I have been practicing Contact Improvisation since 2005, and teaching internationally since 2010.
WORKSHOPS and classes
”Kaisa Kukkonen describes the goal of her teaching as fostering students’ understanding
of their significance and power, both in the world and within the shared dance space.
She emphasizes that actions and motives within dance contexts hold meaning and that
individuals are valuable as they are. Kukkonen also stresses the importance of creating
space for curiosity and agency in relation to dance. She aims to build students’ confidence
that their personal experiences and abilities are sufficient as a starting point for movement
research, eliminating the need for external validation. (Interview 2, Kaisa Kukkonen,
appendix 5.2.; 33, lines 278–289.) Kukkonen’s pedagogical approach challenges
traditional hierarchies in dance education, where students are often treated as passive
recipients of a master teacher’s guidance. Instead, she advocates for a model in which
students retain agency over their bodies and movements (q.v. Green 1999;2000).”
Kukkonen explained that a reflective and humble approach to pedagogical materials is
crucial. She described using confusion and uncertainty as a starting point, employing
theories even when she does not fully understand them. Her facilitation embraces the
limitations of knowledge while simultaneously supporting the curiosity to the learning
process. She also incorporates reflection practices that combine movement and verbal
expression, offering participants various enter points to work with confusion. (Interview
2, Kaisa Kukkonen, appendix 5.2.; 32–31, lines 216–327) The reflections align with the
ideas presented by Elonheimo, Miettinen, Ojala, and Saresma (2022, 18–19), who discuss
the acceptance of incompleteness and the pedagogical value of uncertainty. Rather than
providing fixed answers, intersectional feminist pedagogy allows for the exploration of
different realities and recognizes the situational nature of knowledge (Elonheimo,
Miettinen, Ojala & Saresma 2022, 18–19).”
(”Shaping Learning in Contemporary Dance in Relation to Intersectional Feminist Pedagogy”, Jaala, 2025, Masters Thesis, HfMDK)
Get in touch, and we’ll tailor a course that suits your group! I design and lead courses and workshops related to touch for various target groups that use touch in their work, such as doctors, nurses, dance teachers, dancers, or educators.
I am an artist and a dancer, so I incorporate artistic approaches and body movement into my work and I am particularly interested in questions of consent and personal boundaries, pleasure, asking for touch, and the possibility of neutral touch.
Here you can read my Master Thesis, Hochschule für Music und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, Master in Contemporary Dance Education, 2021: ”Noticing Power Relations when Teaching Touch”