Firstly, thanks for taking a look at this campaign!

I'm Theo, a choreographer and designer based in Devon. 

'The Days ’ is a duet I created with 2 remarkable Finnish dancers, Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen. Since the premiere in 2018, it has toured across Finland and to Siberia, Scotland, Switzerland and Russia.

 

After much hard graft and 2 years of delays, the duet has just completed a UK tour, with 9 shows across 2 weeks, including sold-out village hall presentations in Cornwall and a gig at The Place in London. The work has received heartfelt responses from audiences across the country. The 2 professional dancers in this work perform alongside two 60+ guest performers that we find for each presentation via local workshops that we run. These encounters at each location have been the highlight of our touring, gathering older movers together to dance especially after this period of isolation.

Now the duet has been invited to tour to Vancouver and Vancouver Island. In just 5 weeks' time it is presented as part of 'Nordic Bridges ' a program of Nordic arts presented across Canada.  It will be presented in Vancouver as well as some small towns in the far north of Vancouver Island, including the village Sointula on Malcolm Island where Finnish miners settled in 1901 and a community still reside.

 

How can you help?

There is currently no funding to join the dancers on tour and support the shows as I did in the U.K. My role on past tours has included setting up and clearing the performance spaces, rehearsing the duet, running workshops, giving audience talks and holding space for the performers to focus on the dance itself. 

 

I'm excited to say that an organisation has just offered me £1000 to cover a wage and per diem for the 2 weeks, so I’m looking to raise £2100 to cover flights (London to Vancouver plus an internal flight) and accommodation for the duration.
 
As you know, any support would be a great help in reaching this goal, however I appreciate that everyone's financial situation has massively changed in recent years.
 
Thank you for considering this and I wish you a wonderful day.
Theo x




'The Days' invites the audience to share an encounter with two exceptional Finnish performers, Maria Nurmela & Ville Oinonen. Caught in an impossible loop of absurd and heartfelt exchanges, The Days engenders a world of shifting negotiations, complex feelings and comic disconnection. Taking the form of a lifetime shared, this is a compelling duet about care, resilience and the desire for connection.

Concept, Direction and Design: Theo Clinkard
Realisation and Performance:  Ville Oinonen and Maria Nurmela + guest performers
Composition/Sound Design: James Keane. Including: David Bowie Wild is the Wind & Nina Simone Wild is the Wind
Lighting Design: Kalle Ropponen
Dramaturgy: Leah Marojević
Premiere: 10.12.2018 Pori Theatre, Tanssikuu Festival
Duration: 50 Minutes

Nurmela & Oinonen regularly collaborate with companies & choreographers internationally whilst also creating their own independent productions. In 2017 they initiated The Days Project & invited Clinkard to conceive a duet they could perform together. 

'The Days Project' has been supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Wihuri Foundation, Riksteatern, Helsinki Festival, Studio Wayne McGregor / FreeSpace programme, Turku City Theatre, Pori Dance Company, Theatre Academy / Uniarts Helsinki, Alexander Theatre Helsinki / TSC studio, Liikelaituri, Dance House Helsinki, TelePart / Finnish Institute in Berlin, Regional Dance Center of Western Finland, Dance Info Finland - Russia Program. This tour is supported by The Finnish Cultural Foundation, The Finnish Institute in the UK & Ireland & the Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland. 

ABOA Cultural Prize 2020 recipient Maria Nurmela has worked as a dance artist since 2002 with choreographers such as Tero Saarinen & Susanne Linke. Since 2016 she creates her own immersive performances, community outreach projects & films. In addition, Maria also teaches, mentors & works as an advisor in institutions such as Theater Academy of Uniarts in Helsinki. Maria has been recognised by numerous grants & awards: in March her short film ECHOES / Kaikuja created with Vesa Loikas was nominated for Prix Lumieré Prize 2022 in Cinedansé Festival, Quebec. Maria is currently studying to become a Feldenkrais practitioner in The Instituto Feldenkrais. 

Ville Oinonen graduated in 2006 from Kuopio Music & Dance Academy & was immediately engaged with Dance Theatre MD (2006-2009 & 2014-2017) where he still works as a guest dancer. Freelancing has taken him to Sweden to work with choreographer Helena Franzén & the award-winning dance company Art of Spectra. Occasionally Oinonen also teaches dance at TROIS C-L, Luxembourg. Oinonen has been awarded with many grants for work as an artist (Wihuri Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland & Finnish Cultural Foundation).

Theo Clinkard is based in Devon & his practice spans choreography, design, performance, mentoring & teaching. He launched his company in 2012 & has since created Ordinary Courage, Chalk, Of Land & Tongue,This Bright Field, The Elsewhen Series (a co-creation with Leah Marojević), Bent Wood & the forthcoming, Century Project. Commissions include Tanztheatre Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba & Candoco Dance Company. Theo is an Associate Artist at Brighton Dome & The Hall for Cornwall & an Honorary Fellow at Plymouth University.