During their residency, Teo Ala-Ruona and the working group are working on a new performance called Parachorale, which premieres in Helsinki in November 2024. In the residency the working group will be focusing on the choreographic and dramaturgical finetuning of the work.

Parachorale is a performance speaking to the experience of inner dissonance. At its heart lies the desire to share an under-the-skin world and to create a new understanding of the reality with the audience in the moment of the performance. Parachorale challenges the othering gaze that views transcorporeality as exceptional in society. It asks how private the experience truly is, and how many genuinely feel at home in their own skin.

Teo Ala-Ruona (FI)

And the working group: Even Minn (FI), Raoni Muzho Saleh (AFG/NL), Tuukka Haapakorpi (FI) & Teo Paaer (FI)

Teo Ala-Ruona is an interdisciplinary artist based in Helsinki, working within the expanded field of performance. In his work, he experiments with the possibilities of somatic fiction to influence our perceptions of the human body, exploring the interplay between linguistic, semiotic, and biological existence, as well as engaging with themes of techno-trans-masculinity and eco-normative narratives of “naturalness”. Ala-Ruona’s work has recently been shown e.g. in Performa Biennial (New York), The Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art (Vilnius), The Finnish National Gallery Kiasma (Helsinki), The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (London), Sequences festival (Reykjavik), Centrale Fies (Dro) and Toaster/Husets Teater (Copenhagen).