Becoming a master: student Nella Savolainen and artistic godparent Sara Gurevitsch
Bachelor student in dance Nella Savolainen and her artistic godparent Sara Gurevitsch discuss their learning journey together.
Who are you and what do you do at Uniarts Helsinki?
Nella: I’m Nella Matleena Savolainen, a 24-year-old dance artist and a second-year bachelor’s student in dance.
Sara: I’m Sara Gurevitsch, a dancer and a choreographer. I graduated as a choreographer at Uniarts Helsinki in 2018. Now I’m an artistic godparent for Nella in the field of dance.
What do you remember from the first time you met?
Nella: I met Sara for the first time in Mikkeli in a local dance institute’s facilities called Paukkulinna. Me and my friend Jaakko Fagerberg had a traineeship in an opera called Döbeln where Sara was the choreographer. We drove from Outokumpu to Mikkeli with Jaakko to meet Sara and to read through the libretto of the opera. My first impression of Sara was warm and welcoming, empathetic and professional. I remember thinking that I hope that Sara and I become friends. After we left with Jaakko to drive back to Outokumpu, we both were excited and amused, in this kind of funny mood where we felt like giggling. Sara has this effect on people.
Sara: (Yeah, we met in Mikkeli. I had suggested to opera director Ville Saukkonen that the dancers for the new project could come from Outokumpu. Nella and Jaakko participated in the Döbeln opera as dancers in 2021.) Immediately when we met it was really easy to talk and to see that these two (Nella and Jaakko) are complete professionals – I experienced the sort of support and profound understanding that is valuable when doing artistic work. I remember that all the movement exercises and choreographic circumstances felt interesting and opened up something between us immediately. So, to cut a long story short, I was really inspired after our first moments together.
How would you describe your student – artistic godparent relationship now – what is it like, what is the relationship based on and how has it evolved? What do you think are the most important elements in the interaction between an artistic godparent and a student?
Nella: Sara is my friend, colleague and naturally an artistic godparent here at the Theatre Academy. As an artistic godparent, Sara is encouraging and inspiring. She gives me a sense of confidence in my own skills and views. I think that our relationship is based on feeling comfortable and being human: in permission to be incomplete and human first and foremost, artistry is secondary. I think that’s valuable and rare in the arts sector. I think that we have this foundation for our relationship because we are on the same wavelength and know how to give each other space.
Sara: Mutual appreciation, which in practice means respect for the other person’s space. There’s a strong professional trust in the other person, as well. So I feel that the mutual trust makes our professional relationship and our student – artistic godparent relationship possible. Ultimately, the relationship between a student and an artistic godparent is based on sharing normal things and appreciating each other’s energies.
How do you give feedback to each other?
Nella: With kindness, with listening ears and consideration to the other person’s needs.
Sara: We talk about all sorts of things – there’s also a sense of freedom in there! Which is inspiring. I guess we give feedback in a totally normal conversational way and then move on from there.
Describe your typical meet-up – what happens, what do you usually do?
Nella: Our typical meet-up goes something like this: Sara exclaims Nellaaaaa, I smile and let out a laugh, we hug and chuckle. We catch up on the latest and on what happened on the way to where we are meeting. We both love drinking coffee, so that’s a part of our get-togethers. Often, we meet up because of work, so after a while we start discussing that. Throughout the entire time we’re together, there’s still lovely excitement going on, which gives a lot of energy and security. If we don’t meet up because of work, we talk about whatever comes to our minds, often about things like Sara’s cutie pie kids, me and my partner’s Wicca cat, crafts, maybe stones, plants, discourse in the arts sector, dreams, wriggles, hardships, etc.
Sara: I think that Nella’s description is exactly exact and real. So I have nothing to add.
What do you think, what will your relationship be like in five years?
Nella: I believe that we have gotten to work more together, I always find it awesome dancing in Sara’s works, I hope that Kuudestila festival thrives and is an accessible meeting place for people in the arts. I also believe that our friendship has grown deeper, we laugh a lot, we crawl on various floors and outside. I hope that we both have received working grants that allow us to live wonderful dance-filled lives.
Sara: Hopefully we’ve been able to work more together and go out for a drink on a restaurant terrace. Oh and that I have gotten to meet Wicca cat.
What is special about your artistic godparent / student as an artist?
Nella: Oh! So many things! I admire Sara’s vision in art. Her courage to deal with complex and broad issues, to experiment and work in various ways. Her ability to think of things from many different angles, to be wrong and be able to admit it. Her way of being in this field that is impossible, unhealthy and full of uncertainties and her way of managing to work “with life as the priority”, as Sara puts it, and in spite of this or maybe exactly because of this, being able to gather some of the most talented people together and prepare the most moving art pieces with strenuous but rewarding processes. I admire Sara’s way of viewing dance through her own choreographic eye. And the way that us dancers receive support in Sara’s works but that at the same time, we get to be people with free agency. With our own bodies and bodily experiences, we get to be part of her vision that is shared and evolving, not pre-established and unconditional. Sara is definitely one of the most special artists who I’ve had the chance to meet.
Sara: Nella is an incredibly spectacular performer, dancer. A totally amazing performer who performs in ways that feel relevant, and experiencing and seeing them seem to give some insight into our time and the world that we live in. Nella observes things in an incredible way, they don’t make value judgements, they stay their true self, which is super inspiring for me as a choreographer.
I remember Nella’s first solo in the kuudestila event, it was epic and actually I remember – now I’m revealing something, but on Instagram years ago you had posted that you went dancing to Bach. You’re so punk and then Bach – I just watched it and was like, yay, would be cool to meet that person – and ha, look what happened! Love it.
What have you learned from each other?
Nella: I could list so many things here, especially things about Sara’s artistry that I talked about earlier. But instead, I’d like to point out what I’ve picked up on about harnessing the agency of my own body and mind. I have learned courage in setting my own boundaries and trusting my own body and mind. On the other hand, I’ve also learned to question the established methods of working and operating in this field or in the world in general. I’ve learned to review the structures that I find myself in as well as my own position of power in relation to these structures.
Sara: Confidence and artistic certainty.
How have you grown as an artist during your artistic godparent-student relationship?
Nella: During this relationship, I’ve grown the most when we worked on a piece called Massiveness and still life. During the project and the performances, I got to work with broad themes that dealt with body image and being human. Especially when working on my solo, I felt that my own artistry grew deeper and absorbed new layers, and my own daring to be with my incomplete thoughts on stage expanded to new dimensions. This made me grow both as an artist and a human being.
Sara: Personally, finding peace has always been hard for me with everything going on. I think that Nella has a specific kind of (sort of dynamic) peace, which is incredibly cool – so maybe that’s the thing. Maybe that’s connected to us being on the same wavelength. But yeah, the feeling of peace is somehow part of our student-godparent relationship, and it has affected me as a professional.