Culture Path (Elämyspolku) with AB Dance Company – An Inspiring Experience for Schoolchildren

 

AB Dance Company (Aurinkobaletti) is offering lower secondary schoolchildren an exciting and fascinating experience in the world of fairytales and dance, and Petrushka is an excellent piece for them.

AB Dance Company’s dance piece Petrushka will be a part of the City of Turku’s Culture Path programme (Elämyspolku) in March 2024. We are offering 3rd and 5th graders in Turku the opportunity to see Petrushka and to participate in a dance workshop for €12 per pupil. The price for other schoolchildren in Turku’s neighbouring areas is €13 per pupil. Our dancers will have their workshops at the pupils’ schools or in the AB Dance Company’s theatre. Attending the workshop will not require pupils to see Petrushka first. Showtime will start at either 10.00 or 12.00, and the performance will be around 40 minutes long. The workshop will last approximately 45 minutes. Teachers may come to our performances with their pupils free-of-charge.

 

Petrushka, or How the Magician lost his Might

Petrushka, or How the Magician lost his Might continues a multi-year saga of works based on classic fairy tales produced by Aurinkobaletti. The work is based on a ballet piece composed by Igor Stravinsky in the 1910s. The old tale has retained its magic in this interpretation, but has had a new world built around in the talented hands of Marjo Kuusela, the choreographer and writer.

In Petrushka’s story, the Magician guides the puppets in his theatre to create the most memorable experience for the audience. He brings his puppets to life to maximise the effect. But not everything is a dance between the animated characters. When someone looks different, dresses differently or doesn’t speak in the same way, for example, they stand out. Then every slightly different manner, word or gesture moves them further and further away from the community of others. What happens when someone is left out? Come and find out.

The performance involves four dancers and other creatures. The Magician in the piece is as powerful, mysterious and strange as he was a hundred years ago. The whole stage is strange − is it a stage at all or a showcase window of a magical shop? The music is old and classical − or is the music upside down too? The dancers’ skill is full of dizzying movement and the stage is full of fun and mischief.

A fairy tale for the whole family, interpreted mainly in the language of dance. No need to know Finnish!

 

Dance Workshop

The AB Dance Company’s dancers will be running the workshops, and there, everyone can make movements as they like, experiment with physical self-expression and do short choreographed exercises. At the same time, the pupils will explore the themes of the Petrushka story and how the movements in the piece were created and what they represent.

Participants will be encouraged to be creative, open and accepting, and the workshops will also offer the opportunity to really get to know dance professionals.
One workshop can have a maximum of 20 pupils. If needed, those in one class can be split into two groups, whereupon both workshops will occur at the same time.
The workshops will last approximately 45 minutes and can be held in Finnish, Swedish and English.

 

Performances and Workshops for Schoolchildren

Performances
Thu, 7 March 2024 at 12.00
(Fri, 8 March 2024 at 10.00 fully booked)

(Wed, 13 March 2024 at 10.00 fully booked)
Fri, 15 March 2024 at 10.00

Workshops
(Wed, 6 March 2024 at 9.00, at 12.00 and at 13.00 booked)
(Thu, 7 March 2024 at 9.00 booked)

(Tues 12 Marrch at 9.00 booked)
(Wed, 13 March 2024 at 12.00 booked)
(Thu, 14 March 2024 at 9.00 booked)

 

Culture Path for 3rd and 5th Graders in Turku

The City of Turku Culture Path programme supports the goals connected to gaining transversal skills, and it is an advocate of phenomenon-based learning, multidisciplinary learning modules and also the content and objectives of school subjects. Through Culture Path, pupils get to work in learning environments where they will gain experiences with culture, the environment, sustainable development, physical exercise and entrepreneurship through, for example, going on trips and guided tours.

Read more about Culture Path in Finnish here.

 

Performances and Workshops for Pupils in Turku’s Neighbouring Municipalities

Schoolchildren in other municipalities in the Turku Region are being offered the opportunity to see Petrushka and to participate in a dance workshop for €13 per pupil. The price for either the performance only or the workshop only is €10 per pupil. Teachers may join their pupils free-of-charge.