The cermony was my final thesis at the Art University theatre academy’s Directing department. I wanted to research the border between the real and the magical as well as the dramatic character and stripped down present self. The cermony was made for the purpose of retrieving powers from beyond, the inner world to manifest a positive transformation in our outer world. We worked with the physicality and movement material inspired by the qualities of the five elements and with monologues that was part of my written thesis.
The participants unerwent cleansing in all the different elements that was retrieved as a collective sacrifice. In the end there was a person in trance who journeyd into the spirit world where she met a creature of empowerment that she brought with her out and this was danced and sung out into the world in the end.
The Sacrifice -120 min cermony with movement material, written monolog, improvised material, dance and song.
Reflecting on my final thesis at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki, Ur mörker was not just an artistic project; it was an existential journey that blurred the lines between personal experience and creative exploration. The work emerged from a profound need to engage with the inner darkness that had clouded my mind for years. It was not merely an exploration of narrative or performance but an excavation of the self, seeking meaning through ritual, sensory experience, and the unraveling of societal constructs.
The piece was rooted in ritualistic theatre, drawing from practices such as hypnotherapy, Butoh, and shamanistic techniques. These tools allowed me to break away from conventional narrative structures and dive deep into a psychological space, where perception, emotion, and cognitive reality intersect. The rituals, which were both personal and collective, served as portals to a heightened state of awareness, through which I could confront my most vulnerable and painful experiences.
The experience was overwhelming at times. As I worked through sensory overload and emotional tumult, I learned that creation itself—especially in theatre—is a form of continuous transformation. My body, my emotions, and my mind were all participants in the dialogue of the work, and this holistic approach to theatre became a catharsis, one that helped me regain a sense of agency and connection to both myself and the world around me.
This journey through darkness and light, through ritual and reality, has taught me the importance of the artist’s vulnerability. It is only by confronting the raw, uncomfortable truths within that we can transform them into something meaningful—whether it is through the art of performance or through living itself. The thesis process was not just an academic exercise but an invitation to re-engage with life, with the physical and the metaphysical, with the light and the dark. In the end, it was a manifestation of healing, both artistic and personal, unfolding through the sacred space of the theatre.
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