Virpi Pahkinen

Change

Virpi Pahkinen celebrates 40 years on stage by presenting audiences with a puzzle

Welcome to a fun, kaleidoscopic show concept where chance determines the how the performance will pan out. Five choreographies are paired with five different pieces of music and lighting designs, all with their own distinctive flavour. The music is a mixture of everything from eccentric organ improvisations to piano tunes with an oriental twist and even a whole fleet of industrial machinery.

In an initial lottery, the audience gets to spin a fortune wheel to decide on the evening’s unique combination of dance, music and light. Will it be a trio in purple dancing to electronic sounds, a solo performance featuring yellow percussion, or maybe a quartet with piano accompaniment in blue?

Change is a fascinating game where mathematics and precision are played off against a sense of and imagination. This interplay between set rules and sheer chance takes audiences on a dizzying journey.

Virpi Pahkinen

Choreographer

Multi-award-winning choreographer Virpi Pahkinen has toured her works in over 132 cities, across 48 countries and on six continents. In her dual role as a choreographer and dancer, she has performed at the library in Alexandria and at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm City Hall. Pahkinen has created commissioned works for both dance companies and institutions, including the Finnish National Ballet, Stockholm 59° North, Skånes Dansteater and Ballet Poznanski. She works with artists from a wide range of different fields – including singer Mariam Wallentin, artist Charlotte Gyllenhammar and percussionist Mika Takehara. Pahkinen also had a long-term collaboration with director Ingmar Bergman. Her debut novel “Ormbäraren” (“The Snake Carrier”) was published by MBM Förlag in 2013, and in the summer of the same year she spoke on the Swedish national radio channel P1. Pahkinen was awarded the Swedish royal Litteris et Artibus Medal in 2011 and won the City of Stockholm’s Cullberg Prize in 2014.

Credits

Choreography: Virpi Pahkinen
Dancers: Virpi Pahkinen, Pontus Sundset, Hanna Blomquist, Vanessa Lindblom, Victor Persson
Choreograph Assistant: Pontus Sundset
Composer: Mika Takehara – Ynn, Gunnar Idenstam/Jonas Sjöblom – Subito Infinito, Mattias Petersson – Change 12:58, Jukka Rintamäki – Palace Birds, Kari Ikonen – Taqsim Trance Blue
Costume Design: Virpi Pahkinen
Makeup Design: Susanne von Platen
Light Design: Tobias Hallgren – Lumination of Sweden
Photo: José Figueroa
Producers: Gita Mallik – Virpi Pahkinen Dance Company, Helena Smeds – Kulturhuset Stadsteatern
Change is a collaboration between Kulturhuset Stadsteatern and Virpi Pahkinen Dance Company. With supprt from Swedish Arts Council, Stockholm stad and Region Stockholm.

Tours with Dansnät Sverige 2025.

Turnédatum

March 19
Kulturhuset tio14, Falun

March 22
Sagateatern, Linköping

March 25
Västerås konserthus

March 27
Stora teatern, Göteborg

March 29
Uppsala konsert och kongress