Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen

Year of birth: 1997
Length: 168 cm

Biography

Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen (she/they) is a dance maker, dancer/performer and facilitator currently based in Helsinki, Finland. As a dancer/performer, Sonja is a versatile mover, who has a strong base in working with detailed choreographic material as well as improvisation. Among many others, her artistic work is affected by working with Amanda Piña, Cristina Caprioli, Isabel Lewis, DACE – Dance Art Critical Ecology, Salva Sanchis and Valtteri Raekallio. Furthermore, Sonja is a member of an international dance and performance collective Rhizome Dance Collective, which consist of 14 women and queer dance artists located around Europe.

Special skills

• Completed courses in arts management and curating performing arts
• Organisational skills
• Extensive dance curriculum major in classical ballet
• Extensive music curriculum

Language skills

• finnish (mother tongue)
• english (excellent)
• swedish (good)
• french (basics)
• german (basics)

Thesis

Artistic:

…like crazy by Sonja Karoliina Aaltonen, Maja Kalafatić and Jacqueline Aylward, Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, TADaCollective, 2023.
Production: University of the Arts Helsinki, Theatre Academy

Written:

Softer and wilder? Ways of Engaging with Dance Performance Practices, Collective Work and Production Economy

Other education

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance, Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH, former DOCH), 2021
Upper Secondary Level Vocational Studies in Dance, Tampere Conservatoire, 2019

Selected cv 

Tira Kuna – Dances of Earth, 2021 (premiere)
Artistic direction and choreography: Amanda Piña
Choreography and transmission: Juan Carlos Palma
Place of production: Dansens Hus Stockholm
Institution of production: Nadaproductions and Stockholm University of the Arts
Role: dancer/performer
Complementary information: Later, Tira Kuna – Dances of Earth (museum version) has also been performed in Havremagasinet Kunsthall Boden Sites, Boden, 2022

Occasions, 2021
Conceived, directed and performed by: Isabel Lewis
Place of production: Stoa, Helsinki
Institution of production: Moving in November -festival
Role: dancer/performer

Radical Light, 2020
Choreography: Salva Sanchis
Place and institution of production: Stockholm University of the Arts
Role: dancer/performer

Hosting Hosts, 2019
Choreography: Thiago Granato
Place and institution of production: Stockholm University of the Arts
Role: dancer/performer

Sinä minäni kanssa sinuiksi, minä sinäni kanssa minuiksi, 2018
Choreography: Valtteri Raekallio
Place of production: Dance Theatre MD
Institution of production: Tampere Conservatoire
Role: dancer/performer