Ballet Led Delta Life’s Director into Dance at Five

Five-year-old Mikko Makkonen had decided he wanted to take ballet classes. The mystery is where a small boy from Eastern Finland got the idea. In a working-class family in a small town of Varkaus, there were hardly any role models for the disciplined art of dance. Fortunately, there happened to be a ballet school in his hometown, and that is where Makkonen’s first dance steps began.

Now 37, Makkonen’s role as choreographic director of the Delta Life show is to transform a script by Jukka Takalo into a multidisciplinary experience. The 45-minute production features music, circus arts and air guitar performance, as well as Makkonen’s own art form, dance. The piece includes seven professional dancers and a group of dance students.

For Makkonen, dance is a channel of expression that transcends language barriers and is fundamentally equal. However, dance is not usually regarded as a simple art form. He encourages audiences to watch and experience dance without the traditional expectation of a plot or narrative.

“Physicality connects people. We all have our own embodied experience through which we can approach watching or performing dance.”

Everyday actions – the movement of thumbs on a game controller or mobile phone, or the flow of crowds along pavements – can, for example, become dance. For Makkonen, embodiment and opening up the world of senses are essential.

“What dance is, is highly subjective – something each person defines for themselves. In the digital age, I want to restore embodied experience. We are not just floating heads on a screen.”

Delta Life engages all the senses

According to Makkonen, Delta Life offers, in addition to physicality and movement, a range of elements for audiences to enjoy.

“One person might reflect on the overall whole, another might listen as if at a concert and enjoy a new composition and its music, while someone else marvels at the visuality or appreciates the dance and circus. Delta Life is something that has never been experienced before. At the birthplace of Oulu, we celebrate the environment and culture.”

Makkonen was invited to join the project as director-choreographer in early 2025. In February 2026, six months before the event, the atmosphere is both excited and tense. A great deal is happening. Solutions are being sought in the stage structures, for example regarding the rigging of circus equipment in exceptional conditions. After the planning phase, concrete work with the performers can properly begin. The soundscape is taking shape, musicians are recording in studios, and the dancers will soon move into rehearsal spaces.

“Art is collaboration – creative, human work between people. You have to allow the process to take its turns. Ultimately, during production week on site, it all materialises.”

A unique project that fosters growth

In such a multifaceted project, there have inevitably been surprises and complexities, but Makkonen knew what he was committing to.

“From the moment I was invited, the scale and site-specific nature of Delta Life were clear – and they have proven true. The details have emerged gradually. This is a unique whole that requires extremely precise production and technical work, as well as aligning the artistic content with the conditions. The stage is multi-layered and has its own particularities.”

Makkonen also recognises a personal growth curve within the project, as well as a new, stronger connection to Oulu.

The project brings together professionals from different fields, each with their own area of responsibility: artistic direction, music, lighting, video, set design, costume design, stage construction and production processes, in addition to the performers themselves. Makkonen sees his own role as enabling the work of others, although decisions must sometimes be made.

“Based on the script, we have moved forward through dialogue and exchange. A positive surprise has been the good energy and healthy working culture within this multidisciplinary and cross-regional collaboration.”

Mikko Makkonen

• Master of Dance, dance teacher
• Performer, teacher and choreographer; also active in positions of trust within the dance sector
• Passionate fly fisher, basketball enthusiast and outdoor explorer
• Background in breakdance and street dance styles
• 2020–2024: Co-artistic and production director of Dance Theatre Minimi in Kuopio
• Guest dancer with the Finnish National Ballet, Tero Saarinen Company, Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth, contemporary dance company Kinetic Orchestra and Pori Dance Company
• Choreographic work, among others, at Kuopio City Theatre, Dance Theatre Minimi and Zodiak – Centre for New Dance