Tuomo Railo

THE CHERRY TREE

The Cherry Tree is a work for five dancer. The work is based on the music of György Liget and the choreography was made by Tuomo Railo. The Cherry Tree was visualized by the artist Heidi Romo.

"It is clear that Railo knows sovereignly the carriage of movement and the scale of emotions of dance, down to pathetics."

Jukka O. Miettinen, Helsingin Sanomat

"This work includes nothing unnecessary. Railo has excellent taste and instinct when it comes to choosing his music. The Cherry Tree is a freely breathing, even a meditative experience."

Pirjo Raiskio, Turun Sanomat

THE CHERRY TREE is a so-called dogma work. Tuomo Railo has written rules to pilot the choreographical process of his work. There are seven dogmas, the first of which is the following: "The choreographer shall be silent during rehearsals." However, the most difficult of the dogmas may be number six: "Dance must have an impact with its beauty and the beauty must be felt in the spectator's lower stomach."

Choreography	Tuomo Railo
Music	György Ligeti
Visualization	Heidi Romo
Dancers	Kristiina Backman, Simo Heiskanen, Pia Keskinen,
	Mammu Rankanen, Hermanni Rask..
Light design	Janne Teivainen
Photographs	Ilpo Vainionpää

Duration	40 minutes
Premiere	The Cultural Centre of Espoo, Louhi Hall, September 1, 2000
Production	G&G, Espoo City Culture Department Centre, Zodiak

Simo Heiskanen ja Tuomo Railo

JAVA - confusing people

"The performance criticizes technology, but in a very sweet and hilarious way. The work does really prove that new technology is fun."

Auli Räsänen, Helsingin Sanomat

"The whole stage of Kiasma Theatre is like an instrument. In addition to the soundscape that Heiskanen has created on tape, even the floor and the walls of the hall ring; they react to speech and movement in real time. The result is amusing and playful, lightly cacophonic."

Anni Valtonen, Aamulehti

"With their new production JAVA in the Kiasma Theatre, the duo known for their versatile and easily accessible performances, Simo Heiskanen and Tuomo Railo make a fantastic comeback. As a whole, JAVA is a true scenic adventure and an exuberant flow which one does not easily forget… The relationship between man and machine find in JAVA a new and unconditionally up-to-date depth in a purely fascinating form."

Jan-Peter Kaiku, Hufvudstadsbladet

"The work which is generous in its selection of tricks, is written by Railo, and the music was made by Heiskanen. They share an enthusiasm for computers, which makes it the most futuristic experiment in Finnish dance so far… If a genre called topical dance exists, this is it."

Annukka Ruuskanen, Kaleva

"Is the whole thing just technology? Oh, no. The duo has always had something thought-inspiring to say and that is the case now as well… The joyfully proceeding JAVA is spurred by the dancers' playing with floor sensors. The live image, video clips and the frolic of those on the stage is splendidly timed… JAVA is intelligently put together, uses technology magnificently and is a joyful whole."

Pirjo Raiskio, Turun Sanomat

Choreography, dance and visualization	Simo Heiskanen, Tuomo Railo
Music	Simo Heiskanen.
Video	Sari Tervaniemi
Light design	Pasi Pehkonen.
Photographs	Pirje Mykkänen, Ilpo Vainionpää

Duration	1 hour
Premiere	Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki, November 10, 1999
Production	G&G, Kiasma Theatre, Zodiak