- Hello Ilona! How are you?
- I am fine. I am very busy with the play, naturally. For example last weekend was only rehearsals for me. Saturday morning dance practice at Kisahalli, in the afternoon play reading in Vantaa. Sunday, first dance rehearsals in Kamppi, then promo shooting in Tikkurila. But I am not complaining, I am having the time of my life! Our team is great. We are having a blast together.
- Are you nervous about anything?
- Sure, one is always worried about whether we will get everything done in time. The performance is approaching and so many things yet need to be done. But I wouldn’t be too nervous. That might ruin the whole thing.
Music has always been a big part of Ilona’s life: she has played the flute and has had some singing practice. She went to the Vaskivuori Upper Secondary School, which is known to have Music and Dance Curriculums for students. That is when she really got into dancing. She performed singing, playing and dancing in several musical theatre productions of her school. After she graduated, it was clear dancing would become something very important and special for her.
For many years Ilona took oriental dance lessons. She had always been very fond of Bhangra music, and last year, when she found out about the Bhangra dance lessons of the Bolly Beat Dance School, she immediately signed up for them. That is how she became part of the Bolly Beat Dancers, and later, of ”Ek Kahani”.
- That is right. When I hear Bhangra, I can’t stop dancing! Ilona laughs.
- Well there is a Bhangra number in ”Ek Kahani”. Is it your favourite scene in the play, Ilona?
- Oh, I do like it. But perhaps I like even better the dance sequence between the two main characters. That is their song, which takes place when they first realize they are in love. It also is a kind, gentle parody of such Bollywood –scenes where the leading couple suddenly dances in the mountains that came out of nowhere, in costumes that came out of nowhere. We picked a famous and sentimental song for it. It is a fantasy sequence, obviously, which takes place only in their imagination. I like the way in which we will do the transition between reality and imagination. And the whole scene is very nicely done.
- What do you feel like when dancing?
- Dance is very essentially linked to music. It is fascinating to start to understand the structure and even the very feelings of music through dancing. For me, dancing means that the mind and the body are joined in a creative play.
- ”Ek Kahani” is based on your and your husband’s love story. Does it feel weird to act a character based on youself?
- From the very beginning, it was very clear that the character of Elisa and myself as a real person are not the same. With our director, Reetta Flink, we have worked on this. Elisa might have some common traits with me, but mainly because they fit that kind of character. We have made up a whole life for her. She studies South Indian Studies, and therefore knows a lot about India and starts talking to Amit [the other protagonist]. I myself study Arabic language and Islamic studies. I didn’t know much about India in the beginning, but my major still tells about me being open towards new and different cultures. Compared to me, Elisa is more shy and timid. She is kind of a bookworm.
Ilona works together with Reetta Flink and Sivakumar Karuppusamy for Bollywood Frost Entertaiment. Their aim is to bring Indian culture to Finland (and they are doing a fairly good job!). Ilona thinks that ”Ek Kahani” is an event celebrating multiculturalism, which is very important in this globalized world.
Text by: Laura Kunnas
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