Anniina Ukkonen, Masked dance performances, 2023

Masked dance performances on Finnish Visual Arts Day on Monday 10.7.2023.
13.00–13.45 Rauma Art Museum, Kuninkaankatu 37.
15.00–15.45 Tammela yard, Eteläpitkäkatu 17.
16.00-18.00 encounters on the streets of Old Rauma.

During the lace week, Hönttä "Hönttis" Hilpurainen, a character especially for children, will perform.
On Thursday 27.7. at 13.00 Hönttis will perform in the courtyard of the library (indoors in case of rain).
Friday 28 July at 18.00, 20.05 and 21.15 performances of the Tornionlaakso mask in the Black Lace Night, in the streets of Old Rauma and in the green area between Kuninkaankatu, Posellinkatu and Kiviniemenkatu (in front of Tokio Sushi) at 18.30.
On Sunday 30 July at 11.00, Hönttis will perform in the courtyard of the Rauma Art Museum.

Residency: July
https://www.ukkonenanniina.com

The masked dance performance swimmingly combines dance, theatre and visual arts. It is the result of a collaboration between dance artist Anniina Ukkonen and mask maker Johanna Oksanen, in which Ukkonen's linen mask, inspired by her northern Finnish roots, comes to life with Ukkonen. In the Rauma Art Museum's Bird and Fish exhibition, the masked figure in motion embodies the artworks she sees through movement and dance, and in Tammela Yard and Old Rauma, the environment resonates with dance.

Among the masked characters created by Ukkonen is the comedic Hönttä "Hönttis" Hilpurainen, who entertains the whole family and can be met during Lace Week.

The support of the Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland cooperation with the City of Rauma enables the artist to work in the RaumArs residency for one month.

Anniina Ukkonen graduated as a dancer from the Ballet School of the Finnish National Opera in 2015 and as a dance teacher from the Turku Academy of Arts in spring 2020. Ukkonen has worked as a dance teacher in her home town of Tornio, as a dancer at the dance theatre Raatiko and as a Summer Walker at the Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland.

Ukkonen is interested in combining different forms of physical theatre, such as mask theatre and mime, with art dance. She is a member of the Arctic Dance Network, which aims to strengthen the role of dance art and increase networking in Northern Finland and the Barents region as a whole.