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TaikaBox is an Oulu-based dance/tech association. We strive to bring digitalisation and technology closer to performing arts and advocate for a shift towards a culturally positive mindset for businesses, industry development and research within the digital realm.
TaikaBox was born in Cardiff, Wales, and was officially founded in Finland in 2015 by Tanja Råman and John Collingswood. From early on, the artistic and the technological joined hands with the sustainable, and our mission is to create high quality performing arts whilst staying as sustainable as possible. In order to achieve this, we measure our carbon footprint, decline using air travel in our projects, and compensate for the excess of our CO2 emissions by using verified services from third parties. In order to help others in the performing arts sector, we have developed new sustainable working methods, such as the Connected Studio System, where performing artists can join the same working space, regardless of their physical location.
TaikaBox organised the first Oulu Dance Hack research residency in 2016, and has run it annually except for 2020, when COVID-19 shut everything down. In 2021, despite lockdown, we continued the tradition with our Connected Studio System, bringing dancers together in Oulu and Budapest. The Dance Hack method is a process of experimentation with the relationships between technology and performance and has spawned the EU Dance Hack project with Central Europe Dance Theatre and Developing Arts.
Our other projects include Born Old, a narrative dance performance enhanced with interactive digital projection about the birth of the Finnish national epic Kalevala, and its main protagonist Väinämöinen. As of March 2024, Born Old has been translated into four languages and has been seen by over 20 000 viewers.
We see being part of and preserving the history of our community as a vital ingredient of our work, and have made augmented versions of torn down buildings for everyone to experience in the forests of Varjakka, a small seaside region on the outskirts of Oulu. TaikaBox is also researching the possibilities of VR and the Metaverse and how it could be used as a second stage for performance.
TaikaBox is an official project partner in Oulu 2026 European Capital of Culture.
Artistic Director, Choreographer, Dancer, Producer.
Tanja has been working as a choreographer and dancer for over 20 years. Since moving back to Finland in 2015 she has been exploring dance in a rural context, developing new ways to collaborate with fellow artists in distant locations and to engage small communities in dance. Tanja is an active member of the Arctic Dance Network and previously the chair of Barents Dance Network, combining artists from Northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. She is interested in promoting positive body image and exploring the fundamental power in arts to re-shape people's perceptions of everyday life, as well as politics and society. As a choreographer, performer and mentor she is interested in the relationship between movement and new technology, the challenges that technology places on choreography and new opportunities that it can offer. She considers the use of technology in her choreographic work as organic and live – as an extension of physical expression.
Technical Director, DJ, Sound/Light/Video Artist.
John’s approach to art-making generally involves collaboration, often working with dancers to create digital augmentation of their physical expression. With a background in visual arts, touring theatre and event management, he has applied his creative problem-solving skills, contributing to projects around the globe and is usually found in the darkest corner of a room, either squinting at a laptop, pushing buttons or selecting records.
Communications Manager.
Pasi has worked in media since his graduation in 2000. He has both participated and been in charge of regional funding and development for audiovisual and digital projects, had a role in starting the game development scene in North Finland, and has worked as a copywriter, a consultant, a daytime radio host and a voice talent, to mention just a few. He thinks he can play guitar, but he can’t really.
Documentation
Jaakko Koivukangas is a content creator: writing text, shooting photos and videos and creating audio such as radio broadcasts and DJ sets. Currently studying journalism at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, he has worked for local events and companies such as Oulu Autumn Festival, Lumo Light Festival Oulu and Kolmas Polvi Oy. Jaakko and three of his school mates just finished a photojournalistic book project which delves deep into Oulu underground. He is heavily inspired by movement and sound with his interests in theatre, professional wrestling, skateboarding and electronic music.
Sound
Aino is a cello teacher and professional musician. She has been playing since 2012 in the string quartet TEMA and works as an active chamber and freelance musician in addition to teaching cello at the Sea Lapland Music Institute. Previously, she has taught at the Tampere Conservatory, among others. She is particularly interested in new music pedagogic phenomena and the future prospects of music education in a changing world. Aino also creates experimental soundscapes, combining cello and electronics under the artist name Kaikuaiku.
Assistant
Elina is an independent dance artist based in Oulu, and also chair of the board of TaikaBox. She has participated in a number of Oulu Dance Hacks over the past years in a variety of roles. This year she will be taking care of online guests and producing the social media content.
Intern
Meeri has worked for many years as a kindergarten teacher and is currently initiating a new chapter in her career by studying a business course with an emphasis on event production.
Mentor in audio technology and aural arts.
Jussi Alaraasakka is a freelance sound artist, musician, sound designer, workshop manager and event organiser.
He’s been working with music technology since 1993 and in that time has performed at numerous events. His philosophy is that the stage can be everywhere.
He has developed sound art / electronic music / podcast workshops for a wide range of organisations.
He has been the principal organiser for several indie festivals, and has worked as sound technician at the Midnight Sun Film Festival and helped to organise the annual IIK! horror movie festival. In addition to many years as mentor for Oulu Dance Hack, Jussi’s mentoring experience extends to working with small businesses to support the development of their online marketing.
Currently he is researching the potential of electronic music production and performance in VR/AR.
https://alaraasakka.wordpress.com/
https://taikabox.com/the-stage-can-be-anywhere/
Mentor in dance and choreography
Andreea Novac is a choreographer and performer based in Bucharest, Romania. Born in 1981, she graduated in Psychology (BA) and Choreography (BA, MA, PhD) at the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. She started making her own work in 2008, and some of her performances were presented in various national and international contexts. Andreea
participates regularly in dance, research, composition, and improvisation workshops in Europe, and has had artistic residencies in Great Britain, Estonia, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Luxembourg, France, Ireland and Romania.
She received a series of scholarships in Italy and Germany and several awards for her work/contribution to the development of contemporary dance in Romania. She is the co - founder of Developing Art Association and has worked as an artistic consultant at the National Dance Centre Bucharest, In 2020, she co-curated Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, and was the artistic director of the Caleido Festival in 2020, 2021 and 2023. Since 2022 she is an associated artist at Areal – space for choreographic development. Andreea regularly teaches classes for professional and amateur dancers and works in theatre and film.
Mentor in dance and choreography
Csilla Nagy is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and Craniosacral Therapist. She pursued her studies at the Hungarian Dance Academy and furthered her education at CODARTS- Rotterdam Dance Academy. Her early dance education also included time at the Budapest Dance School under the guidance of Goli Táncműhely. From 2008 onward, Csilla Nagy engaged in collaborative efforts with ARTUS – Gábor Goda Company. Notably, she became a part of the L1 Association between 2013 and 2015. Since 2012 she has held the position of collective leader within CIPOLLA COLLECTIVA.
https://www.cipollacollectiva.hu
Oulu Dance Hack 2024 took place in Valve Cultural Centre during the last week of May.
The team was made up of 5 invited artists, selected through an open call process, together with representatives from CEDT and Developing Art, and a documentation and support crew.
Technology was provided by TaikaBox and Valve, alongside movement sensors from Bosch Sensortec – with data transfer made possible by a custom app built by Nextier.
Local florist Kanerva loaned us two amazing manikins decorated with dried flowers that became props for performance – we also created 3D models of these and linked them to the movement sensors.
The backbone of the communications between movement, media and sound was facilitated by Isadora, which we used as a data server to connect a table full of computers with the sound system and projectors.
The Dance Hack studio was represented in the Metaverse through the Finpeda Virtual Space. Part of the audience for the Friday demo was watching online from different countries.
I am the artistic director of Unwire Dance Theatre, a dance company working at the intersection of dance and technology. My work explores notions of control, empathy and intimacy, questioning how technologically mediated interactions influence human behaviours.
I am happy to bring my own practice and technical knowledge to the space and I’d be particularly excited to learn from other artists and see what comes out of a shared exploration.”
Cristina Bodnărescu is passionate about exploring the intersection of new media, visual
arts, and performance, striving to bring a unique perspective to the realm of technology and its profound impact on the human experience. With two MAs, she endeavours to delve artistically into the cultural implications of the technologically mediated human body, with a keen focus on the evolving relationship between humanity, technology and nature in the Anthropocene.
Her work has been widely seen in festivals such as Ars Electronica or Fête des Lumières, and she is a co-founder of both an artistic duo Ethics of Joy (with George Urse) and the creative studio Hyperworks Studio, Creatives United.
Noora Juppi graduated in 2012 as a circus artist, although she has since moved more towards dance, that is what she defines herself as. Her performances are by her own choreography and she is a strong advocate of the pole dance genre. Eager to experience and learn more, she currently studies choreography, having performed both as a solo artist and as part of a performing team.
Oulu is not a new place for her, as she has taught in Oulun Tähtisirkus and in Oulun Taidekoulu. She is an enthusiast for expanding her art with the means of technology, and is currently toying with the idea of embedding tech into her pole, and into her art.
Llewllyn Mnguni is a South African dance artist, regularly based in Berlin. They have performed the challenging roles of Odile in Swan Lake, Escamilio in Carmen and Myrtha in Giselle for Dada Masilo's extensive Asian, European, Canadian and US tour during 2013-2017. Their artist name “Lulu Belle” describes the complex nature of their profession, their persona and the playfulness embedded in their art.
Having danced throughout their childhood, Mnguni realised their passion was to be a professional, and eventually was taught by Lorcia Cooper at the Mmabana Mmabatho Arts Centre in Mafikeng. Their career focused in ballet, both experimental and contemporary, taking the opportunity as a choreographer to tell stories of the disenfranchised.
“I’m a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher working in the field of contemporary dance for almost 20 years. I also have a background in Fine Arts and I’m very interested in a dialog, exchange between different Art forms. Dance attracts me as an Art form because it gives me possibility to explore the materiality of my own body in relation and contrast to metaphisical and mental space that I live in. I’m interested in deep and thorough movement research, using all my knowledge of dance and somatic techniques as a springboard to expansion of the expression of the human body.
I’m interested in finding new ways to expand my potenitial as a dancer and study poetics of dance. I see this possibility in the project and experimenting with technology, new and innovative things always happen in a dialog, meeting and in the crossroads between different forms and people.”
