Jorma Uotinen
Encyclopedia
Pori
Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region....
) is a Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
dancer, singer and choreographer. As a dancer and choreographer, Uotinen has worked both in many dance groups, both in and outside of Finland, since 1970. He has received many Finnish and international awards and honours in his career.
He was a dancer with the Finnish National Ballet
Finnish National Ballet
Finnish National Ballet is a professional ballet company at the Finnish National Opera, in Helsinki, Finland. The company was founded in 1922 and it currently employs 73 dancers. It is the only Finnish company that regularly performs a classical ballet repertoire...
1970-1976, and in 1976 he was invited by director Carolyn Carlson
Carolyn Carlson
Carolyn Carlson is an American contemporary dance choreographer and performer. She is of Finnish descent.She is the director of the 'Centre Chorégraphique National' in Roubaix and of the 'Atelier de Paris' at 'La Cartoucherie de Vincennes' in Paris.She was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts...
to join the Groupe de reserche Theatrales at l'Opera de Paris, where he worked until 1980. He has worked as artistic director in the Helsinki City Theatre dance group (1987–1990), at the Finnish National Ballet (1992–2001) and the Kuopio Dance Festival (2000-). He has successfully made use of his international connections in directing these institutions, e.g. by inviting Sylvie Guillem
Sylvie Guillem
Sylvie Guillem CBE is a French ballet dancer. She was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She is currently performing contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's...
to stage her version of Giselle at the Finnish National Ballet in 1998.
After an active career as a dancer, Uotinen has moved to perform by singing.
Uotinen was a judge in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons of Tanssii tähtien kanssa, the Finnish version of Dancing With the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
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Uotinen is bisexual. He was married to Helena Lindgren.
Uotinen is UNICEF ambassador of good will. In 2007, he was a voiceover actor in Rottatouille, the Finnish version of Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
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