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| "Dancers' work is brilliant...Punkki is fast, and her articulation of the movement is finished until the last joint. Her ability to show the finest nuances in a movement is never failing."
"red Xing is an energetic play with colors and light. Dance is pure and skillful... General spirit of the choreography is wonderfully positive. Contemporary dance doesn't have to be just about suffering and wasting away."
"...movement was beautiful and powerfully raw in its own way.
Albert Mathias' music is hypnotic, fluid and inspires to dance." AUDITION! ODC Audition Series March 13th, 2010 at 3:30pm-5:30pm
punkkiCo is a Dance Company that uses physical, energetic
contemporary dance, with Finnsh-European influences. Choreographer
Raisa Punkki founded the company in 2005.
punkkiCo has been appearing in San Francisco at the WOW Festival,
Collaboration! Music and Dance, CounterPulse's 2nd Sundays among others.
In June 2009 punkkiCo had a successful weekend of performances
"Abstractions and Transitions" at the Dance Mission Theater. punkkiCo
is always collaborating with artists from the other fields.
We are looking for male and female dancers with solid contemporary dance technique and partnering skills. Age and experience in performing are benefits.
We are looking for dancers who can commit until August 2011. punkkiCo has been invited to perform at the Full Moon Dance Festival in
Finland, July 2011.
We are offering company class once a week, private Pilates sessions
and compensation of the performances.
The main rehearsal period for this year is from July 5th until
September 22nd.
Rehearsal times are on Mondays 10-12am and Fridays 2-4pm.
Performances will be at the Garage Art Space on September 22 and 23 at
8pm.
Raisa Punkki (Founder, choreographer, dancer) has been working as a dancer, choreographer and teacher over two decades. She has an MfA in Dance from Theater Academy, Helsinki, Finland. While living in Europe she was dancing and touring with e.g. Kenneth Kvarnström, Tero Saarinen and Anzu Furukawa. Raisa Punkki has been performing in several continents and teaching in various dance schools including Theater Academy in Helsinki and Skolen av Moderne Danse in Denmark. She has received numerous grants, stipendiums and nominees including the State grant (Finland) and the Zellerbach Family Foundation grant. Raisa Punkki has been presenting her work in San Francisco since 2005.
COMPANY FOR "Abstractions and Transitions" Raisa Punkki Founder, Choreographer, Dancer Raisa Punkki graduated with a MfA at the Department of Dance, Theatre Academy in Helsinki, Finland, in 1992. After several years as a freelancer she signed up with the Helsinki City Theatre Dance Company (96-98), where she danced in choreographies e.g. by Kenneth Kvarnström, Anzu Furukawa and Tero Saarinen. The following four years toured intensively with Kenneth Kvarnström & Co, in and outside Europe. Raisa has taught contemporary dance at the dance departments of various Finnish art schools and at Skolen of Moderne Dance in Copenhagen. Raisa Punkki has made choreographies to both theater and dance companies. Her choreographies include "STUMP" (1999), "(CLINCH)" (2000), "XO"(2001). In 1996 TANSSI magazine asked the leading dance critics to nominate "the best in dance". Raisa Punkki was nominated as the best dancer of the year. She received the state (Finland) grant for artists for a period of six months in 2001, and for a period of three years in 2003. Raisa Punkki’s choreographies has been presented at the Bay Area in e.g. Collaboration! 2005, 2006, 2008 and at the Women on the Way –festival. In 2006 she was commissioned to make a piece “all blue” for the Dance Theater Company Mecanique. Raisa also teaches Pilates at the Peak Performance Pilates and the Pilates Collective. She is a proud mother of two. | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_8804.JPG (662K) | Kakuti Davis Lin Dancer, Choreographer Kakuti Davis Lin began her professional performing career in Hawaii, dancing with Honolulu Dance Theatre and Diamond Head Theater. She has a BA in Dance from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she worked with Wally Cardona, Nia Love, Kraig Patterson and Donlin Foreman, among others. After graduating, she moved to Germany, where she danced and choreographed with Palindrome Inter-Media Performance Group. In 2000 she relocated to California and has since danced with Erica Essner Performance Co-op, Nguyen Dance Company, Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir, and California Contemporary Dancers, for which she also choreographed. She also teaches Ballroom and Latin dance and just graduated from U.C. Hastings College of the Law. Kakuti has been dancing with Raisa since 2005. | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_9085.JPG (693K) | Julie Sheetz Dancer Julie Sheetz (Dancer) fled nevada for San Francisco in 2000 with a MS in Geography and extra credits from stage and independent film productions. Lacking serious dance training but not luck, she has been honored to work with EmSpace Dance, Huckaby McAllister Dance, Fellow Travelers Performance Group, Company Mecanique, Lisa Townsend, Hilary Bryan, Leyya Tawil, Hope Mohr, L.Martina Young, Diane Rugg, rubber chickens, ceramic ducks, remote controlled bunny rabbits, chalk, shopping carts, outlawed plastic bags and leafy green vegetables on both coasts. She worked first time with Raisa Punkki in Company Mecanique's "all blue" in 2006. | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_8935.JPG (755K) | Patric Cashman Dancer Patric Cashman began his formal dance training by completing a two year diploma in dance (at the institute for dance & choreography) in his native Cork, Ireland. He continued his studies as a dance artist at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, England, where he graduated in 2001 with a B.A. in performing Arts. Since he moved to the United States, Patric has danced with Shift >>>physical Dance Theater, Element Dance Theater, Martt Lawrence, Company Mecanique and Lisa Townsend. He worked first time with Raisa Punkki in Company Mecanique's "all blue" in 2006. | 
Photo by Rob kunkle 20090228_9016.JPG (647K) | Jessica Stephenson Dancer Jessica Stephenson began her dance training in Austin, Texas where she was a member of the Texas Youth Ballet and an apprentice with the Austin Contemporary Ballet from 1993-1996. After relocation to Maine, she participated on full scholarship in CORPS and joined the Portland Ballet Company, performing as soloist and member of the corps. In 1999 Jessica was invited to perform with the Ram Island Dance Company and later that year moved to New York to study professionally at the Joffrey Ballet/ New School University’s BFA Program. In 2002 she moved to Maryland to pursue her BA Degree in Psychology and was an active member of Goucher College’s Dance Department, working with notable artists such as Christopher D’Amboise, Stephen Mills, Robert Moses, and Paul Vasterling. After graduating from Goucher College in 2004, Jessica moved back to New York to become certified under master Pilates instructors, Romana Kryzanowska and Sari Mejia-Santo. Jessica has performed professionally with New York Dance Theater, VanDance Inc., ClancyWorks Dance Company, The Art of the Solo, and as free-lance artist on numerous projects. Jessica enjoys laughter, the ocean, and is delighted to be working with the lovely and diverse people of San Francisco.
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Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_9128.JPG (535K) | Phil Halbert Dancer Phil Halbert is a multidisciplinary performing artist who jumped into modern dance at UC Berkeley, where he also studied mechanical engineering. Phil has appeared e.g. with Huckabay McAllister Dance, Capasitor, The Joe Goode Performance Group, lisa Townsend Company and Company Mecanique Dance Theater. He worked first time with Raisa Punkki in "all blue", that was a commisioned work for The Company Mecanique Dance Theater in 2006. | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_8968.JPG (718K) | Julia Hollas Dancer Julia Hollas has been dancing with the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance under the mentorship of Summer Lee Rhatigan and Alex Ketley since 2006, and is also an administrator with the Conservatory and Dandelion Dancetheater. While at the University of Utah, she performed in and photographed many departmental shows and organized the first Ballet Student Concert. |  Photo by Rob Kunkle 20090228_9191.JPG (747K) | Christine Bonansea Dancer Christine Bonansea is the newest memeber of the punkkiCo Dance Company. Christine has been dancing since her childhood. After studying 3 years at the University of La Sorbonne (France), she graduated in modern dance from a French National Dance School and trained in three major French Choreographic Dance Centers (Regine Chopinot –La Rochelle, Catherine Diverres -Rennes and Mathide Monnier-Montpellier). She has been dancing in Europe (France, Switzerland) and USA over the last 10 years. She has been exploring diverse arts and performance techniques including contact-improvisation, dance, acting, clown, video and graphics. Back to San Francisco since 2006, she’s been dancing with EmSpace Dance, Huckabay McAllister Dance, Lisa Townsend Company, PeckPeck Dance, Paige Sorvillo/ blindsight, Kim Epifano, Kelly Kemp & Company and Catherine Galasso. Christine has also been working on a video dance series and performed in the video “Green” for Dance Monks and acted for Nara Denning/Distiller film. Recently she was hired to St Francis Memorial Hospital as a Dance Medicine Specialist - Pilates Teacher. |  Photo by Rob Kunkle | Claire Pasquier Costume and Set Design Claire Pasquier is a French artist married to an American artist; she lives and works in San Francisco. Painting was such a revelation for her that it led her to study the history of art at the Sorbonne and afterwards to enter a school of decorative arts (Ensad) in Paris where she learned set and stage design in addition to costume design. After her degree Claire did several productions in theatre, children’s Opera, cinema (short films) and events. After an exhibition of painted portraits - which she still continues to produce - the firm Hermes engaged her to work as a decorative painter for the built-in village at the prestigious Hermes Diane Prize in Chantilly . Later the magazine Marie Claire illustrated an article about "the painter and his model" with her work in her workshop. In theater, she did her first stage creation from an original text, "Like brothers", by a young graduate of the National Conservatory of Acting in Paris. She also works closely with the author, David Leon. A definite highlight was the time she spent on David Mamet's piece "Sexual Perversity in Chicago ", with the acting school at the Chaillot Theater. Claire approaches creation as a self-renaissance: to find our freedom and to shape it until passes into others. Having just arrived in California, Claire met Raisa Punkki and took part in a piece "all blue". The costumes were made with the same fabric in keeping with the “all” uniformity of the title. Their tops were basic shapes cut in a triangular rhythm to reveal or hide the body, emphasizing the movements and the continual meetings between the dancers. | 
Picture by Claire Pasquier | Christian Mejia Light Designer Christian Mejia is a lighting and scenic designer working in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004, he graduated with a B.F.A in Production Design from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After spending two years trying to juggle work in the downtown theatre circuit with a job in 3D animation, he decided to return to the Bay Area to pursue the performing arts full time. Christian now works as the technical director and production manager of the Village Theatre in Danville, CA. He also designs lighting and scenery for dance and theatrical productions across the Bay Area. | 
Photo by Liz Payne |
CURRENT REPERTORY "Abstractions and Transitions" June 12.-14. 2009 at the Dance Mission Theater nunataks (2005) Choreography by Raisa Punkki Performance by Julia Hollas, Kakuti Davis Lin, Julie Sheetz, Jessica Stephenson Original music by Keith Moore Costume design by Claire Pasquier | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle | Waiting (2009) Choreography and performance by Raisa Punkki Music by Joan Jeanrenaud Costume Design by Claire Pasquier | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle | all blue (2006) Comissioned for the Company Mecanique Dance Theater Choreography by Raisa Punkki Performance by Christine Bonansea, Patric Cashman, Phil Halbert, Kakuti Davis Lin and Julie Sheetz Original music by Albert Mathias Set design by Nicole Bauguss Costume design by Claire Pasquier | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle | last (2009) Choreography by Kakuti Davis Lin Performance by Julia Hollas, Julie Sheetz, Jessica Stephenson Music excerpts from Alexander Borodin's string quartets Musicians: David Hamano (viola), Stefanie Lawton (cello) | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle | To be...or You (2009) Choreography by Raisa Punkki Perfromance by Kakuti Davis, Raisa Punkki, Patric Cashman and Bob Webb Music by Heikki Sarmanto Costume design by Claire Pasquier | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle | rais-a-roni (2009) Choreography by Raisa Punkki Performance by Christine Bonansea, Julia Hollas, Kakuti Davis Lin, Julie Sheetz and Jessica Sephenson Original music by Albert Mathias Costume design by Claire Pasquier | 
Photo by Rob Kunkle |
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