Nuua is one the Finland’s next generation companies in the field of contemporary circus. In a short time Nuua has taken it’s place in the international scene of performing arts. Nuua’s first performance ”Lento” (2013) has reached over 35 000 spectators in 11 different countries. The second one “Taival” (2016) has been seen in 5 different countries. We are currently creating two new performances called "Meanwhile" and "Blueberry Burdock" and touring with "Vaarna" (2021) and "Hede" (2019) and "Kulovalkea" (2021)

Nuua collaborates together with various international artists around Europe, shares expreriences and brings back to Finland a new taste of circus. What makes Nuua works interesting is the fact that they are designed and carried out in co-operation with the whole company as collective piece. Directors, performers, light designers, sound designers and costume designers combine their different properties and can realize their work in more personal level, making the performances very creative and rich. At the moment Nuua is up to various new projects. Nuua was founded by Finnish circus artist Olli Vuorinen and Brazilian artist Luis Sartori do Vale in 2012 in Finland as company for visual theater and contemporary circus performances.

OLLI VUORINEN

Artist / Director

Olli Vuorinen, Circus performer, director and founder of Nuua company graduated from a French circus school Academie-Fratellini in 2011. After that Vuorinen did two award-winning performances in Cirque de Demain-festival and his company got selected in 2012 to a EU-funded Circus Next-project. Since 2011 Vuorinen have been working closely with one of the pioneer companies of contemporary juggling Les Objets Volants and various other contemporary circus companys like Kallo Collective, Race horse company, Gandini juggling and l'Expedition.

Olli Vuorinen is very productive Finnish contemporary circus artists. Past years he has been performing over 20 different countries. Vuorinen is known from his personal approach to performing, innovative juggling techniques and varied objets theatre skills.

JOUNI IHALAINEN

Artist

Jouni Ihalainen graduated the Salpaus circus line in Finland 2005 and completed his studies 2008 in Paris at Academie-Fratellini. Since then Ihalainen has been working with the French new circus pio- neer group Cirque Baroque, Théatre NoNo and in the performances of Kitsou Dubois.

The most well known solo work of Ihalainen is Black Pearl. It's been touring around the world in varies festivals in Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Japan and the Reunion Island. Black pearl won the Budapest circus price in the Cirque de Demain festival in Paris 2008.

ISAK LINDBERG
Juggler, Visual artist, Light designer

Isak Lindberg had his circus/theatre education at "Le Lido, Centre des Art du Cirque" in Toulouse and in 2008 he won the competition "JTCE" (Jeune Talent Cirque Europe) with the show "Grusvägen 7" who was placed in a new category they called the "Post-Modern New Circus”.


Isak started to work with Nuua company on 2012 as the outside eye the first Nuua show Lento. After four years of working as a performance artist based in France, Isak came back to Sweden on 2011 to create his own theater and culture house in Borrby.

Isak is a multidisciplinary creator and performer in the field of contemporary circus and visual arts. Founder of the companies Tide and Vu He have worked with surrealistic scenes, odd humorous illusions and immersive installations that priorities theatrical artifice and visual pleasure. With his background in magic and circus together he makes a captivating hybrids of performance arts.

ONNI TOIVONEN

Performer / juggler 

Graduated from Stockholm University of the Arts in 2016, his original and energetic juggling has since been seen on stages in 16 different countries. Cirque de Demain special jury award winner 2017. Toivonen has been working with contemporary circus companies Cirko Aereo, Sirkum Polaris and Nuua compnay. He created and performed his first dramatic work Amalgam in 2019. Onni is creative artist who seamlessly combines juggling and contemporary dance.

MERRI HEIKKILÄ

Performer / juggler 

2013 he decided to pursue professional career and was admitted to the circus department of Codarts University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from where he graduated in June 2017. Combining movement and acrobatics with juggling, Merri seeks to create performances that offer an unique experience for the audience. Aside from working with Nuua company and  Sirkum Polaris. Merri is also working on another show "3 Men from the North" with a new circus company the Nordic Council.

KATRI SALMEONJA
Singer, poet, sounds designer

I'm Helsinki-based artist (MA, BMus) focused on cross-disciplinary works and aesthetics.

Ever since my early studies in art education and psychology I’ve been interested in the process of perception and meaning construction, connected with human relationships with art as interactive processes of signification.

NAHUEL DESANTO

Artist

Nahuel Desanto followed a Dance and theater education in the city of Córdoba, where he created and directed the show "Algo no concuerda". 2009 he moved to Buenos Aires in where followed a deeper and different need for research. He stopped the vocational training in circus school "La arena” and for one year he was dedicated to independent training in dance and movement. In 2010 he travelled to France where he attended three years of vocational training at Le Lido Centre of circus arts in Toulouse.

In 2013 he created the company Faseqiatra. Project focused on investigating and developing the relation of dance, theater and circus with audiovisual concepts on stage. It also carries out projects with several choreographers such as Kitt Johnson, Riedlbauchoba Verónica, Marta Torrents and Pau Portabella.

LUIS SARTORI DO VALE

Artist

Luis was born in Brazil, in 1982.

After completing a diploma in Fine Arts, he graduated from the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque (ESAC, Belgium) in 2008.

Since then, besides his own projects, he has worked with different circus and dance directors, such as Rolf Alme, Liisa Risu and Reynaldo Ramperssad, and companies such as Archaos, Les 7 Doigts de la Main and Hurjaruuth. Nowadays he's working on the creation of a new show with the belgian company BabaFish.

When not working with performing arts, Luis works with visual arts: illustration, photography and animation.

COLINE FROIDEVAUX

Artist

Coline Froidevaux did all the circus formations France can offer... She started at the age of 4 and went from Cirque Plumes youth circus school to preparatory circus schools in Lomme and Montpellier to professional school ENACR (Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque de Rosny-sous-bois) and she finished her studies with an DMA-des arts du cirque-diplome in Academie Fratellini in 2013.

All these years gave her wide artistic perception in various circus, dance and theatre creations with well known directors like Fabrice Champion (les Arts Sauts), Laurent Fréchuret (Cie L’incendie), Marc Proulx, Coline Serreau and Jérôme Thomas (Cie Jérôme Thomas).

Coline Froidevaux is multitalented acrobat and dancer specialized on hand-to-hand acrobatics and washington-trapeze.

KONSTA LEINONEN

Sound designer / musician 

Sound designer and musician Konsta Leinonen has worked in Raja production, where music production, sound design and, of course, general creative blasting have been his hay. Konsta studied music technology at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, but his skills are largely based on self-study and perseverance. Konsta lives and breathes music, and couldn’t live without his daily dose of making music. Recently Konsta has made music for Amalgam, Meanwhile, Climate anxiety ball  and Blueberry Burdock Perfromances and playing in his band Desature.

PETTERI RAJANTI

Sound designer

Petteri is a musician, sound designer, mixing and recording engineer.

Since 1979, Peter Rajanti has starred in movies and series as an actor and made a number of sound designs for theater and dance performances, as well as in the movies. Rajanti has played in numerous bands since 1976 until today. He has recorded, edited and mixed a number of records since 1994. Rajanti is involved in a music collective who owns a 200 square meters recording studio. He has taught sound design and acoustics in Tampere University of Applied Sciences in art, music and media unit, as a lecturer from 1995.

Feels comfortable on stage and has been an actor in a professional theatre. Likes to work with little groups doing everything needed, composing, arranging, acting, soldering, driving a car etc.

TEO LANERVA

Light designer / Technical director (Taival)

Teo Lanerva is a freelance lighting designer based in Helsinki, Finland. In addition to his diverse projects he is studying lighting design in the department of Lighting and Sound Design of the University of the Arts Helsinki.

Lanerva works mostly with contemporary performances, music and events ranging from small underground clubs to bigger festivals. Nothing lights him up more than working with music. Although he thinks he couldn’t make it without the precision and small details of performing arts. That being

the main reason why he has chosen to work constantly on both fields. Recently Lanerva also started

to work with video, which interests him more as an intelligent light source and set element than source

of information.

JERE MÖNKKÖNEN

Light designer / Technical director (Lento)

Jere Mönkkönen is a light designer. He is a graduate of light expression at Tampere

University of Applied Sciences in the department of Arts and Communication.

Mönkkönen has designed lights for several Finnish and Estonian presentations, and has worked with renowned artists, such as director Kristian Smeds.

In addition to light design, Mönkkönen has worked as a technical producer and a lighting supervisor on several contemporary circus groups, including WHS, Race Horse Company and Cirko Aereo, as well as Savonlinna Opera Festival.

ANNE JÄMSÄ

Costume designer

Anne is a costume and set designer who has worked particularly with object theater, dance and contemporary circus. She have been designing costumes, props and stage sets mostly in object theater, dance and contemporary circus performances.

She has a master degree from University of Art and production design and she postgraduated with her research of object manipulation.

Anne is interested in developing visually expressive ways of using objects on stage.

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