Welcome to HALO !
HALO brings together Estonian choreographer-performer Teet Kask and Estonian voice-violist Kristjan Kannukene.
HALO is a contemporary dance and music performance created as part of the innovative series Life Dances for Eternity at Niguliste Museum and inspired by the timeless message of the medieval masterpiece Dance Macabre, created in the 15th-century workshop of Bernt Notke. Choreographer Teet Kask and composer-musician Kristjan Kannukene have created a poetic dialogue between movement and sound, exploring the boundaries between life and death, light and darkness, transience and awakening.
Rather than approaching mortality with fear, HALO invites reflection on impermanence as a path toward deeper awareness and understanding of life. The title derives from the Ancient Greek word meaning “disc,” or “divine aura,” symbolizing the inner light awakened through human consciousness of mortality.
Blending contemporary performing arts with the symbolic power of medieval imagery, HALO transforms historical heritage into a deeply immersive and meditative experience. The performance is designed as a living artistic form — continuously evolving in response to each performance space and the ongoing creative development of its two performers.
Teet Kask is an acclaimed Estonian born director, choreographer, educator, and performer whose interdisciplinary work bridges ballet, contemporary dance, physical theatre, opera, and visual dramaturgy. Known for combining strong physicality with poetic imagery and conceptual depth, he has created productions for major theatres and festivals nationally and internationally, collaborating across dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.
Kask’s artistic language is deeply influenced by mythology and sacred narratives, particularly parables and allegories, which he reinterprets through a contemporary lens to explore moral, philosophical, and spiritual questions. His work often examines the relationship between body, ritual, transformation, and collective memory, merging movement, narrative, and visual symbolism into immersive performative experiences.
Alongside his artistic practice, Kask has played an active role in arts education and cultural leadership, including serving as creative director and leadership group member of Tallinn College of Music and Ballet (MUBA) and as visiting lecturer at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT). His work consistently challenges conventional boundaries between artistic disciplines while seeking new forms of embodied contemporary expression.
Kristjan Kannukene contributes a sonic dimension that moves between music, voice, and ritual. Trained across Europe and working at the intersection of sound, performance, and visual symbolism, his practice transforms the viola and voice into a single expressive instrument.
His music is not accompaniment but presence responding to movement in real time, shaping atmosphere, and opening emotional resonance. Drawing on sacred and primal impulses, Kannukene’s soundscape amplifies the performers physical dialogue, making the invisible breath, tension, memory audible.
Touring-friendly, adaptable to theatres and festivals
The length of the performance can be adjusted according to the needs of the event (15-45 min.)
There are no special requirements for light design
Suitable for black-box, alternative, and site-specific venues
Language-free, intimate contemporary performance
Please include proposed dates, venue type, technical context, and programming focus.
Less friction = more bookings.
HALO performance is presented in partnership with the St. Nicholas Museum and supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.
Header and performers photos are by photographer © Stanislav Moshkov. Image carousel by photographer © Kalev Lilleorg. Videos by © Mart Anderson.
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