Hanna Tuulikki - Deer Dancer

Residency from 22 to 27 January 2024

Deer Dancer is a cross-artform study into our multifaceted relationship with deer. Beginning with mimesis, specifically representations within dance, the work examines how imitation of deer behaviour constructs ideas of wilderness as the site for the cultivation of heroic hetero-masculinities, and how hunting mythologies shape and impact real ecologies.

Deer Dancer was first realised as a solo performance to camera work, presented
as a two-channel film and sound installation at Edinburgh Art Festival 2019, alongside costumes and visual score prints. During the pandemic, it was developed into a durational live(streamed) performance with an ensemble of womxn performers, premiering at Glasgow-based international performance festival Take Me Somewhere 2021.

For this residency Hanna Tuulikki and collaborators will take the learning from the livestream and film versions to the next stage, developing a live performance for a physical audience, ready to tour to venues around the UK in 2024 and beyond.

Photo Tiu Makkonen