Beware, awareness and the beaver

​​

Be(a)ware butoh festival Helsinki

Festival was born from the necesity to continue bringing high quality Butoh professionals to perform and teach in Helsinki as well as to give working possibilities to professional Butoh dancers living in Finland.

​​​

Beware

Be(a)ware Butoh Festival will have a high quality program with amazing performers and teachers. Beware not to wait too long to get your ticket to performances and workshops since they will run out in few days after the ticket sale starts! 

​​​

About awareness

We live in the time of neoliberal world where nearly everything is on sale, the ground we walk on, water we drink and even the air we breath. Practicing Butoh, embodying nonhuman or more-than human creatures and realities creates greater awareness. We become aware not just about ourselves and other human beings around us but also about our surroundings and our place in the ecosystem and in the universe. Tuning physically into slower frequencies can bring us closer to the natural rhythms of the nature.

​​​​

About the beaver

When Butoh first landed in western world, both male and female Butoh dancers were invited from Japan in an equal amount. After few first years curated individuals were mostly (half)naked thin Japanese male dancers. This stereotype of Butoh body is still very much alive today. Be(a)ware Butoh Festival invites dancers from all over the world in all sizes, colours, ages, shapes, abilities and genders. 

​

The founding busy beaver of the festival is Artistic director Minja Mertanen. She is a Helsinki-based dance and performance artist. She has graduated as a dance teacher, dance movement therapist, yoga instructor and somatic movement therapist. Mertanen has been active in the Reality Research Centre, Pluckhouse and Other Spaces as well as in free dance ensembles. Mertanen has specialised in butoh for over 20 years, she has been teaching and performing in 20 countries.

​

​​