“Make My Day” was a method based project about being exposed to various kinds of influences and impulses of daily life and other people. I think artists’ work is very much based on being exposed to these influences, but how to be more aware of it? And not to hide it? How to be more open for diverse, sometimes unexpected impressions? Or how to see what is just next to you? Moreover, I was curious how our daily life and routines affect our bodies. Most days we do things; stand in a bus or sit in front of a computer, we have techniques to carry shopping bags and open doors.

I asked four choreographers with different backgrounds to work with me. During the Spring and Summer of 2015 I had one-on-one workshops for three days with each of them. I had some suggestions as starting points for working together:

1. The choreographer creates a simple choreography for me (knowing I’m not a dancer but rather a performance artist)

2. If there is something the choreographer wants to test, I can be a guinea pig

3. Empty-table method, where we both take five elements on the table and we work with them

4. Something else

The deal was that the choreographer could use material we worked with in their further works and I would use our material to create the performance “Make My Day.”

The piece was meant to be a solo work but at the final stage of rehearsing I started to think about the practicalities of my daily life and realized that what has an effect on me most is my eleven year old son. Knowing his interest in performing I asked him to take part in my performance.

So, in the end it was a 50-minute length performance. There were two of us on stage. I was talking about the stage as a place, telling stories of daily life, polishing my toenails, trying to pose as cool as hip hop guys do, walking in my white boots and carrying bags while listening to Elton John’s “Sacrifice” and crawling and chatting with my son. My son was sitting in an armchair, reading comics and eating his packed lunch. In the end he had a solo he made by himself, wearing my white boots.