Openings

Openings
An international workshop in the performing arts
to develop creative relationships and performance situations
through dramatic play and improvisation
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
From “Go to the Limits of Your Longing” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Welcome! In this blog, I and other members of the Openings working group will reflect on our three-month workshop process.
If you'd like to read more about the goals and description of the workshop, please check out this page.
Special thanks to our sponsors, whose financial support has made this unique opportuity possible. They are: Arts Council Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Helsinki City, and The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
OPENINGS — MEET THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS: SARAH PUUKKA
Sarah Puukka is a Danish-Finnish actor and writing enthusiast based in Helsinki. She holds a master's degree in Nordic Literature where her main interest has been in the links between existential philosophy and literature. She has studied...
Openings Workshop: Final open session
After three months of developing creative relationships and performance situations through dramatic play and (Inter)acting with the Inner Partner, the Openings workshop final open session will be on May 25, 2022 at 7PM at Esitystaiteen keskus in Helsinki, Finland....
OPENINGS — MEET THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS: JENINE SIMONS
Jenine is a singing and improvisational theater-enthusiast, as well as a medical doctor. She studied and completed her medical residency in the UK. After moving to Finland, Jenine embarked on a transformational journey of exploring drama-, art- and...
OPENINGS — MEET THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS: HANNA IJÄS
Hanna Ijäs is a visual artist and a performer currently based in Helsinki. She has a degree in Fine Arts from the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (NL) where she lived and worked before recently returning to Finland. Ijäs mainly works with text, performance and...
OPENINGS — MEET THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS: Maria Ga’tsal
Maria Ga'tsal is a Mexican-Spanish actress, dancer, and movement artist. Maria did her bachelor's degree in acting in California and matured professionally as a dancer and movement artist in Germany and the Netherlands. She has experience on stage and behind the...
OPENINGS — Meet the workshop Participants: INGRID ANDRÉ
Our second interview is with Ingrid André Ingrid is a Belgian artist based in Helsinki. She works across dance, visual arts, and psycho-somatic practices. After her dance studies, she worked as a contemporary dancer for Skånes Dansteater Malmö, Philipp Egli Zürich,...
OPENINGS — Meet the workshop Participants: SARA PALMER
As part of the Openings process, we're interviewing all our participants in order to open up who they are, why they've joined the workshop, and what the process is giving them. Our first interview is with Sara Palmer. Sara is an improviser, actor, writer, and...
OPENINGS — REFLECTIONS
Week 4 Posted March 30, 2022 Week 4 was the last of an intensive introduction to (Inter)acting with the Inner Partner (aka IwIP). In this blog post, we’ll read reflections from Openings participants about what has changed in their IwIP over those introductory...
OPENINGS — REFLECTIONS
Week 3 Posted March 25, 2022 We’re one week behind on our blog entries due to illness, but we’re catching up. Today we have a longer, two-part blog entry. Our blog entry for week 4 will be published next week. Part One includes reflections from working group...
OPENINGS — REFLECTIONS
Week 2 Posted March 21, 2022 My apologies for the delay in posting week two’s blog entry. This was caused by my falling ill on Friday of week two. I’m now back in action. In this blog entry, I’ll reflect on our work during week two. Before I do, a brief...
OPENINGS — REFLECTIONS
Week 1 Posted March 4, 2022 My first thoughts are how lovely it is that we can finally begin after so much preparation! It's been years, actually, considering all the applications for funding and the delays caused by the big "C" virus. It threw a spanner in the...