Interview with dance teacher Annina Tuhkunen

Interview with dance teacher Annina Tuhkunen

Who are you?

I am a dance teacher (Master’s degree from a university of applied sciences), a dancer and a Pilates instructor, as well as a humanities graduate (MA) in cultural studies and intercultural communication. I have worked at Helsingin aikuisopisto since 2010, teaching African dances, salsa and other Latin dances, contemporary dance, Pilates and physical wellness, among other things.

I work in the spaces between different dance and movement practices, endlessly curious and eager to learn new things and pass on my own experience. My strongest expertise is in West African dances, especially those based on the Guinean tradition, which I have worked with for a long time as a teacher and performer. In addition to traditional West African dances, I have also studied dances of African origin more widely, training on numerous intensive courses and professional training programmes in different parts of West Africa, Europe and Latin America.

I graduated as a dance teacher from the New Contexts of Art master’s programme at the Turku Arts Academy and as a Pilates instructor from the PilatesHealth® training of the Finnish Institute of Health and Exercise. I have studied somatic methods and various dance improvisation techniques in ISLO’s Dance and Somatics training.

How did you get into African dances?

I found my way to West African dances through happy coincidences when I was a 17-year-old street dance and show dance enthusiast. In 1995, I got to represent my dance school at the Finnish group show dance championships, which we won with a competition choreography combining show dance and Afro dance. After that experience, I was completely hooked on West African dances and started training regularly. The holistic nature of the dance, its physicality, the richness of its movement language and the energy of live drum music swept me away at once, and although I continued studying other dance styles, African dances became an important part of my life and identity early on.

Besides dance, I am also interested in foreign languages and cultures, so after upper secondary school I applied to study cultural anthropology and, a few years later, intercultural communication. Looking back, my studies in cultural studies and intercultural communication gave me an excellent foundation for researching and studying dances of African origin in particular.

At university, I also completed specialisation studies in dance pedagogy and later applied for other professional dance training in Finland and abroad. As there is no professional-level training in African dances in Finland, the only way to train further has been to travel to West Africa or elsewhere abroad.

Tell us more about your studies and your work in dance!

Teaching dance requires regularly updating your own skills and constant learning. My many study trips to West Africa and elsewhere abroad have therefore been important for doing this work. Africa is a treasure trove of dance and music traditions: each region and ethnic group has its own rhythms and dances, and the range of cultures is extremely diverse. The deeper you go into African dances and the cultures connected to them, the more there is to learn. I specialise in West African dances of the Mande cultural area, which I have studied in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Benin, among other places.

Alongside traditional dances, I have also studied urban Afro dances and contemporary dance based on African dances, training at well-known dance centres in West Africa, among them École des Sables in Senegal and the Centre de Développement Chorégraphique La Termitière in Burkina Faso.

What fascinates me in West African dances is the organic and holistic use of the body, the physicality, the expressiveness and the strong connection between movement, music and rhythm. I also like the positive energy, sociability, interaction and sense of community associated with dance cultures of African origin, which I try to cherish and pass on in my own work as a dance teacher.

My aim is to create a relaxed and open atmosphere in my dance classes, where everyone is seen and feels welcome. I also think it is very important to open up cultural connections for students – through my work as a dance teacher, I act as a kind of cultural interpreter between different worlds. In addition to dances from African and Latin American cultures, I am interested in dance improvisation and somatic methods, which I consider Pilates practice to be part of. A body-aware, somatic approach is always present in my teaching in some way.

Annina Tuhkunen

Dance teacher and Pilates instructor, Helsingin aikuisopisto

Photos: Annina Tuhkunen