Early Modern Dance and Theatre in Finland

Early modern dancers established a foothold in theatres and opera houses from the 1910s onwards when the focus of many avant-garde theatre directors shifted from literary text to the actor’s body and its expressive potentialities. This article explores the interplay between early modern dance and theatre in Finland by focusing on three dance scenes that Maggie Gripenberg (1881–1976) composed for theatre and opera performances in Helsinki in the 1920s and 1930s. The developments in Finland will be connected with the international trends that Gripenberg and her Finnish collaborators absorbed from the West as well as from Russia. The article also suggests that by exploring early modern dance in the context of theatre and opera, it is possible to obtain a more balanced picture of the development of modern dance in Finland.