Tomi Paasonen (FI)

In «Attitude», two queer ballet dancers discover new possibilities of using the pointe shoe as an instigator of movement and choreography. Joined by a drag performer they weave autobiographical stories into a tapestry of queer aesthetics and chronologies of self-discovery.

«Pas de Q» is a queer take-over of Jules Perrot’s 1845 ballet divertissement Pas de Quatre, in which Paasonen invites four queer ballet dancers on pointe and in drag along the designer team, who all are also Berlin drag performers, to reinvent the choreographic forms and traditions of the romantic era.

Artist / Company Bio

Choreographer and artistic director Tomi Paasonen’s international ballet career ended abruptly due to an accident and led him to create over 70 eclectic stage productions in three decades. After working as an artistic director in Finland, he returned to the stage after 24 years of absence with a comeback solo trilogy, leading him to close the circle by investigating his ballet roots from a queer contemporary perspective.