Every three years, something extraordinary happens when Nordic drama pedagogues and international practitioners gather. This summer, Helsinki set the stage for Drama Boreale 2026, hosted by Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy under the evocative theme “Forces and F(r)ictions.”
It was three days of pure creative energy, rich academic dialogue, and deep human warmth. Huge gratitude goes out to the organizing committee, Uniarts Helsinki, FIDEA, and every volunteer who made us feel so welcomed and cared for from the moment we checked in.
The keynotes framed our days brilliantly. Nina Dahl-Tallgren challenged us to consider the becoming-with of performative pedagogy in compulsory education, while Katariina Numminen brought a poetically sharp perspective on play, gaps, interruptions, and the power of the spaces in-between. Both sets of ideas lingered in the air as we moved into the practical sessions.
Immersing in the Workshops
Stepping into the parallel sessions meant entering a rich landscape of creative possibilities. The sheer variety of pedagogical tactics, artistic tools, and reflective frameworks on display was astounding: each facilitator bringing their unique energy to the space. Capturing the full magic of these live, embodied experiences in words is almost impossible, but I hope my quick notes and descriptions do justice to the depth of work we shared together:
- Ann Karin Orset (Mask Work & Social Sustainability): We began in total silence, collectively adjusting scattered chairs to form a seamless, shrinking circle. We explored gaze dynamics, holding eye contact versus deliberately pulling away, before introducing physical stones. Giving, accepting, or declining a stone with full agency paved the way for neutral mask work, where we balanced raw animal instincts with absolute respect for mask protocol (always turning away from the audience when taking the mask on or off).
- Andrei Levent Atabay (Sensitivity and Inner Mask through Commedia dell’Arte): We grounded ourselves on the floor, letting maracas and wind chimes guide our physical responses to earth, rain, wind, and fire. Moving spontaneously as forest animals, we navigated hunger, curiosity, and threat. Selecting colorful masks, we held an internal, unshared monologue about what drew us to that specific piece before stepping into character.
- Åsa Backéus (Process Drama on Sámi History & Displacement): A deeply moving exploration of historical segregation and indigenous Sámi identity. Moving from childhood memories to council role-plays, Åsa used teacher-in-role to deliver a jarring government decree separating families. Standing in pairs as parents and children, we formed still images depicting the painful instant a child is sent away- a stark, sobering reminder of how drama brings historical injustice out of textbooks and directly into our bodies.
- Nóra Varga (Puppetry – The Performative Arts’ Gateway Drug): After shaking off the morning with a lively Hungarian hoppy dance, we brought ordinary plastic shopping bags to life with distinct personalities and movements. Working with scraps and rubbish, small groups constructed single, shared puppets while answering vulnerable reflective prompts about our teaching failures. We wove our private vulnerabilities into physical characters that eventually stepped out to meet one another.
- Åsa Helga Pröppe Ragnarsdóttir & Hákon Björnsson (You Mean a Woman Can Open It? Using Process Drama to Explore Gender Equality): Using a 1960s tomato sauce advertisement as our trigger, we built contrasting tableaux representing gender expectations “then and now.” The most striking realization came when we voiced our characters’ inner thoughts against their spoken dialogue, realizing with a quiet shock that despite decades of progress, so many unspoken societal pressures remain identical.
A Reconnection with my Finnish Sister
One of the absolute highlights of the conference was attending Moving Grammar, led by Nina Maunu.
Nina and I met a few years ago at an IDEA conference in Iceland, and over time she has officially become my “Finnish sister.” Watching her lead is a joy- her session was a true reflection of who she is: kind, deeply generous, and brimming with radiant energy.
She guided us through a method where we physically embodied language itself. We became living subjects, verbs, objects, and adverbial phrases, grouping together to construct mini-narratives for the rest of the room to decode. By blending self-exploration directly into the linguistic task, she showed how physicalizing grammar takes it out of abstract rules and anchors it into felt comprehension. What a gift that was!
Stepping into the Facilitator Circle
Delivering my own 60-minute workshop was an honor, particularly knowing the room was filled with seasoned drama experts and educators whose work I admire.
We wasted no time: we locked in our shared focus, worked rhythmically on vocabulary, and emptied a “bucket of imagination” for our introductions. From there, we launched into an interactive storytelling adventure built around one of my favorite Palestinian folk tales, “Milk Is For Milk And Water Is For Water.”
It’s a tale I often bring to conferences, but knowing the high level of experience in the room, I elevated the activities to match my audience. We bypassed the basics and pushed the drama deeper: inhabiting the characters, staging spontaneous encounters, spreading rumours through the space, and stepping right into the main character’s shoes to weigh his internal conflict before a crucial choice.
To watch this extraordinary group dive in with total openness, taking creative risks and generating brilliant, improvised offshoots in just one hour, what more could any facilitator ask for?
Looking Ahead
Stepping away from Drama Boreale, I am reminded that educational drama is so much more than putting on a play or rehearsing lines. It is a space for empathy, critical thought, historical reflection, and genuine human connection.
If you have never attended a conference like this, I hope you grant yourself the gift of experiencing one firsthand. When educators gather to move, take risks, and play together, the impact stays with us long after we return to our classrooms.