Mirkku Merimaa

JOURNAL

Dance Belongs to Everyone

Author Anja Snellman was one of the dancers in Borderline, a contemporary dance performance by Susanna Leinonen Company.

Borderline explores the visible and invisible boundaries that shape our lives. Onstage, fifteen expressive older adults meet three professional dancers, together creating a shared space for movement, touch, and breath.

AT 71, ANJA SNELLMAN has not retired. She continues her work as an author and a therapist. Having danced since childhood, she now sees dance as a grounding and inspiring counterbalance to the demands of her professional life.

“It has been difficult to find contemporary dance classes for someone my age, so I was delighted when I saw Susanna Leinonen Company’s announcement about this project last fall,” Snellman says.

“Having lived with exercise and dance for most of my life, I find that many typical senior classes rarely offer real challenge.”

BORDERLINE premiered in Helsinki in late March 2026. The group rehearsed for nearly three months to prepare for the performances.

“We bonded surprisingly quickly. There’s joy, trust, and curiosity between us, and above all, a shared joy of moving together. You can definitely feel the four- and five-hour rehearsal days, three or four times a week, in your muscles, but the work is also inspiring,” Snellman says.

“After rehearsals, I would still go on to meet clients at my therapy practice, and I was writing a new novel at the same time. The energy I get from dance training and from this dance community carries into those other parts of my life as well.”

THE PIECE EXAMINES humanity and change as seen through a body shaped by lived experience. At the same time, it challenges assumptions about what dance can look like and who is allowed to create it.

“In this work, I explore the physical and emotional strength of bodies that have lived—movement, rhythm, and expression that rise from a long, fully experienced life,” says the choreographer, Tatiana Urteva.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Susanna Leinonen says she wants to help build a more diverse field of dance, one that brings people of different ages together onstage and beyond.

“Works that feature performers over sixty invite all of us to reflect on the subtle forms of categorization and ageism in our society. At the heart of this project is a simple message: dance belongs to everyone.”

Source: Vuosaari local newspaper