Newsletter 
Moving in November is a contemporary dance festival held annually in the Helsinki region. This year, the festival will feature three performances by French choreographers or those operating in France:
From November 9 to November 10: Ola Maciejewska : The Second Body
Ola Maciejewska is a dancer, artist, and choreographer, born in Poland and currently residing in France. The Second Body is inspired by the book of the same name by Daisy Hildyard, addressing the current debate on humanity’s impact on climate and ecology. Hildyard’s narrative suggests that humans have two bodies: a concrete body of flesh and blood, and an abstract form intertwined with the environment. In Ola Maciejewska´s work, the human body shares the stage with a block of ice – a living organism rich in fluids, alongside another body made of frozen tap water. The Second Body presents a meeting point between these two forms, highlighting their interdependence, scale, and sensory experience.
The performance will take place at the Kiasma Theatre on November 9 and 10 at 5 PM. You can purchase tickets for the performance here. You can also access the show with a Moving in November festival pass.
From November 12 to November 14: Rébecca Chaillon: Whitewashing
Rébecca Chaillon is an author, director, and performer. She grew up in Picardie, France but was born in Martinique. Her work is inspired by the term “whitewashing,” which is typically used to describe white actors playing racialized characters. In her piece Whitewashing, the term takes on an opposite meaning, referring to the lightening of skin. In this performance, she first applies a bleaching agent to the floor and then to her skin, exploring the tension that arises from the body of a Black housekeeper in a white society. This ritual affirms her existence in the face of the alienating power of racism and invites the audience to closely observe how a body that society tries to render invisible becomes more visible and intact.
The performance will take place at the Caisa Cultural Center (Kaikukatu 4B, 00530 Helsinki). The performances are scheduled for November 12 and 13 at 7 PM, and November 14 at 9:30 PM. You can purchase tickets for the performance here. You can also access the show with a Moving in November festival pass. Note: The work includes scenes of nudity and references to racism.
From November 16 to November 17: Calixto Neto: IL FAUX
Calixto Neto, originally from Brazil and having studied choreography in France, draws inspiration for his work IL FAUX from the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In this book, Coates writes a letter to his 15-year-old son to warn him about the threats the world holds for his growing black body in North America. IL FAUX explores the transmission of fear and the conditioning of the body to a language of survival, while examining the possibility of overturning the social roles assigned to Black bodies. The work navigates through dissociative methods such as manipulation, dispossession, and fragmentation, using ventriloquism as an element to reveal the dichotomy between body control and its emptiness.
IL FAUX will be presented at the Stoa Cultural Center on November 16 and 17 at 6 PM. You can purchase tickets for the performance here. You can also access the show with a Moving in November festival pass. Note: The work contains passages in French, with English subtitles.