Juulius Vaiksoo says dance brings people close to nature

Dancer, dance teacher and curator Juulius Vaiksoo told ERR’s Teater. Muusika. Kino that dance is close to human nature because it takes away the ability to speak, forcing people to express themselves in other ways.

Vaiksoo began with athletics, training in long jump and distance running until he was 14. His coaches tried to steer him towards high jump because of his height, but he said his back did not bend backwards comfortably. Looking for something more creative, he joined OMA Circus, a circus group, before deciding that dance was what he wanted to pursue.

He then auditioned for the ETA Dance School. Vaiksoo said he initially feared he was too stiff for dance and that starting at 14 seemed unusually late. During the coronavirus pandemic, much of his work was conducted online. He watched videos, read books, studied contemporary dance and attended workshops to catch up with his classmates.

Vaiksoo later studied contemporary dance at the Iceland University of the Arts. He said he had wanted to study abroad and chose the school after finding that its atmosphere suited him during the auditions. He did not apply to other schools after being accepted in February.

He said the SNDO school, where many Estonians have studied, did not seem suitable because its students were expected to develop practices they had already created themselves. Vaiksoo was still searching for his own artistic identity, so the Icelandic school was a better fit.

Vaiksoo came up with the idea of bringing his entire class to Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, an Estonian dance venue. His classmates came from across the Nordic countries, and he wanted people at home to see what he had worked on during his three years at the school. The group also performed in Sweden and in two Finnish cities.

Although he had no previous producing experience, Vaiksoo began writing applications, secured venues and found funding. He is now organising a tour for a younger graduating class, which includes Mari Ann Valkna, with performances in the dancers’ home cities of Oslo, Helsinki and Tallinn. He said the tours allow the dancers to meet one another’s families and understand the environments from which the students come.

Vaiksoo said he enjoys producing because he is drawn to solving problems. Although he has recently spent more time on stage, he plans to continue organising the tours with the school each year, provided they have proper funding.

He said he adapted well to Iceland and that people often assumed he was Icelandic because of his name, appearance and similar accent. He also learned the Icelandic language reasonably well. Vaiksoo said he had not experienced culture shock, but the longer he lived there, the more he understood which aspects of the country suited him and which did not.

Vaiksoo has now returned to Estonia because he finds the country’s performing arts scene more intriguing and diverse than Iceland’s. He said he had been offered considerably more work in Estonia, while opportunities in Iceland were more limited.