Oblivia/Yiran Zhao: Dreaming Turtles

Teatret Zeppelin

8th June 20.00

Programme

Oblivia X KlangLab: Dreaming Turtles

Imagine the era of humankind is over and turtles, slow, friendly, ancient, roam the earth. Would they dream of these strange primates who had their chance, but failed so miserably? 

In the music theatre work Dreaming Turtles, the four performers of Helsinki-based Oblivia become just that: dreaming, floating, dancing and singing turtles. 

Created with Swiss ensemble KlangLab and composer Yiran Zhao, the piece builds an entire world from movements, words, songs and live music, witty, comical and bordering on the absurd.

Yet Dreaming Turtles is not a depressing piece, because within the turtles' dreamlike approach to life lies a speck of hope that still shimmers for humanity. 

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Co-production: KlangLab (Basel), Klang Festival (Copenhagen), Gare du Nord (Basel)

Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, City of Helsinki, Konstsamfundet, Stiftelsen Tre Smeder, Samuel Hubers konststiftelse, Eugène, Elisabeth och Birgit Nygréns stiftelse, Goethe Institut Finnland,  Abteilung Kultur Basel-Stadt

CREDITS

Concept, devising, dramaturgy: Oblivia

On stage: 
Oblivia / Timo Fredriksson, Anna-Maija Terävä, Annika Tudeer, Juha Valkeapää and Yiran Zhao: synthesizer and electronics
KlangLab / Dino Georgeton: electric oud and percussion; Christopher Moy: e-guitar; Zacarias Maia: objects and percussion 

Music: Yiran Zhao & KlangLab
Sound design: Mikael Szafirowski
Light design, set: Stine Hertel 
Costume design: Tua Helve
Production: Jenny Nordlund
Communication, marketing: Essi Brunberg and RÖD (Jenni Salminen and Katja Tolonen); in Germany Nassrah-Alexia Denif

Venue

Teatret Zeppelin

Valdemarsgade 15 1665 København

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Artists

Timo Fredriksson

Classical pianist, graduated from the Sibelius Academy. Has been performing and devising work with Oblivia since 2000.

Stine Hertel

Performance artist and lighting designer, co-founder of Rotterdam Presenta. Has collaborated with Oblivia as lighting designer since 2020.

Anna-Maija Terävä

Dancer, performer and occasional teacher based in Darmstadt, working in dance, theatre and performance art.

Annika Tudeer 

Performer and artistic director, founder of Oblivia in 2000. Currently pursuing an artistic research PhD at MUK, Vienna

Zacarias Maia

Basel-based multidisciplinary musician active in contemporary music, free improvisation and music theatre. Artistic director of KlangLab.

Christopher Moy

Versatile guitarist, vocalist and improviser. Member og KlangLab. Based in Basel, he collaborates widely in Europe and co-creates the Stop, Drop, and RollUFA sextet.

Mikael Szafirowski

Musician, producer and sound engineer working beyond jazz and fixed forms. Co-founder of Rooie Waas and the Royal Improvisers Orchestra. Member of KlangLab.

Dino Georgeton

American/Greek percussionist and researcher based in Basel, he combines performance, sound installation, and research on politics in Western music. Member of KlangLab.

 

Yiran Zhao

Composer, performer and sound artist based in Berlin, working with the human body and other objects as compositional material

Juha Valkeapää

Helsinki-based vocal artist and performance maker with a 30-year career spanning performance, installation, and soundscape work.

KlangLab

Swiss experimental music ensemble working in close collaboration with composers to develop new pieces, treating rehearsal and creation as a shared sound laboratory.

Tua Helve

Costume designer and researcher. Her practice enquires into collaboration as a source for meaningful costume outcomes.