Raisa Punkki Presents CONTROLE at ODC Theater this March

Controle is the latest work from Finnish choreographer Raisa Punkki. As a departure from punkkiCo's last works that featured all female casts, often with obscured faces, this production will feature 2 female and 3 male dancers. Controle is a response to the social media frenzy that continues to escalate and intrude into our lives via what Punkki terms, "fleshless interaction." What does it mean to be seen? What does it mean to choose not to be seen?

"The fact of the matter is that rules and control are ideas that also provide freedom and relief," says Punkki. "In my former work, when I hid the face I was making a conscious decision to challenge myself to tell a story with the body only. Whereas in this piece I am interested in digging into the feminine and masculine sides of both male and female dancers and encouraging the audience to create their own narratives based on their own points of view about what they are seeing on stage. I am just the guide and pre-filter."

Central to the production will be the interplay of light and shadow, which will be used to amplify notions of what it means to be seen or not to be seen. Paper sculptures that dot the set will be pierced by lights of various temperatures as dancers veer from warm and cozy scenes to those that are curt and sharp.

Among the performers onstage will be visual artist and set designer Alice Malia, who while on stage will create paper sculptures and drawings in real time that produce shifting landscapes across the stage.

Punkki feels that Controle follows the line of her previous work, in that it's about the exploration of human behavior, which she prefers to do in collaboration with others. "Human behavior is often strange and hard to understand, but in the end, it's primal" she says. "In finding my power as a woman I went through stages of grief. Now I am interested in keeping and strengthening that power. To do that, I need to draw input from all the humans, sexes, and creatures I find around me. We all have our channels of influence, and mine is my art."

What: Raisa Punkki Presents Controle
When: March 15-17, 2018, all performances at 8pm
Where: ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $15 & $25; Ticket link not currently available but will be at odctheater.org

Choreography: Raisa Punkki
Light Design: Jack Beuttler
Costume and Set Design: Alice Malia
Sound Design: Aaron M. Gold

Performers:

Dalton Alexander

Derek Harris

Meegan Hertensteiner

Hien Huynh

Alice Malia

Karla Quintero

Raisa Punkki is a San Francisco-based dance artist who was born and raised in Finland. After moving to San Francisco in 2003, she founded her dance company punkkiCo in 2005. Raisa Punkki's artistic exploration happens through different forms of contemporary dance, theatrical work and through collaboration with artists from different disciplines. She has gotten awards and grants both in Europe and USA and has toured internationally. "The purpose of my creative work is to shake the unconscious mind and tap in to empathy and connections between people for deeper understanding."

Photo credit: Alice Malia