SILENCE - yes please!
On 8th August 2018 Hoxton Arches and St Mary’s Secret Garden in London’s East End turned into a performing space as a Finnish Silence Festival took over the venues for one day.
Silence Festival started in Kittilä, Finland some 9 years ago. Contrary to its name the festival is not about sitting in silence contemplating, but rather reflects the life of the small village where the festival is held yearly in the Finnish Lapland away from everyday unavoidable noise. The festival traditionally brings together Finnish and international artist performing contemporary circus, music, dance and talks as well all sorts of unexpected collaborations.
Silence-London saw artist Jenni Lehtinen perform Lyydia – a contemporary circus performance where she climbed, hung, and swang from a wooden structure called KomsioDome. Jenni’s performance left the audience in awe with her acrobatic skills and continuous movement. Lyydia was followed by Sasu Peistola’s performance Väkevä (Strongman). Sasu showed his incredible skill and strength by lifting a member of the audience off the floor with his teeth, tearing a pack of cards in half with his bare hands and escaping (whilst hanging upside down from the ceiling) from a straightjacket in 20 seconds flat. New Houdini in the making!
Programme also included discussion, live music with neo-classical ballet performance and a workshop in which the enchanting St Mary’s Secret Garden was introduced to the audience.
Silence-London was piloted this year but proved to be such a successful event that it will come back in 2019. Next year the festival is looking to have an extended duration with even more varied and exciting collaborations.
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Silence Festival(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Sakari Männistö(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Text Pirjo Pellinen