Sonya Lindfors: camouflage

camouflage, by choreographer Sonya Lindfors and working group, examines the act of looking and the politics of the gaze.

Camouflage (eng): The use of any combination of materials, coloration or illumination for concealment, disguise, mimesis, simulation or falsification

camouflage is a multilayered landscape where things are both revealed and covered. Under the variegated surface is a speculative (auto)fiction, where the artist reveals their trick. But not everything is what it looks like.

The stage has the potentiality to reveal and obscure, make things invisible or hypervisible. But how do we recognize what we see. What happens in that moment of recognition when you categorize something as “contemporary”, as “art” or as “Black”?

The work scats with ancestors, slips in meanings and dreams of the right to opacity.

Sonya Lindfors is a Cameroonian-Finnish choreographer, artistic director, facilitator and educator. She received a MA in choreography from the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2013. In the core of her work is the practice of shaking and challenging existing power structures and empowering communities.

Choreography and concept: Sonya Lindfors


Working group: Selma Kauppinen, Selma Kauppinen, Julian Owusu, Godwin Otieno, Johanna Karlberg, Elisa Tuovila, Riikka Lakea, Tony Sikström, Erno Aaltonen, Jussi Matikainen, Sanna Levo, Sonya Lindfors

Performers in Stoa: Selma Kauppinen, Godwin Otieno, Elisa Tuovila, Johanna Karlberg, Sonya Lindfors

Contributors to the process: Lydia Östberg Diakité, Pauliina Sjöberg, Zen Jefferson
Production assistants: Tuure Kaukua, Riikka Lakea
Residencies: Reykjavik Dance Festival / NREP; MDT, Stockholm; Kone Foundation, Coproduction: MDT, Stockholm
Supported by: Uudet Klassikot – rahasto, Arts Promotion Center, Finland, Svenska Kulturfonden, Nordic Culture Point
Pictures: Tuukka Ervasti
Production: Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Sonya Lindfors, UrbanApa