Practice of Performance | Dansehallerne

In Vera Nevanlinna’s classes, we familiarize ourselves with American choreographer Deborah Hay’s “Practice of performance” and small choreographic structures. In the classes, you dance by listening to your own body through various questions. The questions prompt the dancer to find an alert and present way of creating both movement and choreography in relation to the whole environment – space, other dancers and the (imaginary) audience.

Nevanlinna is one of the very few, who are permitted to give workshops based on Deborah Hays practice. She’s been giving these workshops in Montclair State University New Jersey, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, University of the Arts Helsinki, Henry Jurriens Foundation Amsterdam, Zodiak – Center for New Dance Helsinki, Tanssille ry Helsinki, Riveria Outokumpu, Tanssivintti Helsinki, Tanssila Helsinki, Kartoitus-festival Helsinki, Virgiinia Helsinki.

Vera Nevanlinna has worked regularly with Deborah Hay since the year 2007 in five different productions: News (2007), If I Sing to You (2009), Lightening (2010), Figure a Sea (2015), Animals on the Beach (2018). Since 2015, Nevanlinna has also been a guest dancer at Cullberg in Deborah Hay’s choreography Figure a Sea. It has been touring widely in Europe, America and Middle East 2015-2021.

Only as a member, you can take part in Dansehallerne’s training activities – a year-round program with approximately 5 days of training per week.
This is for all professional members no matter background in dance training, and it is possible to drop in✨
International guests can also join training for free for up to 1 month.

Veras classes are in close collaboration with Tanssille ry (FI), Danscentrum Stockholm (SE), PRODA (NO) and Danish Dance Theatre and we are happy to be able to offer the classes in the DDT studio.

These classes are held at the Opera:
Ekvipagemestervej 10, 1438 Copenhagen K. You will arrive to the stage entrance, big grey sliding door and enter the reception. We kindly ask you to meet latest 15 minutes before the class, so that it is time to find your way to the studio and show your QR code on the ticket:)

During week 39 and 40 in 2023, and week 8 and 9 in 2024, the Nordic Sustainable Dance Training (SDT) project will be carried out with the intention to share resources and expand the curated artists Nordic footprint with an overall aim of knowledge sharing and bridging a stronger Nordic field.

SDT expands the organization’s regular curation, including a wide range of collaborators and activities through dance classes, articles, and talks. SDT is initiated by Dansehallerne, in collaboration with Danscentrum, PRODA and Tanssille ry. These institutions offer training for professional dancers.

Vera Nevanlinna has had a long and distinguished career as a dance artist, working in the dance field since 1998. Nevanlinna studied at Helsinki Dance Institute and Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts in Helsinki, Finland, from where she graduated in 1998 with a M.A. in Dance Studies. Since then she has been performing in the works of numerous domestic and international choreographers such as Deborah Hay, Eeva Muilu, ChameckiLerner, Miguel Gutierrez, Kirsi Monni, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Mart Kangro, Thomas Lehmen, Ervi Sirén and performed all over the world. In addition, she has made choreography and several multidisciplinary collaborations with artists from various fields. Her latest collaboration was with photographer Elina Brotherus in Règle du jeu: Carte Blanche PMU (Centre Pompidou, Paris) and Playground (Serlachius Museums, Finland). Vera Nevanlinna has worked regularly with Deborah Hay since the year 2007 in five different productions: News (2007), If I Sing to You (2009), Lightening (2010), Figure a Sea (2015), Animals on the Beach (2018). Since 2015, Nevanlinna has also been a guest dancer at Cullberg in Deborah Hay’s choreography Figure a Sea. It has been touring widely in Europe, America and Middle East 2015-2021. Nevanlinna is one of the very few, who are permitted to give workshops based on Deborah Hays practice. She’s been giving these workshops in Montclair State University New Jersey, University of California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles, University of the Arts Helsinki, Henry Jurriens Foundation Amsterdam, Zodiak – Center for New Dance Helsinki, Tanssille ry Helsinki, Riveria Outokumpu, Tanssivintti Helsinki, Tanssila Helsinki, Kartoitus-festival Helsinki, Virgiinia Helsinki. Nevanlinna has also been the Artistic director of Zodiak – Center for New Dance in Helsinki 2009-2011. In addition to her dance studies she has graduated as a photographer (1992) and a Yoga teacher (2009) and played drums in the band Branded Women. Currently she is studying Empowering Photography method.