Odd Meters is a frenzied dance that bounces between rhythms in an attempt to reconstruct itself from fragments of dreams, time and the body. It works with rhythms found in the moment that overlap, argue and shake the flesh.
Odd Meters* by Mikko Niemistö is based on the dreams he saw at the Bjällansås farm in Uddevalla, Sweden in summer 2018 while in residency there: the intertwined layers of natural cycles, dancing, and 4G connectivity to newsfeeds and entertainment, seeped into his night-time reality.
Odd Meters explores a human body that is alienated from itself and its environment; it is lost in obsessive dreams, adventure fantasies of the digital realm and the polyrhythmic labyrinth of an illogical relationship with nature. In this intersection the chronic insomnia of a thoroughly technologized era collides with its own impossibility.
The work desires to bring the experience of the dream to public circulation while working from a non-linear understanding of time. The performer is wide awake but simultaneously channelling unfiltered impulses swelling from the memories of REM dreams – fragments of stories where the narrator is not in control of the narrative.
* Odd Meters is a musical term used to describe untypical time signatures.
Choreography and performance: Mikko Niemistö
Spatial design: Elina Lifländer
Sound design: Johannes Vartola
Lighting design: Teo Lanerva Producer: Riikka Thitz Artistic dialogue: Karolina Ginman
Production: Zodiak - Center for New Dance
Premiere: September 2020, Zodiak, Helsinki
Residencies: KID - Konstnärsnämndens Internationella Dansprogram, Kutomo / Ehkä productions
Supported by: The Kone Foundation, Arts Promotion Center Finland, The Finnish Cultural Foundation and Svenska kulturfonden
The piece included a vague video element projected in between the bricks on the wall. It seemed like a barely visible light reflecting from the open windows until during a dark scene it became clearly visible. The aim was not to catch the eyes of audience, but to carefully activate the blank wall.
Sketch
Sketch