Wilhelmina Ojanen

Wilhelmina Ojanen is a Tampere-born, Santiago de Chile -raised choreographer and dance artist. Wilhelmina has graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with an MA in Dance Performance. After her studies, Wilhelmina worked in England as a choreographer, dance and dance teacher, before moving back to Finland in 2020. During the years 2018–2019 Wilhelmina was a Young Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, and created choreographic works for the Lilian Baylis Theatre and the Sadler’s Wells Main Stage. Amongst other places, Wilhelmina’s choreographic works have been presented at Kala Sangam, The Place Theatre, and Laban Theatre. Wilhelmina has performed in works Kardo Shiwan, Hagit Yakira, Richard Chappell, Jarkko Partanen, and Ben Wright.

As a dance artist, Wilhelmina is interested in exploring poetically, through movement, one’s relations to the world. Her interests span from questions of political philosophy to anthropology and ecology.

Wilhelmina’s artistic work as a choreographer and performer explores the intersections of physicality and poetry, of softness and strength, and of memory and embodiment.

For the past few years, Wilhelmina has been interested in questions concerning human and more-than-human worlds. Her most recent choreographic works have explored care, becoming, ecological grief, vulnerability and hope.

More information about Wilhelmina: www.wilhelminaojanendance.com

Project ALDA

ALDA is a poignant installation that erodes the boundaries between dance and visual arts. In ALDA, choreographer Katrín Gunnarsdóttir draws upon the history of women’s collective physical labour, in particular its relation to repetitive motions and song, to generate an event of intimate female assembly, convergence and coalescence.

The driving force behind choreographer Katrín Gunnarsdóttir’s current work has been the creation of movement language and imagery from softness, sensitivity, ever-changing movement and the integration of bodies with their environment. This piece is the culmination of many years of collaboration between the choreographer and designer Eva Signý Berger where art forms merge to create a rhythmic wave of experience.

When translated as WAVE, ALDA not only reflects on the form of movement but also refers to time and history, the old and the emerging new.

Dancers Wilhelmina Ojanen and Wilma Seppälä from Tampere, who are employed by the Pirkanmaa Dance Centre, will perform as part of the installation for a total of two weeks within the opening hours of the exhibition.

More information about ALDA’s choreographer Katrín Gunnarsdóttir: https://www.katringunnarsdottir.com/