Bye Mr. Balanchine (2022)

Contemporary dance solo
Duration: 30 minutes

Premiere 3.12.2022
Liikelaituri Tampere, Finland

Bye Mr. Balanchine is a solo about a woman’s and dancer’s body image by dance artist Tuulia Soininen. The piece gives a gentle middle finger to ballet choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983). Balanchine is recognized to have created the body ideal for dancers to be long limbed, linear and alarmingly skinny. Throughout the piece Soininen navigates through personal experiences, body ideals and the dance world. Is it possible amongst all this to hear and appreciate one’s own body?

The piece is filled with irony, ballet and personal experiences. It offers relatable moments for everyone who have experienced body criticism. It presents moments of empathy, humor and an essence of "fuck all this patriarchal body image shit".

“Western dance forms hide their white elitism well, safeguarding their power against a number of dangerous intruders: black bodies, dark bodies, disabled bodies, sexual bodies, leaking bodies, fat bodies, wrong bodies.” (Claid, 2006)

Premiere 3.12.2022

Photographs: Veera Lintula

Audience feedback:

“Strong feelings and memories of anxiety . You have a strong charisma! The happy humorous side was so welcome!”"

"It was absolutely amazing. It became very clear how dancers and especially women are objectified. At first it felt pretty wild, but it warmed up towards the end."

"Awoke the feeling that the topic and the work were certainly personally important to Tuulia and that was conveyed through the intimate performance. The grim contradiction between the regimented beauty of ballet and the dancer's own experiences was telling and inventively implemented."

"The energy and versatility of the show worked for me. The work had brought up an interesting topic for discussion."