Marona Awdishou looks on as Titta Court gestures on stage in a production of [mute],

The promotion of a stage performance begins at an early stage and usually at a time when there is very little in terms of a finished product, be it visuals, sound, lighting or choreography. Sometimes things are still finding their place right up to the premiere. Not so with [mute]!

[mute] is a powerful contemporary dance piece for one adult performer and one child performer. Thematically, the piece deals with silence, the unspoken things that exist between people, be it in their family, romantic relationships or any community of people. The dancer-choreographer Pirjo Yli-Maunula had been conceiving of a solo work and when it turned out that dancer-choreographer Titta Court was also planning a solo work of her own, they decided to make a collaboration instead of individual pieces.

Pirjo and Titta put together a team of consummate professionals. These are people who have worked together on many projects and have formed close relationships. Aake Otsala was brought in for sound design and music production along with composer George Bandoek Apostolakis, Heidi Kesti took charge of costume and set design, Jukka Huitila was tasked with creating the light design and then, crucially, Pirjo and Titta found two wonderful and talented child performers: 11-year-old Pinja Palosaari and Marona Awdishou, 8.

(L-R) Titta Court, PIrjo Yli-Maunula, Marina Awdishou, Pinja Palosaari, Aake Otsala and George Bandoek Apostolakis at a rehearsal in Tornio.

The piece was always designed to be performed with a rotating cast in each performance, so first Pirjo would be paired up with Pinja, then Titta with Marona and then they would switch it up again, Pirjo with Marona and Titta with Pinja. You get the idea. The kids were super sweet and more importantly, experienced and talented performers in their own right. The kids were in large part responsible for their own choreography in the piece and they were treated as equal members of the team despite their young age. Their respective parents were highly supportive with both Marona's and Pinja's moms bringing them to rehearsals and checking out the process.

Anyway! I was brought in to document the work as it progressed from early rehearsals to the stage. There were a few rehearsal periods, some of them taking place in Tornio and some of them in Oulu. In September, after an intensive week of rehearsals in Tornio, the piece was largely complete. With two months to the premiere! Easy as pie.

Pirjo likes to bring in a photographer early in the process to provide photos from behind the scenes or making-of images, which she then distributes on social media to promote an upcoming piece. It's also a way to document the creation of a piece and the images often serve as visual notes for the crew.

Pirjo and Pinja rehearsing the final scene with Marona and Titta observing from where the audience would be. Many elements were in place already like the fur coats, plastic Christmas trees and the birdcage. Originally, the idea was for the child to … — Pirjo and Pinja rehearsing the final scene with Marona and Titta observing from where the audience would be. Many elements were in place already like the fur coats, plastic Christmas trees and the birdcage. Originally, the idea was for the child to go slowly across the stage from left to right (through clay), but this changed, both performers ending up going from front to back.

Now, when I say the piece was nearly complete two months before the premiere, I mean that the structure had emerged, all the scenes were done and their order was established. There was plenty of finessing and honing to be done with all aspects of the performance. Jukka was still planning the light design and there were also problems to be solved in terms of costume and set design. (How many plastic Christmas trees should we have? How do we construct a special armchair? What should the kids wear?)

Pinja and Titta working in a dance studio.

Pirjo taking a break, Marona and Titta discussing a scene.

Look, it's the Ministry of Silly Walks! Marona and Pirjo working on the crutch dance.

In October, the crew was able to make test runs on stage and see what would and wouldn't work in a bigger space.

[mute] was always really intense in a small rehearsal space, but now it was time to see how everything would project on stage. The light design was also starting to come together.

As a photographer it is a joy to work with such visual richness. It is obviously especially interesting as the lighting scheme is done. Not that it's easy: it seems I'm constantly working with low light, weird colored light and this time, there was the added bonus of smoke. When smoke is backlit, it looks beautiful, but light it from the front and it's just this hazy wall of no contrast.

I had a long conversation with Jukka about how to photograph a stage production. I always try to convey what's cool about a piece, and I strive to make sure that the work of the visual professionals (including the performers) is presented in a way that does it justice. If Jukka decides to light a scene with sodium vapor, then I feel like I shouldn't mess with the color and try to color-correct it but instead present his choice as it is. Turns out Jukka is far less concerned about this than I am and essentially gave me a free pass to do whatever--he emphasized the vision of the photographer and the meaning of conveying the emotion of the piece. I ended up shooting the press kit for [mute], ie. the photography to be used in critiques and so on and that is a little different from documenting the work.

[mute] premiered on November 4. There were still a few performances to go in Oulu at the time of this writing. The reception has been enthusiastic and emotional. Sure would love to see this piece travel!

Check out the trailer for [mute]:

[mute] from Flow Productions on Vimeo.