Mirva Mäkinen received her artistic doctorate in dance in 2018 entitled Artistic research on the values of contact improvisation in the framework of somaesthetic performance. She has been a dance teacher at Kallio High School since 2000 and has taught dance in 40 countries. Mäkinen has choreographed works for Zodiak – Centre for New Dance, Helsinki City Theatre, Ryhmäteatteri, Tampere Workers’ Theatre, and in the independent field. She has worked as a dancer in the Karttunen Kollektiv group, in works by Valtteri Raekallio, Joona Halonen and Mikko Orpana, Circo Aereo, EchoEcho dance group and in collaborative productions with Frey Faust.