We are delighted to share that the following participants have been selected for the upcoming performing arts networking trip to Brussels, Ghent & Antwerp (Belgium):
Kalle Lehto, Karoliina Loimaala, Alen Nsambu, Kerttu Opus, Pauli Patinen, Aino Savolainen, Homa Shokri, and Emmi Venna.
The participants were selected through an open call published in May.
The networking trip, organised by Circus & Dance Finland, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, and Theatre Info Finland TINFO, takes place from 28 September to 2 October 2026. Over five days, circus, dance and performance artists and producers will explore the Belgian performing arts scene.
The intensive programme includes meetings with local actors, venue visits, networking events and a workshop.
The goal is to visit and network with performing arts houses and organisations such as Les Halles de Schaerbeek, KVS, Kaaitheater, and Compagnie Thor in Brussels; CAMPO, VIERNULVIER, Circuscentrum, Danspunt, Miramiro and NTGent in Ghent; as well as DE SINGEL and MAD Festival in Antwerp.
Hiros, the Brussels-based organisation supporting the development of artistic trajectories, will organise a workshop in Brussels, where participants will learn more about the Belgian performing arts field and cultural actors.
The group will also get to experience the performance SCHWEINEREI by Lieselot Siddiki at VIERNULVIER.
Meet the participants
Kalle Lehto
Kalle Lehto (he/him) is an award-winning circus all-rounder, contemporary circus group Race Horse Company’s founding member and other artistic director.
He has created a strong personal style, performed all over the world with several unique productions and collaborated without prejudice in the fields of circus, dance and theater.
Lehto and his works have been awarded the Child’s Day Award 2023, the Children’s and Youth Theater Award 2021, the Circus Enchantment Award 2019 and the State Prize for Circus Art 2016.
”I’m looking forward to meeting new people and learning about how the performing arts scene is in Belgium. It would be great to collaborate on new projects or bring some existing work on tour.”
Instagram: @kovakarlos
Karoliina Loimaala
Karoliina Loimaala (she/her) is Helsinki-based choreographer, dancer and dance teacher.
Loimaala has been working in the dance field as a freelance choreographer since 2020, after graduating from the University of the Arts Helsinki with an MA in choreography, and from Training Cycle at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels in 2016. She works specifically with new materialism and poetry in her choreographic practices. She is the artistic director of the international dance company Muddiverse and a founding member of dance-poetry collective KÖTT kollektiv.
Currently she is focusing on taking dance to public and semi-public spaces, bringing dance and joy to new audiences and creating a vibrant international arts scene in Finland as abroad. Her work has been shown in Paris at Danse Elargié & Théâtre de la ville, Landans festival in Belgium, EMMA – Espoo museum of Modern art, Stoa cultural centre, Espoo cultural centre and Madhouse Helsinki among others.
“I’m looking forward to conversations, collaboration and finding partners in the Belgian scene. I would love to return to Belgium with dance. I am specifically eager for my latest site-specific works Charge and Re-Charge to find new environments and charge it up!”
Instagram: @Karoliina.loimaala
Alen Nsambu
Alen Nsambu (he/they) is a Helsinki-based choreographer and performer who has graduated with a BFA degree in dance and choreography from Den Danske Scenekunstskolen in Copenhagen in 2022 with Rasmus Ölme as head of programme. He has collaborated internationally with artists such as Alma Söderberg, Sonya Lindfors, Marie Topp, WAUHAUS and Young Boy Dancing Group.
Nsambu’s artistic practice is centered around identity, optics, and the ways different bodies are granted varying degrees of visibility, opacity, and transparency in society. Situated between choreography and performance, he is interested in creating worlds on stage that push against dominant norms and narratives.
His works have been presented at Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Teater Viirus, Amos Rex art museum, The Watermill Center, Dansehallerne, Konträr and INKONST, among other venues. He was selected as a GENERATION2023 artist for the triennial exhibition at Amos Rex art museum as well as a danceWEB scholarship recipient for ImPulsTanz 2025. Alen Nsambu is one of the Aerowaves Twenty25 artists with his debut solo NEON BEIGE (2024).
“I’ve heard that there are many dipping sauces for the frites, so I’m really looking forward to finding the weirdest one. (I’m also looking forwards to getting to know new people from the Belgian performing arts field!)”
Instagram: @alenzambu
Kerttu Opus
Kerttu Opus (she/her) is a circus performer and creator.
Starting her career in Tampere, Finland, Opus has been a performer since the age of 7, winning multiple awards internationally with her Aerial Straps performances. Opus is a graduate of the National Circus School in Montreal where she specialised in Aerial Straps, Hand to Hand and Dance Acrobatics.
Between 2014 and 2020, she has worked in North-America, Europe and Australia, touring solo and collective works. In 2020 she returned to Tampere, colliding her artistic endeavors under Opus Company with Adam Opus.
Her artistic work focuses on creating original contemporary circus performances. They are often based in abstract narrative and experimental circus techniques that are inherent to each new performance. Since 2022 she has been focusing her personal practice on developing contemporary iterations of quick change magic as well as exploring the borders between performance and installation art.
“My previous experience with networking trips like these is that they leave me feeling a sense of a larger community and care for performing arts. I’m looking forward to engaging with my Finnish colleagues as well as exploring new cultural contexts and influences.”
Instagram: @kerttu.opus
Pauli Patinen
Pauli Patinen (he/him) is a dramaturge and director based in Helsinki, Finland.
Patinen holds a Master’s degree in Dramaturgy and Playwriting from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, with additional MA studies in Choreography and Performance at the internationally renowned Institut für Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Gießen, Germany. Patinen works as a dramaturge at & Espoo Theatre – the International Theatre of Finland, and his pieces have been presented at the Festival of Finnish Playwriting, Teater Viirus, and Contemporary Art Space Kutomo, among others.
In 2025, Patinen was awarded the main prize of Fast Forward – European Festival for Young Stage Directors for his piece Steal This Performance. Currently, he is preparing two new works set to premiere in 2027 at two of Helsinki’s most prominent theatre and arts institutions.
“I’m looking forward to new encounters and interesting conversations as well as some serious research into waffles, fries, and Belgian beer.”
Instagram: @paulipatinen
Aino Savolainen
Aino Savolainen (they/she) is a Finnish circus artist and dance acrobat, based in Helsinki. They graduated with a Bachelor in Circus Arts from Stockholm University of Arts (DOCH/SKH) in 2018, and has since worked with many performing arts companies in Finland (eg. Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth, Finnish National Opera, Blind Gut Company) and abroad (eg. Fauna Circus, Cirkus Cirkör, Cirk La Putyka). At the moment, Savolainen works as a performer and creator on their first self-produced contemporary circus production, OLEMA, and as a facilitator and producer in community-driven projects within the Finnish circus field (Keskeneräiset Lab, Helsinki Circus Festival). They dream of an anti-fascist and environmentally just world and believes in the socially transformative power of art.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know the Belgian performing arts field and exploring the possibility of working in the Belgian performing arts sector. I’m also very excited to get to know other creators and producers in the Finnish and Belgian field.”
Instagram: @ainoana
Homa Shokri
Homa Shokri (she/her) is a Helsinki-based multidisciplinary artist working primarily as a director and dramaturge. Shokri holds a Master’s degree in Directing from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a Bachelor’s degree in Playwriting and Dramaturgy.
Her artistic practice explores political violence, bodily resistance, and the uninhabitability of bodies through performance, movement, text, and video. Working across performance and installation, Shokri examines how structural and invisible forms of violence shape physicality, behaviour, and perception.
Rooted in decolonial and feminist perspectives, her work approaches movement as a site of disobedience, vulnerability, and tension, questioning dominant narratives, systems of control, and the politics of representation. Her performances and installations have been presented internationally in theatres, festivals, and interdisciplinary art contexts.
“I’m looking forward to encountering the Belgian performance field through its artists and practices, particularly how movement becomes a form of research, how work moves between dance, theatre and performance, and how experimental practices find their way into institutions and independent spaces. I hope to discover new artistic connections and build relationships that can develop into future collaborations beyond the trip.”
Instagram: @homasch
Emmi Venna
Emmi Venna (Emmi Venna) is a choreographer and dancer from Helsinki, working internationally. As a choreographer, Venna makes space for the enigma of dance, focusing on the impulse to dance as a primary source for creation. Venna’s processes are fueled by deep curiosity towards the dancing body, a love for dance and art histories, and a belief in the ever-unfolding, magical potential of the performance situation.
Recent stage works as a maker include the rhythmically elaborate, movement-dense group choreographies Grid (Zodiak / Dance House Helsinki, 2025) and CORE (TaDaC / Zodiak 2021), as well as the esseistic solo works This world that we imagine in this room, might be used to gain access to other rooms, other worlds, previously unimaginable (Kiasma Theatre / Baltic Circle / Drifts, 2023) and Fabulous Muscles (Mad House Helsinki, 2020).
During 2025-2027 Venna’s work is supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
“I’m looking forward to new lines of thought, circulation, gaining insight on the structures, the current moment and history of the Belgian performing arts field.”
Instagram: @emmivenna
Photo credits
Cover photo: Brussels. Photo by Yohannes Henriksson / FCI.
Artist photos: Kalle Lehto’s photo courtesy of the artist, Karoliina Loimaala’s photo courtesy of the artist, Alen Nsambu photographed by Elisabeth Victoria Friis, Kerttu Opus photographed by Piki Rantanen, Pauli Patinen photographed by Darina Rodionova, Aino Savolainen photographed by Meri Kunttu, Homa Shokri photographed by Darina Rodionova, and Emmi Venna photographed by Luumu Venna.