Metsänhaltijat (=Forest Keepers) - Participatory Art Suitcase, commissioned by the City of Turku has been handed over to the City of Turku for one year

February 24, 2025

Metsänhaltijat (=Forest Keepers)n is a participatory art suitcase that combines contemporary dance, visual art, and film art. It utilises augmented reality technology to offer virtual and augmented reality experiences and promote body awareness and well-being.

"The power of dance to speak and be bold!"
- International dance artists Lisi Estaras and Maria Nurmela at Turku City Theatre 30.1.-1.2.2025"

January 30, 2025

In January 30.1.-1.2.2025, Turku City Theatre's Sopukka will present an exceptional evening of contemporary dance and dance theatre, when internationally renowned dance artists Lisi Estaras and Maria Nurmela will take to the stage, inviting the audience to experience two personal and evocative solo works. Their solo works, Estaras' #THISISBEAUTY and Nurmela's As you like it, offer the audience a deep and personal dive into the world of dance, femininity, experience and embodiment. Argentine-born Lisi Estaras is one of the leading names on the Belgian contemporary dance scene, and her solo work #THISISBEAUTY is now coming to Finland for the first time. ABOA award-winning dancer-choreographer Maria Nurmela from Turku will premiere her new solo work As you like it, a tribute to the history and memories of dance.

Maria starting to collaborate with Lisi Estaras with a new solo work premiering in January 30th 2025 at the Turku City Theatre - Sopukka Stage

January 30, 2025

Maria Nurmela and Lisi Estaras, two experienced choreographer-dancers, join forces to celebrate the long and successful careers of mature female performers in the field of contemporary dance. Premiering in January 2025 at the Turku City Theatre's Sopukka, the production offers the Turku audience an evening of two solo pieces, appealing to those interested in contemporary dance, theater, performance and even stand-up. The evening delicately explores women’s life and the societal and social phenomena that shape it in a lively and compassionate manner.

Maria is invited to create a new work for the Pori Dance Company, premiering in September 2024 at the historic former Bus Station of Pori!

September 1, 2024

The inspiration for the creation for the Pori Dance Company stems from Clarice Lispector's novel "A Breath of Life," where the character Angela rebels against the role imposed by the author. The rich dialogue and exploration of themes, temporal layers, and mundane occurrences in human life within the book serve as catalysts for the creation of the dance work. Four performers traverse and inhabit a multitude of scenarios, drawing from Lispector's prose as well as text fragments crafted collaboratively, all underscored by immersive sound design.

Maria was sharing her practice in Koelleven project.

September 24, 2024

Koelleven: An artistic inquiry on attuning with microbiota in cooling towers
of nuclear energy facilities

Maria is invited to teach in Turkey, Ankara

April 15, 2024

Maria teaching in Ankara State University departement of contemporary dance April 15-29th 2024

Maria Nurmela and Vesa Loikas pitching their work "Entanglement: Skin Rivers" at the IceHot Nordic Dance Platform, Oslo, on February 15th 2024

February 15, 2024

IceHot Nordic Dance Platform, Oslo, Norway 14-18.2.2024
Maria Nurmela and Vesa Loikas pitch on Thursday February 15 at 10:00 – 11:30
VEGA Scene
https://www.icehotnordicdance.com/event/maria-nurmela-vesa-loikas/

"Entanglement" is an cross-disciplinary artistic project of the intricate connections between an oak forest, its trees, vegetation, animals and human beings. Using contemporary dance, moving images and sound design to better understand our place in the biosphere, dance artist Maria Nurmela, photographer/filmmaker Vesa Loikas and composer Jane Sheldon turn to the ancient oak grove in Kaarina Vaarniemi.

Maria´s latest work VoxFemina / Feral Polyphony premiered in Turku 19.1.2024 in former Kakola Prison Church gets praising reviews in Turun Sanomat!

January 20, 2024

Review by Heidi Horila in Turun Sanomat 20.1.2024 (Translated from Finnish)
Direction, choreography Maria Nurmela, lyrics by the working group, composition Jane Sheldon, sounds Jaakko Vastapuu, lights Erno Seppälä, costumes Maria Nurmela. Kakola Hall 19.1.

Dance maker Maria Nurmela has used to take her performances to non-conventional performance spaces such as the civil defense shelter and the current Art House, before the space was used as an Art House. Now, Nurmela and her working group's long-term VoxFemina project Feral Polyphony, which explores femininity with several different women artists, can be seen in Kakola Hall, the former church of a former prison. The choice is apt.