Working group: Matilda Aaltonen, Leissi, Suvi Leppänen, Luca Sirviö, Markus Sundblom and Teija Turtio
Assistant in performances: Saija Jäntti
Performances 12.1. - 20.1.2017 in Helsinki, at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.
Palvelus (in English Service) was a performative ritual. In this ritual, there were no spectators; everyone took part. The work offered various tools for altered perception, aiming to deepen the participants’ sense of connection. Each participant engaged with a personally meaningful issue of their choice throughout the entire ritual.
Assistant in performances: Saija Jäntti
Performances 12.1. - 20.1.2017 in Helsinki, at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.
Palvelus (in English Service) was a performative ritual. In this ritual, there were no spectators; everyone took part. The work offered various tools for altered perception, aiming to deepen the participants’ sense of connection. Each participant engaged with a personally meaningful issue of their choice throughout the entire ritual.
Palvelus is an open-source ritual that seeks to restore participants’ experience of connection. By connection, we mean, for example, connection to oneself, to others, to the body, to all living and non-living things, to the unseen—whatever that may be. In our experience, cultivating connection requires a process of cleaning up or emptying out, and a willingness to surrender. Friction is an essential part of this process.
Within the ritual, participants are initiated into a temporary community where hierarchies and personal identities fades away. In this space, we may enter an altered mode of social being.
The loss or weakening of connection may manifest as restlessness, imbalance, stress, unhappiness, or even sin. As the creators of the Palvelus ritual, we believe that rituals can be used to rekindle clarity of connection—by borrowing from existing practices, weaving fragments together, or seemingly inventing something entirely new.
We invite participants to explore what, within this ritual, truly resonates for them—what works, and how the intention of the ritual takes form. We do not claim to know the answers; rather, we wish to share what has worked for us. In open-source spirit, everything can be borrowed, continued, and improved.
We give thanks to the ancestral wisdom of ritual makers, guardians, and healers.
(From the program text of the performance)
Within the ritual, participants are initiated into a temporary community where hierarchies and personal identities fades away. In this space, we may enter an altered mode of social being.
The loss or weakening of connection may manifest as restlessness, imbalance, stress, unhappiness, or even sin. As the creators of the Palvelus ritual, we believe that rituals can be used to rekindle clarity of connection—by borrowing from existing practices, weaving fragments together, or seemingly inventing something entirely new.
We invite participants to explore what, within this ritual, truly resonates for them—what works, and how the intention of the ritual takes form. We do not claim to know the answers; rather, we wish to share what has worked for us. In open-source spirit, everything can be borrowed, continued, and improved.
We give thanks to the ancestral wisdom of ritual makers, guardians, and healers.
(From the program text of the performance)
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Photos: Karoliina Niemenkari
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