Ahjolinna entered the Finnish National Opera Ballet School in 1959. In 1963, at the age of 17, he became a dancer with the
Finnish National Ballet, where by 1969 he achieved the status of a solo dancer. Ahjolinna also studied at the
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Leningrad, England, France, Hungary and the United States, and has embarked on numerous tours in Finland and abroad. As a choreographer, Ahjolinna began in 1984 with
Paavo Heininen's opera
The Damask Drum. He retired from ballet in 1993. Ahjolinna's roles have included, for example,
Khan Girey in
The Fountain of Bakhchisarai,
Crassus in
Spartacus,
Iago in
Othello, and the elderly mother
María Josefa in a ballet adaptation of
Lorca's
The House of Bernarda Alba. During the 1974–1975 season, he partnered with
prima ballerina Marianna Rumjantseva in
Swan Lake. He frequently collaborated with
Doris Laine, the Finnish National Ballet's late, influential prima ballerina and artistic director. Ahjolinna's spouse is ballerina and pedagogue Saga Eriksson. He is
Eastern Orthodox in his religious conviction. ==References==