Author Archives: Pia Kiviaho-Kallio

About Pia Kiviaho-Kallio

Dancing English Teacher holds an MA in English Philology and is a certified dance teacher. She takes interest in introducing dance and movement improvisation into vocational business studies. Dance is a shortcut to embodiment, kinesthetic awareness and efficient team work. Thus, business students benefit from dance and movement studies.

Beam you up – and smile!

Presence starts from the face! It needs to be active and alert. Beaming. This week I ran into a 2500-year old face that made the deepest of impressions on me. A face illuminated by the archaic smile. The expression belonged … Continue reading

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To the Point or the Point of Breaking into a Ballet Shoe

Never say never! This weekend, on the eve of a new semester, I am contemplating my brand new point shoes in some disbelief. It has been more than fourteen years since I last time wore point shoes and I had … Continue reading

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Birth of Business Ballet or Dancing during Halcyon Days

For me New Year signifies birth. Tangibly. Concretely. My body remembers the violent contractions accompanied by the sound and smell of fireworks illuminating the pitch-black December sky. My two younger children were born on New Years Day 2005 and 2008, … Continue reading

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Keep going – Serendipity in the social media cloud

This is a story with a lengthy introduction before reaching my point. It begins already in 1978 when I started frequenting international ballet competitions, first in Varna, Bulgaria and subsequently in Helsinki. In summer 2001 visits to ballet competitions came to … Continue reading

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Kinesthetic Language Shower – notes on Michel Chekhov

I am posting the program for Kinesteettinen kielisuihku (Kinesthetic Language Shower) and welcoming a group of teachers from Eastern Uusimaa to my workshop on Porvoo Campus. The program with short notes on exercises and a few videos can be accessed … Continue reading

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Triptych on Corporeality

LEFT PANEL A sorry sight back in June: football practice in arctic Finnish summer. Men in ski caps, woolen socks and Long Johns running back and forth in the Töölö football fields. Though, upon looking out my living room window … Continue reading

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Five Steps In…Five Steps Out…and Movement in Between

My preparation for wearing summer dresses: Scrubbed elbows and knees and a bruised hand, just as back in the summers of my 70’s childhood. The visible evidence of having this week taken part in a course called Havainnon harjoitus ja … Continue reading

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A Season for Drama Queens, Dancing Queens and Passionarity

After a year of dancing together, I am honored to have been appointed Dancing Queen by Tobba13 students. The same week I come across a documentary where mezzo-soprano Joyce di Donato is exploring the concept of Drama Queen. Her journey … Continue reading

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Three Rivers in Two Weeks – Notes on Words and Music

This is life, not logic. Yet, if trying to make any meaning out of my past two weeks, there seems to be one common denominator: rivers. The point of departure being of course the river Porvoo running through the small … Continue reading

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Bridges, Poets and Ballerinas – preparing for a business visit

  What could be a more appropriate meeting point for our walking tour than Pushkin´s statue at the Arts Square in Saint Petersburg on a sunny afternoon in late March.  I have named the tour Bridges, Poets and Ballerinas, as … Continue reading

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