Morphed

Movement is a perpetual source of inspiration for me. In my works I aim to create a living, multi-layered, powerfully expressive movement that rises up from primal wellsprings. In this work I particularly wanted to play around with opposing forces and frictions. 

When creating Morphed, I felt a need to bring together men of different ages and various dance backgrounds, this time to address themes such as change and sensuality. I cannot deny that turning 50 and having a performing career of more than 30 years behind me influenced my desire specifically to use the art of dance to deal with the shifting, mutating feelings that a man experiences. 

When I was looking for music for the piece, I came across Esa-Pekka Salonen’s compositions Concert étude for solo horn (2000), Foreign Bodies (2001) and Violin Concerto (2009). Apart from their kinetic quality, I was inspired by how they switched from brutally aggressive to soft. Salonen’s music has provided a thought-provoking, multi-dimensional initial spark for dealing with the manifold emotions and virtuosity of a man – a man dancing.

Undaunted by the extremes of sensitivity and heroism, and all that lies between, I and these seven dancers have aspired to the boundlessness of the expressive power of the body, liberating movement – and to be human.

– Tero Saarinen

Concert étude for solo horn (2000), which serves as the prelude, brings out the French horn’s idiomatic melodic expression and the acrobatic skills of its player. Esa-Pekka Salonen has said that he made the work “for the great horn player [he] never became”. He wrote the concerto as homage to his revered teacher Holger Fransman.

Foreign Bodies (2001), as its name implies, is a very physical work. Its overlapping parts – Body Language, Language and Dance – display the power and movement of a large orchestra, the diverse textures and timbres of the music. Salonen has described the work as “almost like an imaginary scene de ballet”. The orchestra rolls over the listener like some massive, mechanical, relentlessly resounding, living organism. From somewhere within, the monotonic, shamanistic resonances sprout virus-like mutations and unusual harmonies.

Morphed ends with Violin Concerto (2009). This four-part [Mirage, Pulse I, Pulse II and Adieu] piece goes intriguingly from one extreme to another. It asks a great deal of its interpreters, leaving the soloist room to balance between the virtuosic and flashy, the aggressive and brutal, and the meditative or even static. Salonen has described this award winning work as a kind of summary of his experiences as a musician and a human being at the watershed age of 50. The composition process was also powerfully influenced by one of Salonen’s trusted partners, the top violinist Leila Josefowicz.

I am very happy with Tero’s work in Morphed. He understands my music very well and has discovered in it facets even I had not realized were there. Not only did he match the dance to the way the sounds resonate but he also made visible the emotional layer, which lies within the composition. There were many things that he made me notice for the first time, which was a surprise for me. This indeed, I would say, is where the real beauty of collaborations lies. 

I am a bit older than him, but basically Tero and I are around the same age. I felt that Morphed speaks about male identity. Identity, meaning questions such as exactly what kind of person you are, what kind of person you are trying to become and despite everything what the actual reality is… After all, everyone has all sorts of different faces, and between each of those faces there is a gap. 

– Esa-Pekka Salonen (Japan Arts, March 2015)

Choreography Tero Saarinen
Music Esa-Pekka Salonen: Concert étude for solo horn (2000), Foreign Bodies (2001), Violin Concerto (2009)
Lighting and set design Mikki Kunttu
Costume design Teemu Muurimäki
Sound design Marco Melchior
Choreographer’s Assistants Henrikki Heikkilä, Satu Halttunen
Dancers Leo Kirjonen, Mikko Lampinen, Jarkko Lehmus, David Scarantino, Eero Vesterinen, Heikki Vienola, Saku Koistinen, Jussi Nousiainen, Won Won-Myeong, Janne Aspvik (understudy), Oskari Nyyssölä (understudy)

Tero Saarinen Company (Finland) In collaboration with Helsinki Festival (Finland) and Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne (France)