• Choreography, dance and production: Pirjo Yli-Maunula
• Texts: writer Petri Tamminen
• Lighting Design: Riikka Vuorenmaa
• Sound design: Pekko Koskinen
• Video: Jukka Huitila
• Costume design: Leena Ollikainen
• Make-up design: Yanski Sova
• graphic design: Tomi Hurskainen
• Premiere: Oulu, Culture Centre Valve, 29 November, 2008

This work approaches the polar night-related depression laconically and with the means of tragicomedy. The initial idea of choreographer Pirjo Yli-Maunula for this work not only comes from her own tendency towards the polar night depression but also from an extract of an interview of writer Petri Tamminen:

“A Philips Brightlight polar night depression lamp will be changed for a proper shotgun, Petri Tamminen cracked as a joke on a writer’s visit in Germany. Not a soul was laughing. The polar night is a strain on the Finnish mind, but there is no point in searching for some rays of light on the southern beaches: on your return flight you will feel like crying again”.

This work full of black humor tells about the polar night, the efforts done in vain to overcome depression, escapism and attempts to hide.

Critics´choice of Newspaper Kaleva for one of the best dance performances of year 2008

Authors of the work in addition to Pirjo Yli-Maunula:

Petri Tamminen has graduated from the Tampere University majoring in Journalism. He lives in Vääksy, Finland, and works as a freelance writer. Tamminen is known as a master of short prose and laconic humor. His first work, a collection containing sheet long stories, Elämiä, was published in 1994. Miehen ikävä (1997) and Piiloutujan maa (2002) followed the same minimalistic style. His novel Väärä asenne (2000) tells about the nightmare of a fresh father fearing for bacterias. In his novel, Muistelmat, he is pondering in his own, unique way about life, what it really is, what does it consist of and what will you remember from it? His work Enon opetukset (2006) is a tragicomical novel about the journey of growing, about ideals and admiration between men. Petri Tamminen was awarded the Kalevi Jäntti Prize for his novel Piiloutujan maa. Furthermore, his works have been translated into Swedish, German and Latvian.

Leena Ollikainen got her diploma in dress design in 1990. She has worked as a wardrobe master at the theatre Teatteri Pieni Suomi and at the Helsinki City Theatre in 1999-2007, first as a wardrobe master and then as a manager of the wardrobe section. She currently works at the Oulu City Theatre as a costume sewer.

Jukka Huitila is a visual artist graduated Master of Arts from the the Theatre Academy of Finland. He is one of the most luminous designer in the field of Finnish performing arts. His versatile career includes lighting, set and video design for interiors, exhibitions, live events and stage performances. He has collaborated in contemporary dance with a great number of the most recognized Finnish choreographers and this artwork has been seen in over twenty countries. Currently Huitila is interested in taking his art into more proprietary direction such as establishing status in the live art scene.

Pekko Koskinen is a game designer whose recent works seek to create interactions between gameplay and more traditional forms of art. He is currently a game designer in Playsign, and was previously the writer and sound designer in LudoCraft game research group. He has also produced several gallery shows that operate as games. His earlier collaborations with Pirjo Yli-Maunula are Branches, Switches, Forms (2007) and Lost City (2008).

Performance history:

Premiere:

Oulu, Culture Centre Valve 29 November 2008

Other performances:

Oulu, Culture Centre Valve 3-13 December 2008 (4)

Yksin Sateessa?- festival, Joensuun City Theatre 27 November, 2009 (1)

Korpilombolo, Sweden, 3 December, 2009 (1)

Oulu, Culture Centre Valve 10-11 December 2009 (2)