Matilda, could you share with us the starting point of this performance, premiering in the frame of Moving in November?
It all began in 2022, when I first volunteered at the animal sanctuary Tuulispää and met Viima and Taika, two foxes who had escaped from fur farms and were living at Tuulispää at the time. I was deeply moved by the encounter and captivated by their presence. I began to dream of creating a performance with foxes, although at the time the idea seemed impossible. The foxes were very wary of humans. Yet the thought would not leave me. Later, when new foxes arrived at Tuulispää, individuals who were less afraid of people, and Viima began to show small signs of becoming more comfortable with my presence, I decided to explore whether a performance with foxes might be possible.
Just as I started working on this piece, two young foxes, Sumu and Halla, arrived at Tuulispää. They turned out to be playful, curious, and interested in human company. Suddenly, I had the opportunity to work with four unique foxes: for two of them, I was a welcome playmate, while for the other two, I was an acceptable companion, as long as I knew how to keep an appropriate distance.
From the very beginning, it was important to me that the work would proceed on the foxes’ terms. They would not be taught tricks, nor would they be made to do anything they did not wish to do. Instead, I was the one who learned, adapting my movements and ways of working to make them more suitable for collaboration with the foxes.
This work continues my previous artistic engagement with questions concerning our relationships with other animals and the ethical and philosophical frameworks through which these relationships are understood. In my earlier performances, I have explored different ways of performing animals and animality. In this work, I wanted to take the question of performing animals a step further. Rather than attempting to perform foxes, I seek to perform with them. At the same time, I allow the foxes’ actions and ways of being to inform and challenge my own understanding of dance and performance. I approach dance as a phenomenon that extends beyond humans, one to which foxes have access just as much as humans do.
A further aim of this work has been to explore the role of non-verbal, embodied communication in interspecies interaction. I am interested in how the skills I have developed as a dancer can serve as tools for listening to and encountering foxes. What kinds of interactive connections might emerge through movement? In these encounters, the continual negotiation of the relationship, careful observation of the foxes’ actions, and shared presence become particularly significant.
You have been working with the silver foxes for one year. How did you approach this particular research?
Viima and Sumu are silver foxes. Halla is, to my understanding, a cross between a silver fox and a red fox, and Lumi is an arctic fox.
This performance is the first artistic part of my artistic doctoral research at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. My research explores dancers’ practices of performing with nonhuman animals and expands our understanding of interspecies performance.
In the performance, I wanted to explore what forms of co-performing might emerge between myself and the foxes through regular visits over the course of a year, during which I came to know these foxes as individuals. At first, I simply spent time with them, reflecting on what I needed to learn in order to enable movement-based interaction between us. I practiced following the foxes’ attention and softening and sharpening my own movement so that I could move alongside them. Gradually, I began to recognize moments within the foxes’ activities that I could join, participating as a kind of background dancer.
This is my approach in brief. I will write much more about my research in future publications.
I understand that the Finnish title means something different from the English one. What would be a more poetic or descriptive translation of the Finnish title?
To me, the Finnish title suggests that when I am fully present with foxes, our lines begin to curve, and things start to happen between us.
Matilda Aaltonen: To follow your tail
Turbiinisali, Cable Factory 12.11.2026 20.00 / 13.11.2026 17.30 / 14.11.2026 16.00 / 15.11.2026 15.00
Soup Talk 15.11.2026 12.00 @Eskus
Choreography: Matilda Aaltonen
Performers: Matilda Aaltonen, Halla, Sumu, Viima and Lumi
Video and space: Jani-Matti Salo and Matilda Aaltonen
Cinematography and artistic collaboration: Jussi Ulkuniemi
Poetry: Pauliina Haasjoki
Sound design and music: Jo Sulalampi, Matilda Aaltonen and Joonatan Aaltonen
Production: Uniarts Helsinki Theatre Academy, Moving in November and Matilda Aaltonen
Residencies: Santarcangelo Festival & Reality Research Center
Photo: Jussi Ulkuniemi
Special thanks to Veli Lehtovaara, Minerva Juolahti, Pihla Palteisto, and Taru Aho for their help in the making of this work, and to Matilda’s supervisors, Simo Kellokumpu and Tuija Kokkonen, for their support.
Thanks to Piia Anttonen, leader of Tuulispää, for her trust, and to the animal caretakers Meri Tiitola and Satu Jokela for allowing us to film them during the foxes’ feeding.
Thank you to Matias Loikala for translating the poetry into English.
Thanks to Laura Gustafsson, Anne Aaltonen, Selmeri Saukkonen, Nina Numminen, Riikka Lakea, and everyone who has supported and helped us throughout this process.
Premiering at Moving in November, To follow your tail is the first examined part of Aaltonen’s artistic doctoral research. Conducted at the Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, the research explores dancers’ practices of performing with nonhuman animals.
Eläinsuojelukeskus Tuulispää is a sanctuary for farmed animals rescued from the animal agriculture industry, founded in 2012 and located in Somero, Finland. Its mission is to provide individual animals with safety, care, and a meaningful life for the rest of their days. More than one hundred animals live at the sanctuary. All the animals have one thing in common: before coming to Tuulispää they had no place to go or they were about to lose their lives. Alongside its hands-on animal care, Tuulispää raises awareness of animal rights and works to improve the status of animals in society.
The work with the foxes Viima, Lumi, Sumu and Halla was carried out entirely on their terms. Within their spacious living area, each fox was always free to move away and choose not to participate. Throughout the process, Matilda learned to recognize each fox’s individual needs and interests.
