Patriotic Body: Training is a dance solo that investigates the effects of patriotism on the queer body. A genderqueer performer of a Russian background trains a fictional patriotic muscle by referring to military and Russian traditional dance training as well as subverting it. By using movement, voice, eerie humor, and proximity to the audience the performer tells a non-linear story of a queer body coming from the aggressor-country which discriminates against central parts of its identity.

The body goes through a series of transformations: it is monstrous, it is beautiful, it is nostalgic, it is clownish, it is outraged. The piece grapples with questions: How do we take accountability for the nation we are from? Can we ever let go of it? What does it mean to stay with the complexity of one’s identities? 

The solo is a work-in-progress that is still developing as Russian aggression into the world and onto its own citizens continues. 

It was first performed at Outokumpu Old Mine as a graduation piece for Outokumpu dance school (2022). Then the solo was reimagined for the outdoor setting in front of Suomi-Venäjä Seura in Katajanokka in 2022 and further developed for the New Theater Helsinki Festival at Svenska Theater in 2023.

Throughout the project I am inviting the experts from various disciplines such as dance dramaturgy, sound design, anthropology, and political science.

The work will be revisited again in 2026 as a blackbox dance piece shown in Finland and abroad.