Colourful courtship rituals, intense gazes, and choreographed power struggles unfold in a universe where birds-of-paradise meet wrestling, boy bands, and futuristic fantasies. Inspired by the dramatic and precise mating dances of birds-of-paradise, the performance explores how we seek love, validation, and belonging through the body, the gaze, and social rituals.

On stage, the performers transform into hybrid and futuristic bird-like creatures through precise and theatrical movement vocabularies inspired by club culture, boy bands, wrestling, post-internet aesthetics, and the video game Tekken 3. Animalistic and human expressions coexist in a physical landscape that balances the absurd, the vulnerable, and the powerful.

In Birds of Paradise, Finnish choreographer Tiia Kasurinen explores how identity is shaped, performed, and perceived. Through exaggerated courtship rituals and performative power games, the work turns its attention to questions of gender, masculinity, body ideals, and hierarchy.

Costumes by Leevi Ikäheimo amplify the performance’s playful engagement with expectations surrounding the body and gender. The result is a highly physical, visually charged experience where humour, vulnerability, and theatricality exist side by side.

Birds of Paradise was presented as a finalist at Danse Élargie in Paris in 2024 and premiered at Helsinki City Theatre in 2026.

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Konsept, koreografi & regi / Concept, choreography, direction: Tiia Kasurinen 

Utøvere / Performers: Tiia Kasurinen, Lauri Lohi, Kaisu Koittola

Lysdesign / Lighting design: Mikko Kaukonen

Scenografi / Stage design: Aino Koski 

Kostyme design / Costume design: Leevi Ikäheimo

Lyd design / Sound design: Tiikka Drama

Støtte & samarbeid / Supporters & collaborators: Kone Foundation, Insistut Finlandais / pARTir, Dansé Elargie, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Zodiak – Center for New Dance / Loisto, HKT Stage for Contemporary Performance

Residens / Residencies: The Saari Residence / Kone Foundation, Cité des Arts, HKT Stage for Contemporary Performance

Produksjon / Production: Tiia Kasurinen, Lauri Lohi, Arts Management Helsinki

Foto / Photos: Jessica North

Video: Ronja Salla

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Tiia Kasurinen (FI) is a choreographer, artist, and creative director based in Helsinki. A graduate of Stockholm University of the Arts, she works internationally across choreographic projects that move between performing arts, popular culture, and visual expression.

In her artistic practice, Kasurinen explores themes of identity, power, gender, and the gaze we direct toward one another. Through transformation, movement, and physical worlds that balance the theatrical, the absurd, and the vulnerable, she investigates how people perform themselves and relate to their surroundings.

Her works are characterized by a strong visual language and draw inspiration from popular culture, digital worlds, subcultures, and social rituals. Kasurinen’s work has been presented at venues and festivals including Dance Base Yokohama in Japan, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, One Dance Festival in Bulgaria, Intonal Festival in Sweden, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Zodiak – Centre for New Dance in Helsinki, and the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands.

CODA Oslo International Dance Festival is one of the Nordic region’s leading festivals for contemporary dance. Every year in October, the festival creates a vibrant and diverse space for dance art in Oslo, in close collaboration with the city’s established dance venues, as well as in unexpected public spaces.

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