Tiia Kasurinen

ONSTAGE – The Concert draws inspiration from pop stars, club concerts and stage alter egos - and especially from the femmes of the music industry who have harnessed the audience’s gaze.
ONSTAGE – The Concert, a dance work premiering in Fall 2023, explores alter ego bodies and stage presences in the context of live music. What emerges when contemporary choreography and visual transformation meet the practices of making and performing music?

The work will be based on the electronic pop-band formed by Tiia Kasurinen (concept, choreography, performance) and Olli Lautiola (sound design) and an EP-record of the band, which Kasurinen and Lautiola will compose and write during 2021-2023. The protagonist of the performance is an alter ego -body practiced by Kasurinen. The stage will be also joined by a voguing performance art duo Amanda & Lydia (Lydia Ofi Teresia and Amanda 007). The performance is an album release party, a dance piece, a musical try-out and a choreographic alter ego-exploration. What does the combination of a gig and a choreographic work evoke - in the performers and in the audience?

The performance is interested in spontaneous and pre-planned choreographies of the concert context. The work observes the themes of gaze and charisma, and is influenced by artists such as Nadia Tehran, Grimes, Madonna, Arca1000000, Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston, Donna Missal and FKA Twigs.

“When seeing concerts, I find myself being highly inspired by the movement qualities,
postures and instant choreographies made by artists; especially by solo femme
artists, inhabiting bodies and postures out of the ordinary catalogue. I find concerts as a highly kinetic space: just like in a dance theatre, movement can be equally touching to the observer. What happens when a club concert is placed in the dance context?”

Biography

Artist/choreographer Tiia Kasurinen graduated from the Stockholm University of the Arts in 2017. She is interested in themes such as identity, gender, the gaze and pop culture, and explores them in her works through theatre make-up, visual transformation and motion. In her works YouTube tutorials and somatic movement walk hand in hand, creating recognisable aesthetics. When not working on her own projects, Tiia Kasurinen works as a dancer and a performer and collaborates with other artists.

tiiakasurinen.com