cyclical Enclosure

Developed into ‘Cyclical Translation’

Currently, the act of translating one language into another is almost absurdly easy due to technology such as Google Translate. There are also other devices that now translate language in the moment, instantly giving meaning to a person who is lost in a sea of words they don’t understand. It also can give way to much amusement as sometimes the translations can go awry.

Cyclical Enclosure (Translation) is a performance concept where dancers and artists come together creating an interactive field of translation. Together, they use sound, visual art and movement, translating back and forth in a cyclical environment. Dancers enter the space, artists draw their movement and the sound of drawing is translated into further movement, further drawing, and further sound.

Dancer meets artist, movement translates into a pencil stroke and stroke gets translated into dance. The passing live performance of dance and the temporary act of drawing get extended onto paper.

Since Augusts 2017 six performances of Cyclical Enclosure have taken place in Helsinki and Vantaa (Open Your Art 2017, The Night of Arts 2017, CulturaFest 2017, Dear Suomi 2018, The Night of Arts 2018, Night of Arts 2019.)

We have also conducted a workshop with Catalysti about the concept with over 15 participants in November 2021.

With each performance, aspects of the project have changed and grown, becoming more refined and defined, distilled into a better version of itself with each new reiteration.

Dancers worked with on this project: Marja Koponen, Maria Prokhorova, Helena Romppanen

Artists worked with on this project: Johanna Cästren, Timo Ala-Vähälä

Photos by Heidi Wikström taken at Open Your Art.