kaja kann portfolio

Saying false I declare the truth

Circus itself is not bad,
Theatre itself is not good,
Music itself is not abstract,
An artist itself is nothing,
everything depends on the context.
School does not teach how to be an artist.
An artist is primarily a human being.
A spectator is primarily a human being.
Loyal artists are slaves.
Laziness kills the curiosity.
Boredom opens it.
Saying false I declare the truth.

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ZUGA knows the truth

Priemer 26th of Feb. 2013 Kanuti Gildi SAAL www.saal.ee
United dancers of ZUGA “ZUGA knows the truth”
Kaja Kann with Helen Reitsnik, Jarmo Karing, Kalle Tikas, Karl Saks ja Tiina Mölder.
Coprodiucers: Kanuti Gildi SAAL/EST and NordWind Festival/GER

The mind knows what it's doing. The mind is smart. The mind chooses the words. The word is the truth. Only one can win. The mind will win. The word will win. The Feeling is the loser. The feeling can cheat. The feeling is wrong. The feeling is unlimited. The mind has limits. The mind doesn't understand the feeling. The feeling says nothing. The feeling knows no words. The mind though, does. The feeling again understands.

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SPA

Eksperimental performance for one person “SPA”.
By and with Maike Lond and Kaja Kann. AmbulARToorium, Kasepää village, Estonia.

- are you really planning to tuch thes ugly men who sit all day long on streets?
- yes
- but, they are old?
- yes they are
- but they are drunks
- is it infectious?

- when you are going to the city?
- on Sunday.
- already?
- yes, work is waiting for me.
- you are happy, you have where to go.

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Knit the world!

A Book, A Performance, A Sound, An Exhibithion.

Author and on stage: Kaja Kann / Technical support: Taavi Varm / Dramaturgical support, music and sound: Juha Valkeapää / Text editor: Annika Vamper.

Public performance: 2014 February. Producer: Pardimäe Lokaal Co-Producers: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Baltic Circle.

" I use many colors when I'm not in between a hard rehearsal period. Then my socks become pretty colorful and stripy. But when my head is full, i only use one color. Then i prefer to make red socks. One sock will be completely red. I won't change in the middle. No stripes. Knitting is not an art for me.”

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PEACE PRESENTATION

Residency program with Maike Lond on subjects “War and Sex” At Püha Vaimu Saal
1.-31. March 2012. More info: http://pyhavaim.blogspot.com/
Showings and discussions with audience: 9., 17., 24., 31. March 2012.
Anyhow, in order to 'play' the victims of a physical abuse we decided to experience it. To avoid the imitation of violence, to avoid the accusations of making bad theatre. to avoid the blame of not being real enough. We needed bruises, we needed wounds. 3 days before the showing we had a beer, put some music on and had 40 minute fist fight with each other. We used less wrestling techniques and mostly just kicking each others legs. In the beginning it was hard to find aggression to make such violent attempt towards Kaja. It was much easier to attack and punch as hard as possible after she made me feel pain. Very quickly Kaja became just a target, impersonal target, just a task, mission to complete. Everything became irrelevant: the violence, the pain, hurting someone, behaving bad, destruction, aggression. These were not the issues to think of.

In the night I was limping home, my heel was badly hurt from hitting her over and over again. I was happy about the great success.

In the end, 'AFRER WAR' installation was pure theatre, fiction.

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TALK TO ME

Director: Mart Kangro
Authors of tekst and choreography and performers: Vera Nevanlinna/Tiina Tauraite, Kaja Kann, Juha Valkeapää, Taavi Kerikmäe, Mart Kangro.
Premiere in Helsinki festival “JuhlaViikot” 19.-28. August 2011.
22., 23., 24.,26.,27. Sept. 2011 in Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinn, Estonia
4., 5. June 2012 in Baltoscandal Festival, Rakvere, Estonia
20. Sept. 2012 Festival Baltic Bubble, Tallinn, Estonia
12., 13., 14. okt. 2012 Berlin Festspiele, Germany.

http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/foreign_affairs/programm_fa/
programm_fa_gesamt/fa_veranstaltungsdetail_46575.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOHTRxqUS3M

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It seems a good place to build a house

by Kaja Kann, Juha Valkeapää.
Premier in a festival introducing the Baltic and Norther artists NordWin.
7., 8., 11. December 2011 Kampnaagel, Hamburg, Germany
7., 8. Nov. 2012 Festival Baltic Circle, Helsinki, Finland.
- What did I say? - That you don't love me. - But I do.

In Estonia and Finland people believe that a man is not a man if he has not built a house. And once that house is ready, he starts to build a new one. It seems a good place to build a house talks about life, dreams and misunderstandings. Kaja Kann and Juha Valkeapää tell stories in Finnish, Estonian, English and German, accompanied with music, movement and pictures. A magical theatre experience for body and soul.

- What will a house become when nobody lives there? - It will die.

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Hospitality/Külalislahkus

NU-Performance festival 7.-10.Nov. 2011. Hotel Viru, Estonia.
A 5 day installation-performance “LIFT”.
Lift is an English verb witch expresses "rising". A physical body, mood, position - everything can rise. Always when there is a possibility to rise you can also fall. The point is not to "push the right button in the lift quickly", but the feeling, that comes between two people, who both wanna feel good.

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CIRCLE new circus show with OMAtsirkus

OMAcircus performance “CIRCLE” By Kaja Kann Performed in Estonia, Latvia, Sweden.

Once upon a time, there lived people, who were called circus people. They traveled from place to place, building a tent to a field and waiting for audience to arrive.

On one fine day a small girl sat in the audience, she was thrilled and shouted: "This is beautiful! Oh, if only it would last forever!" On that moment a curse fell upon the circus troop. They still travel from town to town, from village to village, where they perform numbers they know to well. But strange things have started happening. The hula-hoop is chasing after the artist, clubs run from the juggler, acrobats feed of their younger days and air-acrobats don't make the difference between air and land.

The only thing that could save the circus from the curse is a young person, who'd shout: "This is pointless, i'll show you how it's done!" We hope it will happend one day!

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Morten on the ship of fools

Director: Aare Toika
Story: Kaspar Jansis
Choreograph: Kaja Kann
Premier 1. August. Kuresaare Theatre
Production: VAT-Teater
Performances in Saaremaa, Marienhamn, Turku, Tallin.

http://www.vatteater.ee/en/lavastused/10/morten-on-the-ship-of-fools.html

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In the Lokaal tonight:Kann/Valkeapää

Concert-performance by Kaja Kann and Juha Valkeapää
Performed: Turku, Tallinn, Helsinki, Tartu, Karkkila, Berlin and Rakvere.
The structure of the piece is based on songs, also. That’s where the common factors end. Namely, ”At the Lokaal tonight” is not based on representing something, nor in some effort to convince audience on the authenticity of lyrics or skill of the performer; nor is it based on some vague reciprocal relationship between audience and performer.
It seem rather, that the performance is in some serious undertaking of collapse on its way to embarassing moment of silence; yet, Kann and Valkeapää are guiding this assembly forwards with peculiar and crude buoyancy. ”At the Lokaal tonight: Kann/Valkeapää” is a performance as fresh and true as no-wave punk; as blatantly experimental as live art at its best.
Tero Nauha, performance artist

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Old Buddies

By United Dancers of ZUGA 2011
Performed in Estonia, Germany and Latvia
With ZUGA, the simplicity was most important . It doesn't mean banality nor repeating the known-to-all. A bright taste of ZUGA comes from them not trying to look smarter, better, prettier or cooler, than they are. They take their time and relate personally. At the same time the ZUGA personality does not refer to ignorance or egoism, that is excluded with self-irony and sweet absurdness. Also they do not try to look like a harmonic group, but they put themselves on the stage emphasizing everyones personal differences.
http://www.zuga.ee/english
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4D1mwsktqWM&list=UUkgStgDEBJRzy_hdVTm2pfA&index=2&feature=plcp

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CIRCUS - as easy as falling of a log

“Circus - As easy as falling of a log” By Kaja Kann. Premier 2006. OMACircus performance in co-operation with German circus artists from Fiburg.

OMAtsirkus have performed it in NEW YORK, Wasinghton DC and 20 different pleaces in ESTONIA.There are no animals, no classical tent circus nor clowns.

There are jokes, fun and playfulness. There are flick-flacks, handsprings, saltos, juggling with balls, clubs and diabolos. There is music and there is not.
We make circus easy and understandable, we cut the glamour and shine and artificial applause. Together with the audience we see, what is left of The Circus.

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KALLOCAIN

Opera for Two Voices Premiere: 14 August 2010, Kalv Festival, Sweden.
Director: Kaja Kann /Performers: Girilal Baars, Juha Valkeapää /Consultant, philosopher: Kim Solin

The opera Kallocain is based on ideas from the novel Kallocain (1940) by the Swedish poet and writer Karin Boye.
"After some playful slapstick, the focus is tightened through intense disconnection and drastic humour, conflicts and singular poetics. It deserves to become a classic and capture a far wider audience."
Rolf Haglund, music critic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncsMOm_f_C4&feature=player_embedded