CV (kinda)

Hanna Lappalainen (they/them)

I'm an Edinburgh-based performer, filmmaker, participatory art practitioner and (screen)writer

Or mayhaps a

Multidisciplinary artist

*polishes monocle*

Anyway

I split my time between a few different art forms

But my work continues to explore the same themes:

Identity, class, humour, unwritten rules.

I did my BA thesis on screendance and my MA in screenwriting. Over the years I've worked both behind and in front of the camera, taught screendance workshops, and my work has been screened at film festivals internationally.

I'm currently interested in working with community performers in dance film. The most recent project I did was a community dance film called Four Pieces on Being Seen, which we developed with LGBTQ+ participants in the spring of 2022, and which is currently touring festivals.

I perform when structures and my disabilities allow me to. My background is in postmodern dance and improvisation, which continues to be my main movement practice. I also do science communication and love performing for children. I recently toured in primary schools with a show aimed at 5-7-year-olds, and I can't think of anything more satisfying than the amount of joy they derived from me comically falling about on stage. "You were being quite silly", a lot of them said. They were not wrong