Elina Pirinen calls her “Personal Symphonic Moment” an ‘autopsy’ of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony: a simultaneously exact and distorted, creative and destructive, faithful and unfaithful approach to the symphonic work. Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 7 is heard in its full length: declared in 1942 to be a contribution to the fight against fascism, and equally intended to be understood in its musical structure as criticism of all tyranny, including Soviet dictatorship, it overwhelms listeners in its dramatic intensity. Side by side Pirinen and her group play corporally, textually and visually with the poltics, form and parameters of the music. Three dancers are moving with grotesque comedy through the inhospitable gloom of the stage creating an impetuous and bizarre expressionist dance. Three weird graces are creating primitive and intellectual symphonic elements of peace, exaggeration, comfort, arousal, imbecility, subservience, eroticism, shame, pity, danger and sentimentality, as stated in Pirinen’s concept. “Watch out for the high art and celebration of looserness!” one is inclined to call. In 2014 Elina Pirinen was awarded the Critics Spurs, the annual honorary prize of the Finnish Association of Critics, for “Personal Symphonic Moment” and other work. The Finnish choreographer’s work is being seen in Berlin for the first time.

Elina Pirinen is a choreographer, dancer, singer-songwriter-musician, artistic director and pedagogue currently living in Helsinki. In her stage work she often uses large classical music pieces as frames for different corporal performativity qualities. She often collaborates often with Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Kiasma Theatre and Performance Art Center in Helsinki. Pirinen studied dance and choreography in the Theatre Academy Helsinki, graduating with a Master of Dance with special studies in contemporary theatre in 2008. She has wide classical and pop music training with piano, voice and violin. Along with stage works she makes and performs experimental chamber pop music with her orchestra and helps animals in need. Elina Pirinen was recently awarded the Finnish Critics’ Associations annual honorary price Critics’ Spurs for the most outstanding artistic breakthrough in Finland for her artistic work and especially for her “strong and original” creation “Personal Symphonic Moment”.