b12 Berlin Festival for Contemporary Dance: Week 3 Diary
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: b12 Berlin Festival for Contemporary Dance: Week 2 Diary
Week 3: July 14 - 20, 2024.
July 14 — Still the same intense workshop as yesterday, only wayyyy more frustration on my part. Yesterday at least I could keep up, albeit with some struggling.
Today? I think my brain gave out before my body did. After that, it was over. I didn’t have the heart to continue by the 2-hour mark (of a 3.5-hour class), especially since the acro-flow sequences got harder and harder. Rolls and tucks I never learned how to do, even in my formal education as a dancer.
I wanted to sit out the first sequence already, but the teacher encouraged me to join the marking at least, so I did. And I ended up doing the sequence with music with them too. So, yay! But the next sequence…
I ended up stepping out to splash my face with cold water after catching myself before the tears started to run, and then let them run anyway outside, where I had some privacy.
It wasn’t just the class. It was the buildup of frustration and a lot of sadness from personal reasons. It tipped me over. Then I just relaxed in a hammock chair for half an hour in the warm afternoon sun, blue sky and clouds moving slowly overhead, trying to calm my nervous system down.
After I put myself together enough, I headed back to the studio to observe for the rest of class. Watching the others was inspiring, truly, and I asked to film one of them for a breakdown of the sequence later. Still, I couldn’t help being hard with myself, thinking, Should I really be here?
