what is time?

The stage performance Tempo explores time – its perception, acceleration, deceleration, and eventual end. At the heart of the performance is an apparently insignificant event that takes on grand proportions, revealing the fragility of life.

Tempo marks the first collaboration between magician and visual artist Kalle Nio and choreographer Fernando Melo. The performance is based on a text by Harry Salmenniemi, as well as wordless scenes built around dance and stage illusions, where time slows down, reverses, and comes to a halt. Tempo prompts questions about how we truly experience time and in what ways it can be understood. At the same time, it confronts the audience with their own temporality. The music for the performance is composed by Samuli Kosminen.

Tempo is the second collaboration between Nio, Salmenniemi, and Kosminen. Their previous stage work Nopeussokeus premiered at Kiasma Theatre in 2010 and was subsequently performed in twelve theaters across seven countries and in five languages. Nio and Salmenniemi also created the film installation Yön for the Mänttä Art Festival in 2022.

Sweden-based Brazilian choreographer Fernando Melo, who works internationally, has crafted a choreography that defies both gravity and time for three exceptional dancers. Slovenian dancer and puppetry artist Barbara Kanc, Italian dancer Luigi Sardone, and Swedish dancer-acrobat Winston Reynolds move between the realms of dance, theater, and acrobatics. Both the movements of the performers and the set design push the boundaries of what is possible – and go beyond them.

The performance is an international co-production. In Finland, it is produced by WHS in collaboration with Helsinki Festival. In Slovenia, the production partner is LGL, the National Puppet Theatre. The piece is supported by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.

Tempo will have its world premiere at the Helsinki Festival.

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creative team

Concept: Kalle Nio, Fernando Melo, Harry Salmenniemi
Direction: Kalle Nio
Choreography: Fernando Melo
Text: Harry Salmenniemi
Performers: Barbara Kanc, Winston Reynolds, Luigi Sardone
Music and sound design: Samuli Kosminen
Costume design: Georgina Spencer
Lighting design: Johannes Hallikas
Tour production: Axel Satgé / Yellow Everything
Photography and trailer: Kalle Nio
Production: WHS / Kalle Nio

Co-production:
Helsinki Festival
Lutkovno Gledališče Ljubljana, Slovenia

Support:
Alfred Kordelin Foundation

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