Maria Rutanen
A Body as
A researcher
Maria is a dance artist, choreographer, and dance teacher. Her choreographic and movement practice intertwines various techniques such as Body-Mind Centering, instant composition, release technique, and contact improvisation. She holds an MA in Choreography from the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch / Inter-University Centre for Dance HZT Berlin. In addition, she has studied dance pedagogy, contemporary dance, performance and improvisation, as well as gender research in Finland and Germany. Maria teaches dance internationally to people from different backgrounds, of different ages and with different body capabilities. She makes self-taught art films and facilitates dance spaces.
"I am intrigued by somatic approaches in choreographic processes and how a shared experience emerges between the performer and the viewer, wherein inter-subjective experiences are transmitted through many micro-movements at deeper levels. I am interested in how empathy can be experienced through corporeality and cultivated through kinesthetic thinking and how embodied empathy affects ecological and social justice.
I work with ecosomatic and touch-based practices, through which I examine the relationship between being human and the other. I explore the experiences of commonality, disorientation, liminality, and transformation, how we construct boundaries and connections through our bodies".
contact: margareetta@gmail.com