Pirjo Yli-Maunula is a freelance-dance artist from Oulu, Finland. She has been working as a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and organizer since 1980. She has been involved, for example, in the management of Oulu Dance Studio (1982-98) and as Artistic Director of JoJo – Oulu Dance Center (1998-2002) and of the Full Moon Dance Festival (2003- 2006).  She has appeared in contemporary dance works of a great number of the most recognized Finnish choreographers and has been widely performing both in Finland and abroad.

Currently in her own choreographic work, Yli-Maunula is particularly interested in taking performances into exceptional spaces or in using theatre facilities in an unusual way, carrying out cross-artistic productions and in creating performances involving multiple senses for small-scale audiences. In 2009-10, she has several on-going international co-operation projects which she will follow in residencies in Canada and France.

In 1998, Yli-Maunula was awarded a 3-year artist grant of the Arts Council of Oulu province and in 2001 a 5-year artist grant of the Arts Council of Finland. In 2005, she was rewarded with the Oulu City Culture Award and in 2008, she was awarded by the Union of Finnish Dance Artists for her achievements in the field of dance (Tanssin Mainetekopalkinto). Most recently, in 2009 she was awarded a 2-year artist grant of the Arts Council of Oulu province.