Magicians can talk without speaking

The juggler Ville Walo and the magician Kalle Hakkarainen are very busy. They are leaving for France to prepare their new show Discussions. They will return to Helsinki in autumn, when Discussions will be premiered at the Kiasma Theatre.

Ville Walo and Kalle Hakkarainen are new circus artists’. New circusis pretty far from the traditional image where clowns fool about, dancers smile gaily and the magician saws in half the scantily dressed woman in the box. The New Circus duo will not saw scantily dressed women in half without good reason. For them magic and juggling are instruments, and a performance is a whole where none of the parts is pointless.

Partnership led to the world tour

The circus group of Walo and Hakkarainen started with Waiting Room, their first work together. It was performed at the Kiasma Theatre in 2003. Next year saw the completion of Vanishing Point. Together the shows hurled the duo straight to the top of Finnish experimental circus. They began touring the world with their shows.

But the journey to the world tour was by no means easy. Both artists worked hard on the hobby in their youth and performed on circus school stages. Most circus professionals have taken the same route: the hobby gradually becomes the profession. Hakkarainen and Walo also shared an interest in video making.

Escape from traditions

Kalle Hakkarainen was a professional magician before New Circus, but he gave up traditional magic with the new project. Collaboration with Walo combined his two passions: magic and video. He also left behind the conservative magician circles where new approaches are not very welcome.

Ville Walo has his parents to thank for his career: they gave him a unicycle when he was small. “I got to rehearse in a circus school and I realised that I was quite good at juggling”, said Walo. But he soon noticed that his way of performing did not suit the circus. “They asked me why I never smiled on stage. I wondered why I should – there must be other ways for self-expression than an idiotic grin!”

Words without speech

Premiering at Kiasma Theatre in autumn 2006, Discussions will consist of familiar elements: object manipulation, juggling, magic and videos. But the contents are dictated by the new theme of the show: communication and the ways people communicate. “Someone said to me that there’s never any talking in New Circus performances. I decided to perform a trick with words but no speech. For us communication is so much more than just talking. Gestures, emphases and facial expressions contribute a great deal to our experience of other people,” Walo says.

Besides videos and projected staging, the two men will march artificial people on stage. “It has been my long-time plan to bring on stage people that aren’t really there. Now I have finally managed to do it," says Walo. They both hope that the audience will experience something completely new and surprising. “Our tricks never cease to surprise me,” Hakkarainen laughs.

Expeditions

But how can we possibly categorise new circus? It combines magic, video art, object theatre, object manipulation, dance and performance. Walo has lately been excited about puppetry but with juggling rules. He finds it important to approach different art forms through juggling. “Our shows are expeditions where we explore and merge different approaches. It has taken us a long way from stereotypes.”

A completely new element in the coming show will be the music composed by Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen's duo called Kluster. The New Circus artists welcome everyone to see the show, no matter what their motivation. “Just come as if you were going to a concert or cinema or to see an installation. But if you just want to enjoy yourself in a circus, you might be disappointed,” Hakkarainen says. Whatever the show will be, the artists’ enthusiasm is enough to create a connection between them and the audience, with or without speech.

Petro Poutanen