Maya Oliva - Nykytanssi / Contemporary Dance
In these classes we will search and explore the joy of dancing and the collectivity of dancing together. We will also work on embracing the multitude of feelings that arise when inhabiting a body repeatedly through movement as we coexist with others.
As I share dance techniques from my personal contemporary dance body archive, participants are encouraged to bring their own archive of dances and styles into the mix. We will think of the body moving 360°, from 0 to 100%, trusting in falling, momentum, friction as well as control and staying in the present. We will practice togetherness and multi-tasking. Participants will be also invited to reflect on the movement phrases and tasks proposed in relation to what ignites passion and stimulates intellectual curiosity.
The workshop blends group and individual exercises with discussions, encouraging participants to articulate and analyze their approaches to their work and practices both verbally and through movement.
Maya Oliva (they/she) is an Italian choreographer and dancer with family roots in Italy, Poland, Venezuela, and Canada. They were born in Montréal, grew up in Firenze, and have lived in Milano, New York, Brussels, and now Helsinki. They completed three years of studies at P.A.R.T.S. in 2016 and graduated with an MA in Choreography from the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2022. They have performed their works in Italy, Belgium, India, France, Finland, and Iceland. Influenced by their nomadic background, Maya explores belonging, the loss of home, and finding home through dancing. They are also interested in how being neurodivergent affects their perception of dance. Maya has been focused on how dance can deeply work with multitudes, thicken and inhabit the space between seeming opposites, and allow multilayered feelings, emotions, and states to manifest, always in relationship to oneself and, through that, to other bodies. They also believe in dances that activate bodies and engage thinking in action, considering this also an activist act.