Dance House Helsinki will be built in the north-eastern corner of Cable Factory. © JKMM Architects

“Starting the construction work in October is a huge step toward realising a long-time dream. We are eager to fill these new spaces with new dance experiences," says Matti Numminen, Director of Dance House Helsinki.

Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo will start the building of Dance House Helsinki with excavation work beginning on 7 October 2019. This is the loudest phase of construction and it will last approximately three months, including about one month of pile driving. The actual construction of the new building is scheduled to begin later this year.

“Just as with the construction work, we also start laying the foundations of future activities. We are creating internal processes with future activities in mind. Our programme team is preparing the programme of the opening season, drawing up guidelines for cooperation with our strategic partners and defining principles for renting the premises," Numminen clarifies the current steps.

In addition to contents, our office is kept busy with defining our identity and enterprise resource planning (ERP). During the autumn we will cooperate with a creative agency to crystallise the association's strategy in an enticing and dynamic form. To help support our processes we will build a robust ICT environment.

In addition to the Director, Dance House Helsinki currently employs Mikael Aaltonen and Pia Krämer in the programme team, Noora Kykkänen who is responsible for communications and brand work and Mirva Tamppinen who prepares processes for information and activity management. In November, the team will be joined by Faith Tan.

“We aim to make dance a living part of our society and create a real culture of encounters. We work with a tight-knit, efficient team. Funding permitting, we will continue building up our organisation with further recruitments in the coming year. In this starting phase, the need for public funding is considerable as the association is not yet capable of extensive fundraising of its own. We are thankful of every euro we receive," says Numminen, expanding on the financial situation of the house.

In about two years, the lights of Finland's first stage dedicated to dance will go on, and dance will finally get the space to shine it deserves.

Keep up with the progress of the construction work at the website of Cable Factory.