Kaisa Kukkonen (b. 1986) is a dance artist, intimacy choreographer, dance teacher, writer, and touch professiona
Her multidisciplinary practice explores the poetics and politics of the body through movement, language, and relationality. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts from the Iceland University of the Arts (2022) and graduated as a Dance Teacher from the MACoDE program at HfMDK in Frankfurt, where her thesis Noticing Power Relations in Teaching Touch (2021) examined the ethics and dynamics of physical interaction in educational and artistic contexts.
Central to Kukkonen’s work is the choreography of intimacy—on stage, in participatory settings, and within rehearsal and production environments. She engages with contact improvisation, pleasure activism, boundaries, and consent as both artistic tools and social inquiries. Her performance practice extends into immersive theatre, audience participation, and performance art, often blurring the lines between performer and witness, creating embodied experiences of radical care, sensitivity, and shared authorship.
Kukkonen is particularly interested in how touch, attention, and community are choreographed—both in dance and in life. Her work includes creating performances, facilitating workshops, mentoring, writing in poetic and academic forms, and producing events that center embodied knowledge and collaborative structures.
She was a founding member of pupu kollektiivi (active until 2023), with whom she explored queer feminist approaches to radical intimacy, supported by a Kone Foundation grant. In this project, she contributed as an embodiment expert, intimacy choreographer, and writer.
Since 2010, she has performed, taught, and produced across the independent dance and performance scene, focusing on contact improvisation, community art, and interdisciplinary improvisation. She is a co-founder of Tanssilauantai Festival (Ilomantsi, 2009–2014), Hetki Festival (Helsinki, since 2018), and co-produced Helsinki Meeting Point (2012–2015) with Giorgio Convertito. As of 2023, she is part of Humina Space, a dance studio in Pasila, Helsinki.
EDUCATION
2024-2025 Intimacy Choreography for Live Performance Program
2021–2022 Iceland University of the Arts – Master in Performing Arts, MFA
2019–2021 Master’s Program in Dance Education, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt – MA
2012–2015 Metropolia University of Applied Sciences – BA in Cultural Management
2007-2010 North Karelia Vocational College, Outokumpu – Dancer
2005-2006 Eastern Finland Sports Institute – Instructor, Creative Dance Instructor Training
2002-2005 Joensuu Niinivaara High School – Matriculation Examination