Teo Ala-Ruona & the working group
Premiering in May 2027 Zodiak – Center for New Dance
Damnat continues Ala-Ruona’s long-term artistic study into how classificatory systems and language shape the conceptualisation of bodies, inside and out. At the centre of the work is a performer practice that moves, voices, and undergoes metaphysical transformation through dances and bodily states that attempt to empty the body of imposed language and its categorising force.
Damnat is a co-commission with Zodiak – Center for New Dance and co-production by Toaster, Copenhagen and will premiere in Pannuhalli, Dance House Helsinki, in May 2027.
Damnat’s artistic process is rooted in Ala-Ruona’s exploration of medicalized and diagnostic modes of thinking that categorically divide the body into parts—particularly the brain–gut axis—and reconsiders language’s role in producing the normative subject. The work pushes aside classifications of body parts as either normal or pathological, confronting the audience with a body whose distortions unfold across linguistic, physical, and symbolic registers.
CREDITS
Concept, direction: Teo Ala-Ruona
Choreography, script, performance: Teo Ala-Ruona & Mina Tomic
Culinarian: Pola Sutryk
Dramaturgy: Ami Karvonen
Sound design: Tuukka Haapakorpi
Light design: Sofia Palillo
Spatial and costume design: Teo Paaer
Production: Sanna Ritvanen
PREMIERE
Zodiak, Pannuhalli, Helsinki, May 2027
TOURING
InKonst, Malmö, 2027
Toaster, Copenhagen, Toaster Biennial 2028
CO-PRODUCERS
Toaster, Copenhagen, Toaster Biennial
SUPPORTERS
The Finnland-Institut, Berlin
The Finnish Institute UK+Ireland
RESIDENCIES
Tuo Tuo -residency, Joutsa
Reykjavik Dance Festival -residency, Reykjavik
ZK/U -residency, Berlin
Kanuti Gildi Saal -residency, Tallinn
O Espaço do Tempo -residency, Portugal
Mocvara Gallery, Zagreb