Mirva Mäkinen graduated (MA) from the Dance Department of the Theatre Academy of Finland in 2000, before that she did masters of Physical Education from University of Jyväskylä. 2010 she start to do PHD studies in Theatre Academy in Helsinki, her research is about Aesthetics of Contact Improvisation.
From 2000 onwards she has been a dance teacher, choreographer and lecturer for dance at the Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts. She has been teaching in several international dance and contact improvisation festivals. Mirva is working at the moment with Dance company Karttunen Kollektiv, New Circus Company Circo Aereo and with choreographer Joona Halonen.
In dance I am interested in the feeling of flow and soft movement. I love to investigate movement, its rhythm and different ways of inhabiting the body. A feeling of dancing is created by being able to switch the body from total relaxation to extreme intensity and tension. I call this the body’s ability to breathe and create movement. My ideal is total presence, which makes every moment true and meaningful.