (DTB) is a technique for making instant choreography using elements of improvisation, repetition and rhythm.

The first Merphing, made in 2015, was created to answer the question: is it possible to make a coherent and interesting dance piece using DTB? The answer has been positive: Yes it is! Inspired by this, we have continued the journey. Along the way, we have broken all the established rules and structures that we created and started to look for new ways to implement this method. In this new version of Merphing, the dramaturgic arch of the piece has been shifted from the choreographer into the hands of the performers, placing the piece at the mercy of the unpredictable moment of performance.

Choreography: Kati Korosuo, Dance: Jaana Kovanen and Meeri Lempiäinen, Sound design: Mitja Nylund, Lighting design: Anniina Veijalainen, Video: Anni Leino, Photography: Ulla Kudjoi

Premiere and performances:

10-12 June 2015, Vapaan Taiteen Tila, Helsinki

21-22 April 2017, Festival of Instant Choreography, Höyhentämö, Helsinki

Merphing

A contemporary dance duet based on the practice of DTB.

Choreography: Kati Korosuo, Dance: Jaana Kovanen and Meeri Lempiäinen, Sound design: Mitja Nylund, Photography: Pekka Lempiäinen

Premiere and performances:

13 March 2015, Pacifico, Helsinki

16 May 2015, Festival anssi Teellä, Pori

SuperHero/SuperZero

"Onpa hurmaava tämä UrbanApa-festivaali. Esitysillassa voi nähdä äärestä laitaan kaikenlaista taitavaa, hienoa, yllättävää ja sohivaa. Kuten RAW-kokonaisuudessa, joka viihdytti ja haastoi erilaisin kombinaatioin. Mainiointa on, ettei se ole irtohittigaala, vaan teokset sulautuvat toisiinsa saumattomasti erilaisuudestaan huolimatta. Eikä vähiten Sonya Lindforsin ja Kati Korosuon supersankarien ansiosta. Batman ja Teris seikkailevat läpi illan osin osana omaa SuperHero / SuperZero -teostaan, mutta myös sitoen ja liittäen illan fantastiseksi kokonaisuudeksi." ... "Sonya Lindforsin ja Kati Korosuon esitys on vähintään yhtä yllätyksellinen. Vähän muistumia klassisesta tai ainakin neoklassisesta baletista, kunnes räjähtää ja mennään toisille tasoille. Rankkaa nykyä, vähän aerobiciä. Ja hulppeaa stand up -komiikkaa, joka ei ole pelkkää vitsailua. Täysin pidättelemätöntä." - Jussi Tossavainen, HS 6.9.2014

Choreography and dance: Kati Korosuo and Sonya Lindfors, Sound design: Mitja Nylund and Miikka Rekola, Lighting design: Lauri Lundahl, Photography: Ernest Protasiewicz

Premiere and performances:

4-6 September 2014, Cultural Centre Stoa, Helsinki

Hyvä Ystävä - A Good Friend

Can a performance internalize the essence of a close friendship? Can we respond to a dance performance with the same warmth we feel towards a dear friend? A Good Friend is a duet performed and choreographed by Eliisa Erävalo and Kati Korosuo. A Good Friend attempts to trace the experience of a close friendship through choreography. They move to explore generosity, selflessness and vulnerability, while also examining friendship as a method and ideological framework.

Choreography and performance: Eliisa Erävalo and Kati Korosuo, Lighting design: Anton Verho, Sound design: Hannu Hauta-aho, Photography: Uupi Tirronen, Coproduction with residency: MDT Stockholm, Sweden, Production: Eliisa Erävalo, Kati Korosuo and Zodiak - Center for New Dance

Premiere and performances:

18-26 February 2012, Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Helsinki

Toured at Internationale Tanzmesse (Düsseldorf, Germany), Fringe Ruhrfestspiele (Recklinghausen, Germany), Sommerwerft (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), Art Goes Kapakka (Helsinki) and Karhusaari Theatre Festival (Helsinki)

Musik ska upplevas live

A stand-up show merged into a contemporary dance performance.

Concept, script, choreography and performance: Kati Korosuo, Photo: Anton Verho

Premiere and performances:

16 October 2010, Urban Apa Festival, Stoa, Helsinki

28 April 2011, Pikkuvappu, Theatre Academy, Helsinki                                

6 May 2011, Mamuska, Zodiak - Center for New Dance, Helsinki

17 April 2012, Tampere Dance Current Contemporary Dance Festival, Tampere

TOP 10

Top 10 has been inspired by two notable dance works from different time periods and the performative declarations of those works. American dance artist Yvonne Rainer presented for 'NO manifesto' with her 1960s key work Trio A. Forty years later Danish choreographer Mette Ingvartsen posed her 'YES manifesto' in 50/50. Korosuo responds to these manifestos with her own theses about performing, choreography and dance. Top 10 is originally a part of her MA studies in Dance in Theatre Academy Helsinki.

Choreography and dance: Kati Korosuo, Miss Pesonen: Kaisa Pesonen, Light and sound technician: Anna Pöllänen, Visualisation and sound design: Kati Korosuo, Credits: Jyrki Kanto, Photo: Davide Pavone, Production: Kati Korosuo, Theatre Academy Helsinki and Zodiak - Center for New Dance

The theses:

Yes to existence Yes to multiplicity of choices Yes to showing insecurity Yes to failure Yes to images and characters Yes to practising bodily perception Yes to trying to be funny Yes to audience feeling mostly comfortable Yes to audience feeling special No to hurry

Premiere and performances:

25 November 2009, Theatre Academy, Helsinki

6-7 February 2011, Side Step Festival, Zodiak, Helsinki

24-25 November 2011, Lonely in the Rain - Contemporary Dance Festival, Joensuu