During the days of October 22nd to November 3rd is happening a Butoh Festival in between the cities of Basel (a cute Swiss town by the borders of Germany and France) and Freiburg (a very student-friendly and happy town in the midst of the Black Forest). This is a bold initiative by Flavia Ghisalberti, Anna Ganzoni and Lucie Bertz to decentralize this art form from the main capitals in Europe, such as Berlin and London, and to bring a breath of life into the butoh scene by inviting young dancers, mobilizing the local community and facilitating the creation of a fresh, colourful and creative network of butoh dancers, students, artists in general, audience and and media.
I experienced the last days of the festival in Basel and now trying to participate more effectively in the Freiburg phase of it. Despite the festival being a small scale one and with no much resources, a more intimate, friendly and hospitable atmosphere make all the difference and that turns out to be very positive, and not a limitation.
Workshop are placed along the afternoons and are mostly facilitated for the artists who are performing in the evenings and were invited for the festival not only from this reagion but from all over the world: emphasizing the presence of the Japanese dancers Yuko Ota, Maki Watanabe and Ghyohei Zaitsu; and the Russians Grigory Glazunov and Natalia Zhestovskaya, and Europeans such as: Lucie Bertz, Flavia Ghisalberti, Frank Heierli, Marianella Leon Ruiz, Albrecht Joseph, Peter Damian, Beni Weber, Taca, Christian Stuenbner, Gaetan Sataghen, Enzio Tangini and Alexander Wenzlik.
The effort of Flavia, Lucie and Anna have to be acknoledged, I just have to congratulate them for it has been a success so far and a promising event for next editions. I came to volunteer, see the performances and attend some of the workshops, but ended up meeting old butoh friends and making new ones. Let the network be human, let people dance, let BUTOH OFF Festival be a success.
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