Sirpa Möksy is dancer, choreographer and dance teacher from Finland, today mostly active as a lecturer of jazz dance at the Academy of Music and Dance of the University of Applied Sciences in Kuopio.She studied dance and dance pedagogy, beside others, at the Danshögskolan in Stockholm and she did post-gradual studies in New York, Chicago, Paris, Nice and Toulouse. Apart from lecturing she produces dance performances and makes choreographies in the style of jazz dance.
Between 8th and 10th of November Sirpa Möksy will be one of the guest stars at the festival Dance Life Expo in Brno, Czech Republic, where she will give classes of jazz dance which are always full of energy, great music and good mood. What was your journey towards the jazz dance? Was it love at the first sight or you did you do different styles before?
I started with ballet. I really wanted to learn the technique and reach the beauty of it. Then after a few years I took my first jazz class and immediately I knew that it was my thing. In jazz classes I enjoyed the energy, flow of movement, musicality and rhythm. I felt that it gave me freedom to use my body in many different ways and using all different body parts. It also gave me so much joy! I wanted to learn many different styles and techniques of the jazz dance genre. You teach at the Kuopio Academy of Music and Dance. How is the dance education at your university, which specializations do you have and what is the background of dancers who come to study there?
In Kuopio Academy of Music and Dance we have Bachelor degree programme in dance. Our students study four years and they graduate to dance teachers. After one and a half years of studies they choose one main subject which can be ballet, jazz or contemporary. I am lecturer in Jazz dance. I teach jazz dance, didactics and methodology in jazz dance, improvisation and productions. A speciality in our Academy is that we do lot of co-operation with music students and music departement.
The background of dancers who come to study to Kuopio can be different. Some of them have done the dance education in second level education and somebody has other profession before starting our studies. And some of them come directly from school and have had dance as a dear hobby. In auditions we select the ones who have really good skills in dance (ballet, jazz, contemporary), great teaching test and ability to write and analyse. You have been visiting the Czech Republic regularly since 2007, giving jazz dance workshops at the Dance Conservatory and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. What is your experience with the Czech dancers? Could you compare the Czech and Finnish dance students?
Yes I have! It has been a pleasure and joy for me to visit Prague and teach jazz dance there. My experience with Czech dancers is extremely positive! Motivation to dance is really high and I can feel the energy and joy so strongly. In Czech Republic I can see clearly the influence of Graham technique and ballet. That gives a strong and solid base to bring other styles to student. I am grateful that I have met so many dance students during these years and I have got so many dear friends in Prague. Some of the students have taken my classes every single year and that warms my heart! I think dance students everywhere are quite the same. Culture brings its own specialities also to dance classes but the language of movement and dance is so universal. Apart from teaching, you are still active dancer and choreog
rapher. Which are your current projects?I had a premiere with my Jazzin`Up choreography 5. 10. 2012 in Kuopio. It is a one hour long production that brings the golden big band time back to present together with six dancers and Kuopio based band Savonia Tentet. Choreography got its inspiration from the will to bring jazz dance on stage using the skills and talent from each dancer. We have been lucky to be able to perform Jazzin`Up also during this year in Pieksämäki Poleeni Theatre, Iisalmi Culture Center Stage, Kuopio Dance and Music Festival 2013, on Kulturama Stage in Stockholm and the next performance will be in Prague Dance Festival 23. 11. 2013 in Studio Alta.
The other premiere, Jazz Cafè, was 26. 9. 2013. That is 45 min. long choreography for 13 dancers with a live band. Dancers are my second year students and the musicians are also students from our Academy of Music and Dance.
So at the moment I have time to enjoy my current works and be ready for new inspirations! Have you ever visited similar event like Dance Life Expo, where all styles of dance meet? What do you expect of it?
Yes, actually I have. That was in New York in July 2011. The name was Dance Teacher Summit 2011 and it was also a three days long event. There were a lot of workshops, seminars, exhibitors, a dance costume fashion show and a competition for choreographers. The event gave me lots of inspiration for my work. So, I expect from Dance Life Expo the same kind of “wow-feelings“. I want to see many different styles of dance and pick up from the program the things that I am interested in. Of course this time I have also other point of view because I am teaching there. I wish that I shall meet there many motivated dancers and great teachers!
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species