RIIKKA LAKEA
dancer & choreographer
I have been educated as a dance artist in Copenhagen (The Danish National School of Performing Arts) and Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki's Theater Academy). At the core of my artistic practice are creating performer- and site-specific pieces, using improvisation as a work and performance tool and continuously researching for more sustainable and equal working structures. In my work the roles of performer, choreographer, film maker, facilitator and producer intertwine and are in constant dialogue. My work is guided by an ecological, intersectional, and feminist worldview, that perceives different agents and phenomena as deeply relational and interconnected.
My artistic work builds on collective, dialogical, and low-hierarchical group work. Recently, my choreographic work has focuses on developing the improvisation practice dancing music in collaboration with dance artist Vincent Jonsson in an ongoing research project A cCompany Dancing. My earlier choreographic works include e.g. the process-oriented musical short film With a little help from my friends (2017), the wandering site-sensitive dance piece BUNDLE (2017) and the dance performance LET'S NOT PRETEND TO BE ALONE HERE (2016). My work has been performed around Northern Europe at festivals like Works at Work in Denmark, NEUNOW in Amsterdam and UrbanApa in Helsinki. The latest collaborations, where I worked as a performer and collaborator, include Sonya Lindfors' stage piece camouflage (2021) and the dance short film Warmly, Viper (2022).
I have performed in others' work in Denmark at The Danish National School of Performing Arts, The Royal Danish Theatre and Aaben Dans- dance theatre and in Finland at Uniarts Helsinki's Theatre Academy and in various works by independent choreographers. I have performed in pieces from Lea Moro (CH), Liz Kinoshita (CA/BE), Rebecca Hilton (AU/SE), Thomas Eisenhardt (DK), Sonya Lindfors (FI) and Valtteri Raekallio (FI), among others.
In addition to my artistic work, I sometimes produce other artists pieces in the performing arts. I have worked as a production assistant for i.a. choreographer Valtteri Raekallio, choregrapher Sonya Lindfors, Moving in November festival and as the producer of performing arts platform Circus Maximus.


Photos by Jussi Ulkuniemi