Paluu Pohjoiseen – Aftur Norður is a project which, through the experiences of five female dance and film artists with international background, examines the role and space women are given in today’s Nordic societies. We ask, what historical, cultural, social and environmental factors have influenced the current norms of womanhood in today’s Northern European societies, and how do those norms differ from those in Central European cultures? The artists involved have all lived and worked in Central / Western European cultures before returning to the North to continue their work as artists. Through discussions, dance practices and filming, we want to shed light to the blind spots and subtle differences in our own cultures, which can only be observed with a certain distance that living in and integrating into other cultures gives.

Meri Pajunpää is a Helsinki based dance-artist. Pajunpää has worked over 15 years as a dancer in numerous international productions. In addition to her work as a performer, she has directed and produced her own works, as well as collaborations with artists from various fields, the latest of which are Pierrot le fou – how to dance Godard (Helsinki 2023), and the solo work As it burns (Kuopio in 2022). In her artistic work, Pajunpää has a strong interest in interdisciplinary collaborations, movement research and in the study of social and cultural influences in the construction of individual identity.

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Vilma Tihilä is Finnish director and filmmaker specializing in dance film. The key elements in her filmmaking are physicality of the moving image, a poetry of film and choreography in editing. Tihilä holds Master of Arts in Screendance from London Contemporary Dance School, and her most recent dance films Call of the Cranes (2023), Carried in Silence (2023) and A Portrait (2022) are award winning films at festivals in the UK, Brazil, Portugal and Italy.

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Riikka Kosola is a Norway-based Finnish-French artist. As a dancer, choreographer and performer she creates multidisciplinary projects with spatial thinking. With French and Swiss professional background she has worked with companies and choreographers like: Cie Alias / Guilherme Botelho, les Rhizophages / Alexandre Del Perugia, Djalma Primordial Science / Ephia Gburek, Danse K par K / Karine Ledoyen (Quebec, CA) among others.

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Liza Penkova is a Gothenburg-based dance artist born in St Petersburg. She works as a choreographer, dance-researcher and pedagogue. Currently she is writing an MA-thesis on dance-literacy at the Stockholm University of the Arts. As a choreographer her interest lie in the process of translation and creolization of language, culture and aesthetics. With movement research as a foundation in her work, she looks for border-less encounters of performing genres, traditions and physical cultures. Since 2020 she is working on a trilogy project 18 steps through dance hsitory: Part I/My body is a room filled with antiques (2021), Part II/THE GAP (2023), Part III/ House of the pelvic floor (in making)gg

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Bára Sigfúsdóttir is an Iceland-born dancer and choreographer, nowadays based in Oslo. Bára´s artistic work explores themes relating to the human being in interconnection with nature and society. Bára’s performances On the other side of a sand dune, The Lover, TIDE, ‘being’, FLÆÐI, FLÖKT and Fabulation have been presented at national and international venues and festivals, including Reykjavik Arts festival, Venice Biennale, Ice-Hot Nordic Dance Platform, Tanzmesse, Performatik festival, Theaterfestival, Moving Futures festival, Theater Aan Zee and Julidans amongst others.

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