Performance “Piste, piste, piste” | Finland
Creators: Portmanteau Company
Direction: Luis Sartori do Vale, Mira Ravald
Music and sound design: Petteri Rajanti
Lighting: Jere Mönkkönen
Cast: Luis Sartori do Vale, Mira Ravald
Production: WHS (Finland)
Support: TAIKE (Finland), WHS Teatteri Union (Finland), Cirko (Finland), Annantalo (Finland), Subtopia (Sweden)
Premiere: 2020
Date: August 27, 2026 | Thursday
Time: 12 pm, 5 pm
Place: Stage, Art Factory in Łódź, 3 Tymienieckiego Street
Tickets: 20 PLN - early bird | 25 PLN - industry | 30 PLN - regular
Early bird tickets: on sale from June 23, 2026 until July 7, 2026 or until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Regular tickets: on sale from July 8, 2026 until they are sold out | via biletomat.pl portal | online payment
Industry tickets: for cultural workers, on sale one hour before the selected event, at the Festival Office | cash or contactless card payment | booking: from June 23, 2026, by mail:biuro@retroperspektywy.com
Duration: 45 minutes
Age restrictions: 4+
Language: Non-verbal
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE
“One day a kid planted three little dots. And they grew into lines…”
“Piste, piste, piste” is an interdisciplinary performance for children and young audiences, combining contemporary circus, dance and visual arts.
In a fascinating journey into the world of shapes and creativity, a blank white stage gets transformed into an imaginative universe with the use of old overhead projectors. The work is based on the children’s book “Três pontinhos / Three little dots”, by the author/illustrator Mario Vale.
Giving continuity to the research started with their previous performance Portmanteau, Luis and Mira, explore the use of handmade visuals executed live on old overhead projectors, to build a dynamic and poetic visual environment.
Not underlining, but rather suggesting, the performance sensitively builds up around the journey of two characters who discover three little dots… Through movement, illusion and circus skills, the performers play with the transformation of dots into lines, using the overhead projectors to create different situations and universes in which they travel through, leaving space for the children’s own imagination and interpretations.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Portmanteau - is a contemporary circus company from Finland, focused on creating multidisciplinary performances exploring the dialogue between circus and other art forms. In a constant search for new and poetic aesthetics within the performing arts, Portmanteau was founded as a collaboration between the circus/visual artist Luis Sartori do Vale and the dancer/circus artist Mira Ravald. It has been touring internationally since 2018, warmly received by both audiences and critics alike. With its first production, the multidisciplinary performance “Portmanteau”, the company received the Sirkuksen Lumo Award 2018, as an acknowledgement of the work done to promote Finnish circus arts. In 2021 it was nominated for the Outstanding Emerging Company category in the International Circus Awards. With “Piste, piste, piste”, they were selected as the ITU Performance 2020, and nominated as a finalist for Finland Assitej's Children’s and Youth Theatre Award 2021-2022.
Luis Sartori do Vale - a performing artist, director and visual artist, born in Brazil, based in Finland. After a diploma in Visual Arts (UFMG - Brazil), he graduated from ESAC (Belgium) as a circus artist. Besides his own projects, he has worked and collaborated with several directors and companies worldwide (such as Kallo Collective, Petri Dish, Archaos, Les 7 Doigts de la Main, Hurjaruuth and WHS), having performed in more than 25 countries. With his previous works he has received several awards, such as the Special Prize of the Jury in the 35th Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, and being a laureate of Circus Next. In 2023 he became the first circus artist in Finland to be awarded the State's honorary grant and title of Artist Professor. He’s a co-founder of the company Portmanteau. When not performing, Luis develops works as a visual artist, between illustration, video and photography.
Mira Ravald - a performing artist working within contemporary circus, dance and physical theatre. She has graduated as a circus artist from Salpaus Further Education in Lahti, Finland, specializing in tight wire. With her solo works Mira is interested in exploring the borderline of dance and circus through movement based practices, musicality and poetic motion in search of new and fusion-like perspectives. Besides performing, Mira also develops projects with video, such as the short dance/circus film “OMI” (2020), which has gained international recognition for its experimental genre. Previously Mira has worked in various theater productions, musicals, dance theatres and afro-cuban performances, in Finland and abroad.
