Alpo Aaltokoski
Artistic director, choreographer, dance artist
Along with his high-quality artistic career, Alpo Aaltokoski has worked extensively in his field of art as a professor of choreography, pedagogue in Finland and internationally, and has been an influencer in cultural and art policy. In addition, he has been the artistic director of the Pyhäjärvi Full Moon Dance Festival from 1995 to 1998, from 2010 to 2012, and from 2017 to 2022 The Arts Council of Finland appointed Aaltokoski Artist Professor in 2003. In 2013 Alpo Aaltokoski received the Order of the Lion of Finland, Pro Finlandia award. This prestigious medal is awarded by the Finnish president annually to Finns who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and science and is one of Finland’s highest honors. The award has been granted to outstanding artists since 1945.
“At the heart of my choreographic thinking is the human existence, the human body and the movement it produces. The movement itself is enough as a starting point for making the piece. At the base of the idea is my holistic conception of the holiness of human, in which the body is also “thinking”. Our own life history is stored in our body. At the cellular and gene level, the entire evolution of the species is stored in the body.
As a storage and producer of movements and various kinds of movements, the human body is an endless cornucopia, of which we can find and take over only a small fraction during our lifetime.”
— Alpo Aaltokoski