Height: 162 (5’3’’)
Hair colour: dirty blond
Eye colour: grey
Skills
Languages: Russian (native), English & Finnish (fluent), Spanish (intemediate), Japanese & Swedish (basic)
Performing: devising, improvisation, physical theatre, staged violence, performance art, site-specific, interactive performing
Dance: butoh, contemporary, lindy hop, pole dance
Sports: rock-climbing (top rope card), calisthenics, acrobatics (basics), kayaking, surfing, cycling, swimming
Other: photography (vocational degree), audio/video editing (Adobe Audition and Premier), workshops facilitator, producer, translator (English/Finnish - Russian)
Katia Skylar
Actress (FIA) • Performance maker • Butoh dancer
Katia Skylar is an actress (FIA), performance maker, butoh dancer, and fight performer based in Helsinki (Finland) and well connected internationally. Katia’s artistic projects are grounded in research processes, while her scholarly and pedagogical work draws from her background in the performing arts and photography. Her recent body of work prominently explores themes of listening and empathic communication in the forms of site-specific performances and immersive audience experiences, such as Mundane.Magic, a collective performance-journey (Tallinn/Viimsi 2024), Concordia, a gentle butoh intervention in EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art (2022), Presence Y, a site-specific performative research of presence (Helsinki, 2021 & Peniche, Portugal/ Compostival, 2022). Katia values horizontal collaboration in non-hierarchical settings, she creates through devising, tender border-crossing, radical listening, multi-linguality and body-driven approaches. Katia also facilitates movement and spoken word workshops.
Katia’s artistic projects have been funded by TAIKE (Arts Promotion Centre Finland), the Cities of Helsinki and Espoo, the Finnish Institute in Estonia (pARTir initiative - NextGeneration EU) and by the European Union and the Goethe-Institut (Culture Moves Europe).
As a performer and an actress, Katia has featured in dance, theatre and performance art productions, short films, tv-series and audio projects. She also co-hosted a podcast called Besedka s Akcentom / Беседка с акцентом (2019-2022).
Memberships
Selected Credits
Stage & Performance
Spring Breeze – a butoh performance | dir. Ken Mai, choreography assistant | Pasilan Naapuruusviikko / Pasila Library (Helsinki, 2025)
Mundane.Magic | director and performer | Viimsi Artium and Tallin public spaces (Tallinn & Viimsi, Estonia, 2024)
Sidebar of Shame | performer | dir. Elo Järv | Viimsi Artium (Viimsi, Estonia, 2024)
Puff-puff-puff and off you go – an audiowalk | Co-created with Misia Żurek | Series of performative audiowalks And Now You Are Here in Kunstihoone (Tallinn, 2024)
Border Crossing | Solo | Kunsthaus Jägermeister (Helsinki, 2023)
Naiste Ballaadid | movement & choreography | dir. Marion Sellgal |EMTA Kontserdi- ja Teatrimaja (Tallinn, 2023)
Identity Cabaret DRAG SHOW | Joanna | dir. Jüri Nael | Sakala 3 theatre (Tallinn, 2022)
Ladies (mini) | Mermaid-Medusa | butoh dance for guitar compositions, with a guitarist Yunjia Liu | Helsinki Butoh Festival (2022)
Amusing Tensions | devised by a GAP Lab working group | GAP summit (Helsinki, 2022) & Viinatehdas /Manilla /Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland (Turku, 2022)
Concordia | Dir. Ken Mai | Emma – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (Espoo, 2022)
Presence Y | Solo | Globe Art Point (Helsinki, 2021) & Compostival (Peniche, Portugal, 2022)
Process KH-211011 | Inner voice | devised with Hanna Kalo | Ekata Theatre (Helsinki, 2021)
Utopia (On Empathy) | Dancer | dir. Sari Palmgren/ Zodiak (Helsinki, 2021)
Get Down from There – and Other Remarks | Girl in yellow | dir. Jukka Tarvainen | Zodiak (Helsinki, 2021)
The Taste of Remembrance | Cristal woman | devised with a cellist Laura Martin | Helsinki Butoh Festival (2020)
Descansos | Video-performance co-created with Maria Bayat | Quantum Critic, International Contemporary Art Exhibition (Helsinki & St Petersburg, 2020)
Thin Red Line | Co-created with Maria Bayat | Edwina Goldstone’s exhibition “MOTHER – a thin red line” | Gallery Myymälä2 (Helsinki, 2020)
My Body. My Rebellion & Body Experience(d) – series of performances | dir. UtoUto | Gallery Myymälä2 (Helsinki, 2019)
Dazed | dir. Petra Haapio | Festival Night of Arts & Eve’s Ribs Festival (St Petersburg, 2019)
Body Interrupted I & II | Tanya | dir. UtoUto duo | Höyhentämö theatre & Cultural Centre Caisa (Helsinki, 2018 & 2019)
Cosas y Tiempo | Co-created with Lucía Sánchez | Festival NUN Local (Vigo, Spain, 2018)
Rave | guide | dir. Blaue Frau | SIC space (Helsinki, 2016)
Film & TV
Voodoo | Alice | dir. Abiola Washington | Kino Euphoria (2021), Tampere Film Festival 2022
City People Shapes | Model | dir. Silvija Bumbak | Kino Euphoria (2021), Tampere Film Festival 2022
Hjärnparasiten | Svetlana | dir. Tomas von Kantzow | Arcada graduation film (2022)
Luottomies (Wingman) | Border guard Polina | dir. Kari Ketonen | YLE Draama (2020)
Music video
YUM | She egg, stunt | dir. Carlos Lesmes | GØK2 (Tallinn, 2024)
Bubble Gum Masha feat. Pris.Juno | dir. Masha Mistercat | Kino Euphoria (Helsinki, 2021)
Voice
Winged Stories - Ice Show | dir. Varvara Shumova | Kauniainen Ice Rink (2021)
Fairy-tales for girls | Audiobook | Femitales.pro/ Helsinki Open Waves (2020)
Training & Certifications
MA in Contemporary Physical Performance Making | Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, 2022-24
MA in Culture and Arts / Media Management | Arcada University of Applied Sciences (Finland) & Escola Superior de Arte Dramática de Galicia (Spain), 2016-19
Intro to Motion Capture Acting | The Mocap Vaults/ Bones Studio (Poland), 2023
Nordic Stage Fight Society certifications: unarmed, broad sword, single rapier, quarterstaff, sword and shield, 2021-25
Fighting for Screen | Nigel Poulton (Nordic Stage Fight Society), 2021
Linklater Voice Work | Tuuli Nilsson, 2021-22
Voice work | Amanda Stephens-Lee, Felicity Jurd (StageMilk Scene Club), 2020-21
Acting In a Foreign Language | Cécile Orblin (Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, Finland), 2020
Suzuki Method and View Points | Yuko Takeda, 2018
Butoh Dance | training with Ken Mai, since 2016