Johanna Laakkonen has worked as a senior lecturer in theatre research and holds a title of docent at the University of Helsinki. Currently, she is Director of the Theatre Museum in Helsinki, which in 2020 became a museum with national responsibility for performing arts, maintaining the national collection of Finnish theatre, dance, opera, circus and live art. In order to make the cultural heritage of theatre and dance known nationwide, the Theatre Museum conducts its exhibition activities not only in its own premises, but also through touring exhibitions, collaboration projects and online exhibitions.

Johanna’s fields of research include theatre and dance. Her research mainly focuses on the history of Finnish ballet and Finnish women dancers as part of the transnational networks of modern dance in the 1920s and 1930s. Beyond that, her research interests range from canon formation, theatre dance and dance in Finland to early 20th century Russian ballet and early modern dance in German-speaking Europe.