October. Creative dance workshops during Senior Culture Week, October 6–19. Heinonen is working on a new dance piece that explores Finnishness, our physical history, and the changes brought about by our increasingly diverse society. She is interested in hearing the thoughts of Rauma's senior citizens on these themes and invites seniors in the Rauma area to participate in workshops where they will dance, reminisce, and imagine.

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Creative Dance Workshops for Seniors
Thursday 9 October at 3–4 pm, Rauma Main Library, Alfredinkatu 1.
Monday 13 October at 1–2 pm, TulesTalo, Aittakarinkatu 14.
Wednesday 15 October at 10–11 am, Rauman Seudun Työnhakijat ry / Lokkisali, Satamakatu 2.

Anyone who considers themselves a senior citizen is warmly welcome to participate; no previous dance experience is necessary! You can also participate with someone close to you. The workshop lasts approximately 50 minutes. During this time, we will move to the beat of the music, either sitting or standing, and reflect on what it means to be Finnish.

The workshops are free of charge, but there is limited space for 15 people. Register by emailing raumars (at) raumars.org or by texting 0440545419.

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Emma Heinonen works as a dancer at the Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland during her RaumArs residency. In addition to creative dance workshops, she visits service centers and works on her piece The Whiteness In Me (working title), which explores contemporary perceptions of Finnishness and multiculturalism. The dance piece seeks to explore what Finnishness, created in the shadow of nationalism, could mean today and what kind of change we are undergoing. How does an upright, restrained, and emotionally hidden physicality affect and has affected us Finns? On the other hand, how does white privilege affect our physicality and how we benefit from other cultures?

In her art, Heinonen addresses social issues and themes that touch people, highlighting the experience of otherness and exclusion. Her work focuses on the exploration of movement in relation to language, words, and socially relevant topics. Her latest work, the solo piece Only Bad Timings (2024), deals with voluntary childlessness through the lens of personal experience. Concrete Softness, a performance concept inspired by urban spaces, examines the impact of a harsh environment on the body and empathy. The dance solo A Little Room for Maneuver (2022) delves into the experience of space as a social and mental construct, who has space and how it feels to be left out. Heinonen is a trained dance teacher (BA) and media specialist (BA).