SWAMP PIECES

“So enchanting that I could just stay here forever.”

Company Uusi Maailma is conducting a multiannual collaboration with the Suo Soikoon! festival in Karvia, in the Kauhaneva-Pohjankankangas marsh protection area. The group has performed along the Kauhalammi duckboard route as a commissioned work and part of the festival with the site-specific works Suolonnit (2020), Suodervissit & Suostalaulajat (2021) and four short pieces Swamp Heels, Mr Flamingo, Flamingos and Suolympialaiset (2022).

The Kauhaneva’s Suolonni is the world’s rarest species. The Suolonni recently became brutally extinct. Now there are only four of them left. The species is descended from an ancient tribe of human acrobats, which is why they take on a rather leisurely daily life of communal rituals.

The Suostalaulajat & Suodervissit is a ritual in which an ancient Norse a capella song mantra frames an eternal swirling meditation channelling worldly energy from body to body, from swamp to swamp.

Performed on eight-inch heels, the exotic Swamp Heels consists of a tree dance and a swamp spreading. In the same year, the cross-sport Suolympialaiset or Swamp Olympics featured both competition and exhibition sports, including forest curling, the 113-metre mixed relay and cross-country skiing. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Mr Flamingo searches for truths, giving room for the soul and space for the passer-by. In addition, an invasive species of bird, quite rare in Finland, appeared in the marsh, creating a pink melodrama never seen before.

TEAM