Thursday 16th
“ZERO” the Essence before Existence
Concept and dance: Andrea Casallas (Yakwa Dance)
Zero is the hidden inner power, like the root of every expression. It embodies the circle and symbolizes wholeness, the infinite without beginning or end.
It was Indian thinkers who no longer saw zero or “Shunya” (nothingness) as passive nothingness, but rather as the essential or living. “Shunya is both the origin and the end, the essence before existence. “Where is my true essence, the essence that gives me the power to exist? what are my real roots, the roots that give me stability? Zero explores the roots and origins of our existence.
Andrea Casallas is the founder of “Yakwa Dance,” a dancer and ethnopedagogue from Colombia.
She has been living in Switzerland since 2007. Since 2005, she has been intensively involved in Butoh dance and has trained with renowned teachers such as Yumiko Yoshioka, Tadashi Endo, Atsushi Takenoushi, Susana Reyes, Susanne Daeppen, and Minako Seki.
Andrea has found in Butoh dance the perfect channel to develop an authentic and radical dance form that offers her an infinite palette for creative expression that transcends material form. In her pieces and performances, Andrea explores themes such as birth and death, femininity, visible and invisible structures, fragility and strength, archaism and modernity, always based on deep physical, sensory, emotional, and philosophical research that supports these themes and translates them into a unique and personal dance language.
Andrea has received the Off-Stage Scholarship 2016, Förderazekt 2021, and CicaS scholarships from the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. These scholarships have enabled her to conduct research in the field of Butoh dance and ethnic dances in South America.