Dance of the dead

Right now, my body is breathing its past, heading towards the future, its decay.

The Dance of Death is the body's attempt to deal with its own mortality through movement. Although the body is only our lifelong companion, we neglect its role as a processor of emotions on a daily basis, often repressing emotions to the level of words. Emotions are felt in our bodies, and their true nature is rarely described in words alone, in which case movement is not just medicine – it is a lifeline.

Leevi Rauhalahti's dance work is based on the body's potential as a storyteller. For Rauhalahti himself, dancing is the most natural way to interpret emotions, andThe Dance of Death is an ambitious attempt to interpret the greatest of them, the feelings of life and death. In the movement material of the work, these feelings are embodied, and we do not stiffen in the face of mortality, but dance in the face of its universal nature. Memento mori, remember your mortality.

An integral part of the dance work is the interpretation of organist Esa Toivola, who alternately directs the dancer and alternately reacts to the dancer's movement. The discussion between music and dance in the work mirrors the dialogue of life and death, which is present throughout life; often life and its joy push us forward, but sometimes the encounter with death in our lives forces us to slow down. Likewise, the work seeks to state, even paradoxically: one must live to die, die to live.

In addition to the dance performance, the approximately hour-long event includes an interview section and a low-threshold dance workshop, where the audience can explore the basis of the work's movement material, the bodily processing of emotions, under the guidance of Rauhalahti.

Leevi Rauhalahti is a 24-year-old dance artist originally from Pirkanmaa. In the spring of 2024, he graduated from the Iceland University of the Arts with a BA in Contemporary Dance Practices degree, after which he has worked as a freelance dancer mainly in Finland, Estonia and Iceland.

In his art, Leevi is currently exploring the connection between identity and the body, transcending the extreme limits of the body, and the intersections of popular culture and contemporary dance. He is interested in bringing dance to new audiences, and creating a dialogue between dance and the world around it.