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Solo Series

THE SOLO SERIES 2026 — An Evening of Three Solos

The Solo Series is an international platform for contemporary dance solo performances, created and curated by Samuli Emery. Carefully selected by invitation, these artists and their unique solo performances tour some of the most renowned contemporary dance venues in Kuopio, Jyväskylä, and Tampere.

The 2026 program consists of an intense convergence of three distinct solos. The works presented that evening explore, among other things, fantasy characters and archetypes, reimagining them through the medium of dance.

The program will feature the Finnish premiere of Lithuanian choreographer Lukas Karvelis’ work “She Dreamt of Being Washed Away To The Coast,” performed by Dominyka Markeviciute. In addition, the program features Tuure Kaukua’s new solo performance “ill-wisher, well-wisher,” created specifically for The Solo Series tour, as well as Samuli Emery’s “Concert of Odes,” presented in three seperate parts throughout the evening. At the end of each performance night, an artist talk in English will be held, during which audience members will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the visiting artists, the worlds of their works, and their sources of inspiration.

One of the key objectives of The Solo Series platform is to bring high-quality dance art to audiences throughout Finland, facilitate international performance tours and encounters, and create a lean and sustainable touring model in Finland. Since 2020, The Solo Series has organized more than ten performances featuring a variety of lineups. Through The Solo Series platform, numerous dance artists from Japan, Brazil, Greece, and Poland have been brought to various cities across Finland.

The partners and co-producers of The Solo Series platform are The Regional Dance Center of Eastern Finland ITAK, The Regional Dance Center of Central Finland KSTK, and Dance Theatre MD. Samuli Emery is responsible for curation and production.

In the event photo Dominyka Markeviciute. Picture taken by Elena Krukonyte.

Samuli Emery - Concert Of Odes

Samuli Emery’s Concert of Odes is a solo piece that reimagines ancient Greek
odes for today’s stage with humor and devotion. Warmhearted, intimate – and also dubbed ”thoroughly postmodern” – the performance consists of tiny dance tributes to a plethora of things, figures, and familiar phenomena.

Concert of Odes revolves around the paradox of a solo performer’s egoism: How to take space on stage while inviting the whole world along? How to practise empathy up there, all by oneself? How to present your dance as a gift to Others?

The seemingly solitary solo performer does their best to let go of self-centeredness during moments of dedicating themselves and their audiences to myriad things, such
as everyday mysteries, environmental crises, lost clothes, and bittersweet collective memories.

Emery’s piece is in essence a sharp-witted movement concert which aims to
highlight things that are ”worth the attention”. In all its conflictedness it yearns to create new, surprising, and dynamic connections between dance and the world.

The work’s inspirations include Yoshi Oida’s book The Invisible Actor and Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion’s Body Not Fit For Purpose.

In The Solo Series, Emery breaks their solo into parts, presenting it in three compact acts during the evening.

Tuure Kaukua - ill-wisher, well-wisher

ill-wisher, well-wisher, is a choreographic solo work that delves into the imagery of evil
through well-known fairy-tale antagonists. It embodies stereotypical conditions of characters portrayed as enemies and reinterprets them. The work draws inspiration from the antagonists in Disney stories and, in particular, queer readings of them.

Lukas Karvelis, Dominyka Markevičiūtė – She Dreamt of Being Washed Away To The Coast

She Dreamt of Being Washed Away To The Coast is a contemporary take on the Baltic mythology. The performance contextualises Lithuanian folklore against the backdrop of the universal human experience. It looks at the tension between two worlds: the material one, based on logic, and the one created by imagination and faith.

The starting point of the performance is the interpretation of Lithuanian legend about the impossibility of love between the sea goddess named Jūratė and a fisherman named Kastytis. But instead focusing on the tragic of love, the performance deals with the transformation of a single individual, inspired by the figure of Jūrate, who is experiencing loneliness and a conflict bodily limitations and the fluidity of imagination.

She Dreamt of Being Washed Away To The Coast is a transformative journey of movement from a single point to a broader space without a defined beginning or an end. Throughout the duration of the work, the dance gradually becomes more complex while the dancer moves in circular motions experiencing the confrontation between her own
body and the rules dictated by the space. Complex, meditative and fluid like water, the movements create an allusion a deity chained at the bottom of the sea, trying to find balance between her axis and liberation.

Choreography and concept: Lukas Karvelis
Dancer: Dominyka Markevičiūtė
Music: Dominykas Digimas
Costume design: Morta Nakaitė
Lights design: Povilas Laurinaitis
Mentor: Bush Hartsorn
Communication: Agnė Vidugirytė
Produced by: Be_Kompanijos
Co-produced by: CDCN, Atelier de Paris
Supported by: Lithuanian Culture Institute / New Baltic Dance Festival / LT Contemporary Dance Association

Samuli Emery is a Finnish-British queer multifaceted physical performer, choreographer, artistic director, pedagogue and MC. After graduating Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in 2019 they’ve worked internationally in the professional productions of artists such as Meg Stuart, Jerome Bel, Imre & Marne Van Opstal, Ivo Dimchev, Christoph Winkler, River Lin, Ceren Oran, Jill Crovisier, Sonya Lindfors and WAUHAUS Collective. Samuli has received numerous awards and stipends for their accomplishments as a performer and dance maker in Finland, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Italy. Alongside performing, creating and teaching internationally Samuli serves as the artistic director of Kuopio Dance Festival, the biggest and longest-running dance festival in the Nordics.

Tuure Kaukua (1996) is a choreographer, dancer and performer based in Helsinki. Kaukua is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Choreography at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, having previously graduated from the same institution with a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance. Kaukuas works have been staged and performed at venues including Frankfurt LAB, Zodiak – Centre for New Dance, the Ateneum and Stoa. Kaukua has appeared in works by Mikko Niemistö, Elina Pirinen, Janina Rajakangas, Maya Oliva and Maria Saivosalmi, amongst others.

Lukas Karvelis (1997) is a Lithuanian freelance dance artist currently based in Amsterdam. Upon graduating from Codarts in 2019 on a Jiri Kylian Foundation scholarship, he began collaborated with Royal Danish theatre, Münich Kammerspiele, Göteborgs Operans Danskompani, Dansatelier’s crew and Korzo Theater. His own choreographic work has received multiple residencies at Atelier de Paris/CDCN, the Arts Printing House, Cetro Coreografico Gomera and Teatri Di Vita. Karvelis was nominated for the Piket Kunst Award in 2020 and received young artist award from Lithuanian ministry of culture in 2023.

Dominyka Markevičiūtė-Jurgaitienė is a Lithuanian contemporary dancer and creator. She holds a BA in Contemporary Dance from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since graduating, she has been working as a contemporary dancer, collaborating with Lithuanian and international choreographers, including Lukas Karvelis, Liza Baliasnaja, Vytis Jankauskas, Palle Granhøj, Nicolas Cantillon, and Pietro Marullo. Through these collaborations, she has taken part in a variety of contemporary dance productions presented in Lithuania and abroad.
One of the works is She Dreamt of Being Washed Away to the Coast, choreographed by Lukas Karvelis. In 2024, the work received a Golden Stage Cross, Lithuania’s most prestigious performing arts award, for choreography, while Dominyka was nominated for her performance in the piece. She was also named Most Memorable Dancer of the Year by the Lithuanian Contemporary Dance Association for her work in the production. She Dreamt of Being Washed Away to the Coast has been presented at festivals in Lithuania and internationally and continues to tour. Alongside performing, Dominyka is interested in developing her own creative practice and exploring different approaches to movement and performance.

In his artistic work, Karvelis seeks to find this crucial point at which change occurs within the body as it diverges away from trauma within society and oneself. This point leads to research within the movement as he examines these moments with a curiosity about the past. He is currently linking this movement exploration to the social phenomenon of addiction, correlating to the body and mind. Alongside his work as a performer and choreographer, Karvelis developed a movement exploration practice that examines the motion of free fall, which challenges the mover to feel the freedom from gravity in order to find weightlessness.

© Tanssiteatteri MD 2026