Gallery guide:
Dansbana! Amos Rex

Dansbana is open throughout the summer and free for everyone to use. Anyone can take to the floor and play their music from their own phone or device via Bluetooth from the speakers provided. The work can be used spontaneously by passers-by or reserved through our website. Come and dance, for fun, practice, or invite others to watch your performance — it’s up to you.

Both Sweden and Finland have a long culture of outdoor dance stages known as dansbana in Swedish and lavatanssit in Finnish. These are important meeting places for young adults, where people gather to dance, and where many romances have begun. Dansbana! expands on this tradition of public dance spaces, making room for all kinds of dancers and ways of experiencing dance right in the centre of Helsinki. 

Amos Rex will be presenting eleven dance performances at Dansbana! on Mondays from June and to August, as well as four traditional lavatanssit or dansbana dance events.

The greenery of Dansbana! was created in collaboration with InnoGreen.

The mounds  on Lasipalatsi square create a landscape that makes people move in unexpected ways. The pond-like dance floor is situated between these mounds, while three giant plant figures strike dance poses around it like a group of friends. 

The inspiration for the sculptural characters has been was mannerist garden design, which aimed to blur reality and fantasy by mixing natural elements with sculpted figures and included statues that appeared animated or alive.

The Dip

The dip is a dramatic dance move seen within the voguing culture where the dancer drops from a standing position onto their back with one knee bent and the other leg pointing into the air. Similar movements are also found within other dance styles, such as salsa, bachata, tango, ballroom, and country swing, where one partner supports and leads the following partner into a backward bend.

The Spin

A head spin is a signature breakdancing power move where the dancer uses momentum from their legs to create a spin in a headstand position, sometimes with legs or arms bent to create a variation on the movement. Head-standing movements are widely used within other dance styles, such as dancehall.

The Rest

Rest and recuperation are vital for dancers. The body and mind need time to repair, ant the brain needs to be able to process new techniques and choreography. Poses and freezes in characteristic resting positions are also present in many dance styles that use floorwork.

The Lock

Locking is a style of funk dance where the dancer freezes or ‘locks’ in a position and then continues the movement. Similarly to the origin on hip-hop, the creation of the locking dance style was closely linked to the civil rights movement in America. Another key move in locking is ‘point’. The locking character at the square is pointing towards the dance floor.

Planning a dance performance or event? Coming often to practice? Book a spot at the dance floor using this calendar.

Making your dance floor reservation

1. You can reserve the Dansbana! Amos Rex dance floor for free via this calendar. When you make a reservation, you will receive a confirmation e-mail.
2. Once you have a reservation, arrive at the Dansbana! Amos Rex dance floor when your booking begins.
3. Please note that not all dancers know Dansbana! can be reserved. If someone is dancing when your reservation begins, you may kindly tell them that you have a reservation and show them your confirmation e-mail.
4. Play music & dance. Press the button on the green plant sculpture and connect your device to the Dansbana! Bluetooth.

Amos Rex will be presenting eleven dance performances at Dansbana! on Mondays from June to August, as well as four traditional lavatanssit or dansbana dance events.

Three Swedish architects, Anna Fridolin, Anna Pang and Teres Selberg, created the organization Dansbana! to design public spaces for dance. Since the start of their operations in 2015, they have designed several site-specific dance spaces in Sweden, one in Istanbul and one in Ohio. The Dansbana! at Amos Rex is the first one they have created in Finland.

Many public spaces that are designed for exercising, such as skateboarding and parkour parks, are in large part used by boys. All in all, girls are heavily underrepresented as users of public spaces. The vision of the architects was to change that by designing spaces for dance in public spaces and in collaboration with young girls and local dancers in the design process. The design process at Amos Rex included a workshop where dancers and choreographers were invited to comment on the design.

With Dansbana! the architects also seek to expand the traditional outdoor dance spaces “lavatanssit” or “dansbana” to meet the demands and aspirations of today’s contemporary dance scene and public life.

Works by the organization Dansbana! include Rosa torget, Malmö 2025; Hjärtans källa – Dansbana! Fröslunda 2025, Dansbana! Akron – A public dance floor for all, Ohio 2022, Dansbana! ArkDes/Liljeholmen 2018/2021, Dansbana! Kalamis, Istanbul 2020, Dansbana! Södertälje 2018 and Dansbana! Vårby gård, 2016.