Mahti 27 Feb-3 Mar Tickets €31/22/13 www.aleksanterinteatteri.fi

Tsuumi Dance Company’s new Kalevala-themed production tackles Finnish men’s longing for love.

“When we’RE onstage, we don’t so much perform to the audience as socialise by dancing together,” explains Samuli Nordberg, choreographer and artistic director of Dance Company Tsuumi.

This communal feel and the primitive force of Finnish folk dance, combined with fresh ideas and modern interpretation, are Tsuumi’s most striking features. The company stands out from the crowd in Helsinki, where folk dancing is these days a curiosity. But tradition lives on elsewhere in the country, with an estimated 30,000 devotees of all ages nationwide.

Tsuumi’s latest production Mahti – Mighty is inspired by the Finnish national epic Kalevala. Although Samuli Nordberg has seized upon the most revered of all Finnish cultural treasures, Mahti does not kowtow to the original: “We know the tradition we depend upon, but we end up doing whatever we want anyway.”

Mahti’s dramaturgy revolves around four epic heroes, Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen and Joukahainen, whose failure in love is equally epic. Nordberg treats the Finnish men’s longing for love with warmth and humor.

Mahti premieres on Kalevala Day with only four performances this spring, but several more to come over the summer.

REETA RUOTSALAINEN - HT