GRACE VON VIRTANEN

-Eternally Mine

 

DESCRIPTION

Grace Von Virtanen is an independent woman having the time of her life. She was born with a natural glow, the stardust and abundance follow her wherever she goes.

Grace is an artist, a true pearl of the North. Through music and poetry she fearlessly explores whatever shows up in front of her. Including her own identity.

Be prepared to be blinded by the worldclass shine and talent of Miss Grace von Virtanen!  It is for Your own good anyways...

However, somewhere in the mids of the stardust there floats a shallow whispering question: against whom can an independent woman lean to if everything she has got is herself?

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Duration: 30 min

Language:  English

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HELENA LEMINEN

Helena Leminen is an independent woman having the time of her life. As a teenager she dreamed of becoming a professional classical pianist. But after spending too many hours in a small rehearsal-box and understanding she might ultimately end up being a piano-teacher she escaped from this horryfying future at her 20’s and stopped playing once and for all.

After that Helena concentrated for years in creating theatre pieces. She also studied theatre and got a degree from it. She had absolutely no interest towards clowns. None.

In 2010 Helena fell in love with an italian man (nowadays already titled as “ex”) and begun to search professional possibilities in italy. After spending some furious minutes googling she encountered the webpage of Giovanni Fusetti’s Helikos Theatre School. Helikos was specialized in the tradition of physical theatre and most importantly: it was in Italy. Helena applied, got in and within few weeks flew to Italy. What she did not know yet was that on the first day she would be given a clown’s red nose and would start a whole new journey with it. She did not know that she would eventually loose the human-love, become slightly crazy and come back to Finland emotionally shattered in pieces. But despite of that -or because of it- the door into the universe of the clowns had opened up and Helena felt the clown-heart beating in her chest.

The journey of clowning is a profound and continuous exploration to Helena. She has been working as a performing clown on stage and has also applied the clown-state in her work as a communal artist and drama pedagogue. She has taught beginners courses in clowning and midwifed the birth of some new clowns. In 2016-2017 she has been touring around Finland with Roosa Hannikainen with their show “What if…?” that explores OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) through clowns’ eyes. They are planning to take the show abroad during the years to come.

Last but not least it has to be mentioned that despite the Great Escape 15 years ago Helena also ended up being a music pedagogue… She has specialized in early childhood music education and truly enjoys exploring the world of arts with her small pupils. Without knowing it, these small kids are also teaching Helena the fundamentals of clowning every week: how to breathe, how to be fully present and how to joyfully receive every moment as a precious gift.