Afterglow, low lingering slips of light (European premiere 2025)

Project Description

Afterglow, low lingering slips of light refers to the moment when the sun sets beyond the horizon, its light scatters through atmospheric particles, creating hues of red, orange, and pink.  The work by Finnish choreographer and artist Anna Maria Häkkisen and her team has its roots in long conversations between Häkkinen, curator-at-large Job Piston, and the founder of Performa Biennial RoseLee Goldberg. These conversations led to Anna Maria Häkkinen working in New York. This performance concept was commissioned by Performa Biennial and it was premiered in the Finnish Pavilion Without Walls program at Governors Island in NYC, in November 2023.

The performance in New York included a large number of performers from the emerging generation of dance artists in New York. A starting point for Häkkinen was minimalism, and the work was also an homage  Lucinda Childs and Judson Dance Theater, building a bridge between the past and the present.

“To catch Anna Maria Häkkinen’s dizzyingly beautiful Afterglow, low lingering slips of light, commissioned for the Finnish Pavilion, attendees shuffled aboard a ferry to Governors Island just before sunset, where composer Keliel filled the The Arts Center with an immersive score that fused the elegance of a harp with the undulating soundscape of electronic dance music. In the foreground, Häkkinen’s group of emerging, New York-based dance artists put on an entrancing show, an effortless balance of synchronicity and surprise.”
Financial Times (8.11.2023)

“Häkkinen moves her dancers with gentleness and ease. They work through patterns, ever so slightly out of unison, individualities shining through. They dance in solos, duets, trios and as one unit. When they step out of formation they stop and sit on the sides – on the floor or on a windowsill – watching their collaborators. The music shifts from gentle rhythms to something more pulsing; the dancing shifts from trance-like walking across the diagonal to a full freedom of turns and leaps that take up the whole space. An incredible sense of connection emanates from the work, and from the audience sharing it.”
The Saturday Paper (16.12.2023)

After the premiere at Performa Biennial, the work was invited to Kiasma Museum of Conteporary Dance in Finland and to KAI Art Center in Tallinn. Curated by Jonna Strandberg and Piia Oksanen, the performance at Kiasma was exceptional as the new adaptation was created for the large, top floor exhibition hall. KAI Art Center performance was curated by Karin Laansoo.

In the new adaptation, NYC dancers were joined by two new Finnish dancers, thus expanding it into a performing group of eleven dancers.

Arts Management Helsinki was the coordinating partner, in collaboration with Performa Biennial, Kiasma Theatre, KAI Art Center and art association rendezvous.

Photos: Aron Urb