Fine Art Photographer, Visual Artist, Butoh Dancer and Teacher, Health Qigong Instructor

Osku Leinonen, a freelance artist living in Tampere, Finland, is a versatile trainer and stage artist specializing in applied theatre. At heart, Leinonen is a Butoh dancer and instructor who shares knowledge of this humane and intriguing form of performance, especially in Finland, where it remains relatively unknown. In addition, Leinonen has a background in physical theatre performance.

My work explores photography as a contemplative and artistic practice, merging movement, stillness, and memory. Through self-portraits, small landscapes, and abstract impressions, I create images that balance clarity and mystery. Each piece becomes a visual poem—an invitation to pause, reflect, and rediscover beauty in overlooked moments of life.

Education & Early Training

Physical Theatre Foundation

Leinonen attained his physical theatre credentials by working and training at The Mime Centre’s Total Theatre Training program run by Adam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik in 2004–2005 in Helsinki. He was also a private student of Adam Darius for several years. In addition, he spent several years practicing acrobatics at Circus Helsinki.

Academic Background

After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Services in 2000, Leinonen worked part-time at orphanages and juvenile homes, in addition to his artistic pursuits. He also holds a Bachelor of Culture and Arts. Performance art and social work have permanently become intertwined, supporting and enriching each other. According to Leinonen, both fields involve encountering people, interacting with them, and deepening one’s knowledge of oneself.

Professional Performance & Theatre Work

PerformanceSirkus (2002–2008)

From 2002 to 2008, Leinonen worked in PerformanceSirkus, a multi-artistic professional theatre group, spending five years immersed in street theatre, mask theatre, contemporary mime, children’s theatre, drama pedagogy, and circus theatre. The group specialized particularly in street theatre, a unique phenomenon in Finland. In addition to performing, Leinonen also handled directorial and production duties and trained new performers.

Butoh Training & Performance

In 2007, Leinonen was acquainted with the Butoh dance. At the beginning of 2008, he began training and performing at the St. Petersburg-based Odddance Theatre in Russia and Finland, working with Natalia Zhestovskaya and Grigory Glazunov. His understanding of Butoh has been inspired by Masaki Iwana, Katsura Kan, Atsushi Takenouchi, Aki Suzuki, and Ken Mai.

In 2009, Leinonen and visual artist Masha Salangina established the independent professional theatre group butoh.name Mythopoetic Theatre, which was later renamed MO Theatre. The duo performed in multiple shows and short films in Finland and Russia.

Teaching Philosophy

Leinonen began teaching Butoh soon after discovering the form. He felt that Butoh was similar to what he had been pursuing throughout his experiments and experiences, and what he had already felt was necessary when performing and training others. Specifically, Butoh has heightened his understanding of the principles of movement, especially the inner movement of the body. It has also made the equality and simultaneity of body, mind, time, energy, and space more approachable.

“Over the years, I neared my notion or, perhaps even type, of slow acrobatics, which in hindsight, bears many resemblances to Butoh: I strive to efface the doer, that strange me, and the act. With slowness, I try to melt away shape so that the technical execution of movements, the trick itself, ceases to exist. I try to dissociate myself from performing and being watched and move towards just being and the occurrence of the moment, thereby combining experience and intention. I aimed towards not-self in the art and the act, so the interaction, the connection with the audience, their world, and life story, would be as clear and unpredictable as possible.”