b12 Berlin Festival for Contemporary Dance: Week 2 Diary
Daily musings from a dancer.
Photo by Lonely Girl, Lonely World.
b12 Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance Art (officially stylized in all lowercase) is an annual dance festival every July in Berlin, Germany. A training ground for professional-level dancers, the Festival offers more than 70+ research workshops, along with somatic, yoga, and outreach classes; free improv sessions; performance projects; and more. Their slogan is, “Research or die.”
I attended b12 from July 1 - 28, 2024.
Dancers come from all over the world to attend b12. It’s one of the most comprehensive dance festivals in the world. But what is it actually like? From the head and experience of an extroverted-introvert dance artist from Canada, solo in Berlin, here’s my story:
Past Weeks:
Week 1: b12 Berlin Festival for Contemporary Dance: Week 1 Diary
Week 2: July 7 - 13, 2024.
July 7 — Wow! I feel amazing. Truly.
First workshop of the month is Davide Bonetti’s “Smooth Criminal.”
Went in a bit nervous but mostly in an excited way, and thankfully, the class was a great introduction to some floor techniques and acrodancing. (Also, who doesn’t love when everyone is confused about the studio location together? I’m not the only one!)
Double thankful that we weren’t made to do handstands or tricky tricks off the bat.
Davide is an amazing, patient teacher. He really knows how to deconstruct a sequence to allow for maximum understanding of motion and momentum.
Opening circle: who’s coming from far away (me!), what do we think acrodance is? No one has defined it yet; there’s no right or wrong answer. It comes from circus, when circus artists needed a way to perform circus tricks on a hard floor (even a dance studio floor) safely (because there are no bouncy gymnastics flooring in other performance spaces).
We explored stretch sequences, level 1 (on the ground) sliding floor variations, forward and backward shoulder rolls (contralateral vs. ipsilateral and reverse). Note: Levels 1 - 4 refer to from floor to standing. We also explored improvisational sequences (the “research” part of b12’s slogan, “research or die”) with the rolls we learned, diving in and out of the floor without using our hands.
More specifics on what we learned in the workshop coming soon.
Joke of the day: frustration. Working with frustration. It can help you. Remember it’s about practice. The more you practice it, the easier it gets.
I met a lot of cool dancers (surprisingly, most of them from North America and, namely, New York), I felt super comfortable already in the studio.
Afterwards, I went to a Kpop class at DANCEWORKS Berlin. I ended up leaving half an hour early because I was so hungry and needed rest, but it was nice to experience another dance studio in the city.
Not bad for a first day, not bad at all.
July 8 — Despite the awesome energy of yesterday, I knew today we’d ramp it up a bit, and I’d probably be more frustrated (haha).
I was right.
Today we introduced level 2, with a choreographic sequence involving breakdancing elements (hooks and spins) that had a lot of people’s frustration levels going up.
We tried it with hardcore, heavy music for the first bit and then slower music for the second. The slower music definitely allowed for more time to “organize” my body more coherently to figure out the next move. Davide says he really has to focus when he’s doing fast-paced movements.
Some people are soooo good, OMG.
Topics: stretch sequence, sliding floor variations (elbow pop/twinge ow!), hooks and spins.
Research improv: slowness and stillness, with speed variations.
Joke of the day: “sloneliness” XD
I felt a strange twinge in my elbow during the warmup today; it felt like a nerve was pinched. Fortunately it relaxed after a while, and I continued class without any problems, but it’s always distressing when a new injury you’ve never had before comes on.
Went grocery shopping 2x in a row again to make myself a nice, high-protein dinner. My turkey turned out ok! Add that to my list of accomplishments.
July 9 — Woke up feeling pretty energized, actually. Limbs still limber, have been since workshops started. I think the constant movement is helping knead that fascia out.
Hustle from now on: 9 AM - 4:30 PM every day for the next 2 weeks, with the introduction of Oleg Stepanov’s performance project for another sorts of little deaths.
The performance project rehearsal today was super chill, most talking and reflecting on questions, with a structured improv at the end.
Davide’s workshop introduced level 3 (standing).
Topics: shifting of weight (across the floor variations in pikes and handstands) and cartwheel variations using the concepts of contralateral vs. ipsilateral and reverse. Also explored choreographic methods to “keep the direction going” (i.e. flow) and how to find the most functional route to the next move.
Concepts: Feel instead of think; the body knows what to do; organic movement.
July 10 — Woke up feeling tired and sleepy. Body still exhausted from yesterday.
Rehearsal was an emotional one for me today. We devised our own texts and responses to certain prompts and shared them out loud. I cried during mine; I couldn’t help it. I was feeling tender all morning. What is another sort of little death? What is something that is bothering you right now?
We had 45 minutes to do whatever we wanted in response to this, so I made notes and took photos of the greenery outside and took 10 minutes to myself to just lounge in a chair outside, the sun on my face, feeling, This is a moment I will never get back in the same way again, another sort of little death.
I felt re-energized by the end of rehearsal and ready for the next workshop.
We continued working on level 3 (standing moves) in Davide’s workshop, from a one-handed bridge to a macaco, with possible progressions and regressions.
I was sweating buckets, like a waterfall! A fly kept buzzing back to land on me. I guess my pheromones were smellin’ real good.
July 11 — We learned bits and pieces of everyone else’s improv from the first day. It felt awkward, like they didn’t fit right on my body. I’m sure everyone else felt the same. Hopefully it gets better with time and practice.
Today’s “Smooth Criminal” workshop was about exploring different “tasks” and ways that can affect our movement, rather than technique moves. Apparently we’re not going to progress to level 4 (in the air), in order to focus more on the possibilities of what we have right now.
I got into a very meditative state from the almost 1 hour (!!!) second-position base exploration/research we did, where we fixed ourselves in second position at first and used our arms and torso according to various prompts. I really liked it; the music helped too with its simplistic, constant beat.
Afterwards, I treated myself to some matcha tea and banana bread at Kiez Kaffee Kraft down the road. On the way home, I accidentally missed my stop, which led me to exploring a random mall’s toilet before hopping back on the right train home.
July 12 — Our performance piece is starting to come together! Our choreographer has some crazy (and funny) ideas for audience interaction. Things are looking alive. I really like the voice and text aspects involved.
I really felt bonded with the group in Davide’s workshop today. We had some really real emotional connections between partners, and he facilitated a beautiful ending to his 6-day workshop: dancing for pleasure. We ran in a circle around the room with no intention whatsoever but to just dance and let it all out: the joy, the frustration, everything. I ran into the middle with so much happiness and lithe.
And, as a bonus, we filmed a crazy TikTok for Davide.
Remember: [dance] for the pleasure.
It was truly a pleasure.
July 13 — I can’t feel my [legs] when I’m with you… in this workshop.
Oh, gosh. I literally can’t feel my legs anymore after that session. What did I sign myself up for? Evangelos Poulinas’s “Antigravity” is hardcore, to say the least. It’s floorwork contemporary in a very acrodance style, and I’ve never been an acro kid.
I had a dinner date with some fellow b12-ers at Takumi NINE plus the student performance to watch later that night. I’d only had a slice of apple pie to eat all day until dinner, since I live an hour away from eden***** studios and didn’t have time to make or catch breakfast before class. I was so hungry.
A frazzled day for me, no doubt.
BUT! Things have a strange way of coming around. After the show, I unexpectedly ran into a few Toronto colleagues from the dance scene as well as an old high school classmate I hadn’t seen in 8 years!. The funny thing is, it seems like none of the Toronto dancers knew we were each going to be here, unlike the New York dancers, who came here almost in a group.
It never ceases to amaze me how the world is so large and so small at the same time.
Week Summary: Week 2 definitely brought some new challenges, as well as new — or old — connections. Friend outings are starting to be made, and everyone is more familiar with each other.
Photo by Lonely Girl, Lonely World.