Keep Searching

Keep Searching is a dance piece centered on physical dialogue, contact, and closeness. The work is based on partnering, touch, and the proximity between dancers.

“Keep Searching” is a commissioned piece by dance arts doctor and choreographer Mirva Mäkinen for the Central Finnish collective Keskellä. 

The performance is partially improvisational, where three dancers and a musician have the space to make choices within the pre-determined structure of the work and rhythmically pace the piece in a meaningful way. The dance trio’s mutual listening and presence expand the complexity of movement dynamics, which opens up possibilities for partnering toward fluid dance.

Through touch, sensing, and sharing body weight, the dancers engage in a physical negotiation where falling, reaching, rolling, and softly lifting each other vary. The onstage musician, Tapani Rinne, reacts to the dancers sometimes by deliberately expanding the space, sometimes by bringing the listener intimately close.

The name “Keep Searching” reflects the exploration of movement and the corporeal conversation between the dancers. The physical dialogue and auditory space take the viewer on an approximately one-hour-long exploratory journey.

Keep Searching

Choreography: Mirva Mäkinen

Dancers: Pinja Grönberg, Rebecca Laube-Pohto and Mimmi Salo

Musician: Tapani Rinne

Light design: Lasse Saari

Production: Keskellä Collective

Supported by: Art Promotion Centre Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation - Central Finland Regional Fund

Cover photo: Iida Liimatainen

Performance photos: Aurora Suhonen

Premiere: 3.7.2024 at the Jyväskylä Festival

Further performances: 27.-28.8.2024 KokoTeatteri, Helsinki