Dance performance alum: I enjoy learning and growing in supported group processes
Surrounded by the surreal conditions of the Finnish winter, Australian Jacqueline Aylward applied to the Theatre Academy. Read about Jacqueline’s experience of the master’s programme in dance performance and her perception of Finland after living here for almost five years.
Tell us about yourself and how you came to study at Uniarts Helsinki?
I’m a dance artist from Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. I first came to Finland in 2019. It was summer and I ended up here after travelling around Europe dancing in various contact improvisation festivals. I took part in a somatic dance programme in Joensuu in autumn, fell in love, went back to Australia for the summer and then returned to Finland in spring 2020. I stayed during Covid because I was happy here and the travel restrictions made it very difficult to return home.
I applied to Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy in 2021 because I wanted to dance more and was looking for a way to extend my visa. The studies also appealed to me as a way to form new friendships and as a context for understanding my relationship to dance and performance situated within a foreign field.
Tell us something you remember about applying to Uniarts Helsinki.
I remember being alone in the Old Mine residency in Outokumpu. It was like minus 20 degrees and dark – everything seemed a bit surreal. I spent a lot of time collecting information about my past work finding the fragments of what different dances had left behind on the internet and in my body. I hadn’t really been in the practice of doing that and I became quite reflective. I guess that I started to process and identify what was meaningful to me about working with dance and what didn’t matter so much after a while.
What do you think is the best thing about studying?
I don’t know about a hierarchy of things but I do enjoy learning and growing in supported group processes. Also, I appreciate forming a relationship with the different structures and frameworks that programmes offer.
What has been the most memorable experience during your studies?
There was one “doubting” score that Maria Saivosalmi shared with us which I think is very beautiful both to witness and practice. I was reminded of it just the other day when I was experiencing crippling self-doubt and was like, okay this is what is here now, I will anyway continue to practice dancing. So the feelings and thoughts became a conscious part of the scores for the rehearsal I was in.
I also remember a fun class with Sanna Myllylahti where she just kept talking about space – outer space, inner space, the universe, architecture, space between the teeth – and everyone was dancing.
What has been the most challenging part of your studies?
I worked weekends while studying, which was really difficult because I didn’t really have any time off and I was tired. I remember many days I would just get home from school or work at 5pm, eat some frozen pizza and then fall asleep.
What are you working on now and in the near future?
Right now I am in a two week z-lab residency with my friend/colleague Iris Blauberg. We are working on testing out some new ideas in the studio for a work I am making called “Firefighter”, which is a biographical dance performance about my sister.
A lot of my recent work has been with my dance/music collective “Bunch of Scrumps”. We have plans to work together over the next five years making performances in Finland, Serbia, Slovenia and Australia.
I have a few other group and solo projects coming up in the spring and and feel very lucky to be able to spend time dancing.
What preconceptions did you have about Finland? What do you think about them now?
Honestly I hadn’t really thought much about Finland before I came here in 2019. My perception of the country now is that the saunas are great, the language is very difficult, the water tastes good and the people can be very funny.