Teachers

Tero Saarinen

“My movement style is clearly an outcome of my experiences as a dancer. When I teach, I wish to transfer the knowledge I’ve collected during my 20-year career.

My goal is to make full use of my students’ already learned techniques and find, liberate and further nourish the potential capacity of each individual.

To transmit and further develop my own style of movement I have created “alphabets” that I teach in my technique classes. I try to encourage my dancers to be alert, aware and awake of all the endless possibilities that lie in their own physical existence.

Technically speaking I pay a lot of attention to the feet, fingers, eyes and skin. I focus on acknowledging the weight of the body and activating the extremities of the body – all the nerve endings. When dancers are truly alert and awake in a 360-degree fashion, they become authentic, open and versatile. My goal is to reach a state of awareness where even the skin is curious and sensitive. All this leads in to a dance that is constantly alive and surprising, like our flora and fauna.”

David Scarantino

David Scarantino, New Yorker by origin, has danced with TSC since 2013. He is remembered from creations such as Morphed, Could you…, Zimmermann Trio and the part of Kimmo in Kullervo. On top of his work as a dancer, David is TSC’s Training Activities Coordinator and teaches TERO technique regularly, in Finland and abroad. 

“As a teacher I enjoy being active, curious, and present. This student-like behaviour creates an atmosphere where we can all continue to learn and adapt – just as the dance world is doing. I am interested in nurturing an individual’s “voice” as an artist by listening, promoting, and giving tools for them to find out how they want to communicate with the world. 

As dancers we must constantly experience new art, ask questions, and compare where the art world is at and where will it be in the future. This emphasizes the need for balance between technical skill and theoretical ideas. As a teacher I like to use different approaches in both the anatomic and the visceral planes, to reach out to the students. To me, this line between form and function is what creates a full bodied and 360 degree dancer.

TERO technique inspired me from the moment I walked into the first class. The use of the focus, feet, and upper body allow for one to become a vessel of communication: one where we can stand tall in ourselves and say “Hello World! Here I am!” I am passionate about promoting each dancer to fully unlock their own potential, to allow them to shine in their uniqueness.” 

Henrikki Heikkilä

Henrikki Heikkilä has had an exceptionally long and remarkable career as a dance artist. Heikkilä completed his training at the Finnish National Opera Ballet School in 1983 and danced for the Finnish National Ballet in 1985–1986. Heikkilä is one of the founding members of Tero Saarinen Company and has danced in several of Saarinen’s masterpieces. Today, he is the Company’s Rehearsal Director, and has worked as Choreographer’s Assistant in Saarinen’s productions. He teaches TERO Workshops regularly and focuses especially on repertoire exercises.

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