WOKS AND COLLABORATIONS
"DANCING DEMOCRACIES"
SIIM TÕNISTE
A three-week residency in TantsuRUUM in Tallinn
June-July 2018
Research questions:
Can democratic principles be implemented on a community of moving bodies?
Which are the means used to hold this community together and could these means be considered democratic?
What does dancing democracy look like?
Aprox. 30 volunteer dancers helped map out potential use of democratic principles on a community of moving bodies. For example, how to position oneself in relation to other dancers? Who to kick out and who's going to became the leader? How easy is it to comprehend someone else's values and principles if these only maifest themselves in movement?
"PLAN T"
SIIM TÕNISTE,
ÜÜVE-LYDIA TOOMPERE,
PIRET JAAKS
Premiered at Kanuti Gildi SAAL
March 21, 2018
“Plan T” started as a residency in Kanuti Gildi SAAL in October 2017 when the creative team behind the project held focus group interviews on the fears of terrorism. Around 70 volunteers from the local community participated. Their answers are the input for creating “Plan T”
“Plan T” observes a society living in an age of terrorism. It speculates the possible reputation of everyday items such as motor vehicles and looks at public events, such as going to the theatre under the conditions of continuing and developing fear. The performance views everyone as a potential terrorist but leaves them the option to disagree. It also teaches to react to the unexpected and looks for answers from people with supernatural abilities.
"NEW YEAR'S BOY"
JAANUS SAMMA
February 17 – April 29, 2018
Installation and performance exhibited at “The State is not a Work of Art”, curated by Katerina Gregos, Tallinn Art Hall
New Year’s Boy examines the constructed nature of folk culture, focusing on a marginal tradition that has long since subsided from the collective memory of Estonians. New Year’s Boy is inspired by a photograph of a young man wearing a straw costume taken in 1935 at the atelier of the brothers Parikas. It belongs to a series of staged ethnographic photographs that were commissioned by August Pulst, a folk culture activist of the interwar period, and sold as postcards to raise money for the Tori Museum, a small county museum he had established in 1934 for the preservation of Estonian national heritage.
New Year’s Boys performance takes place in the exhibition space and in public space nearby.
Choreographed by Siim Tõniste.
"FIREBUGS"
SIIM TÕNISTE,
SVETA GRIGORJEVA
Premiered at Vaba Lava, Tallinn
February 8, 2017
A performance about fire setting, catching fire and the fire within. Part of the curated programme In | Out at Vaba Lava Theatre Centre.
"Prometheus freed mankind: he stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to people, so they'd make something good out of it.
Now they had warm shelter to protect them from cold, cooked meat to chew on, and light to scare off the lurking creatures in the shadows of the room when night descended.
All could have been beautiful and fine.
Only it was not.
Man took the gift of the gods and set someone`s house on fire, burned down a whole town. What a spectacular sight! What a show! Man searched out the ones who seemed suspicious and abandoned all reason! Burn the witch!
But maybe it`s not plain evil at all. Just the innocent pleasure of lighting a match. The rush of adrenalin."
"REVELRY"
AGATE BANKAVA
Estonian premiere at Hiiumaa TantsuFestival
August 5, 2016
Revelry. Social responsibility. A strategic decision. Moment outside obligations when you don't need to be anywhere else. Forgetting your worries and troubles. It is neither boring nor difficult, nor any other form of grey. Just enjoy. Such evenings are worth the sleep deprivation. These are my people.
Revelry premiered in Riga in the spring of 2016 and was originally performed by ARA company.
Estonian version was produced by HTF Dance Company and Siim Tõniste. Funded by Nordic Culture Point. Support by Vaba Lava.
"TRUE SKIN"
SIIM TÕNISTE,
ÜÜVE-LYDIA TOOMPERE,
LIIS TAMM
Premiered at Tallinn Botanical Gardens
March 25, 2015
TRUE SKIN is a sci-fi dance performance combined with an art exhibition, utilizing the full space of the botanics with sound, light and movement to immerse the viewer within its sci-fi based theme.
An unknown humanoid species is presented to the audience at every performance. It's origin is unclear. The unknown species has lived only in confined environment and so far has adapted well in the controlled nature at the botanical gardens.
TRUE SKIN was created after a residency Arts Pritning House in Vilnius, Lithuania in the summer of 2014.