Dance: Minja Mertanen & Rocío Batafurai

Wide-awake red mice,

waiting for the silence.

A voice within the body, whispering places into the silhouette.

Bodies screaming without a voice, buildings shattering, and a litany.

Why broken voices? Screaming too much—yet never having screamed.

All the voices inside the body; there is no way out.

All the screams of the world inside me.

Do I carry the screams of my ancestors in my cells?

Minja Mertanen has graduated as a dance teacher, dance-movement therapist, yoga instructor, and somatic movement therapist. From 2026, she will study a Master’s degree in Dance Pedagogy at the Theatre Academy. Mertanen has worked actively with the Reality Research Center and Bluckhouse, as well as in independent dance collaborations. She has specialized in Butoh for over 20 years, teaching and performing it in 20 countries. She co-founded the Why Butoh Festival in Turku and Be(a)ware Butoh Festival in Helsinki, where she serves as the artistic director.

Rocío Batafurai is a choreographer, dancer, art curator, visual artist, and movement researcher based in Spain. Her creative practice is deeply fascinated by organic architecture and natural soundscapes, exploring stage dialogues and the poetic atmosphere of materials as the primary sanctuary for humankind.

She investigates the consciousness of space from a minimalist perspective, heavily rooted in the Japanese artistic principles of emptiness and continuum with nature. She has studied video editing, Japanese Sumi-e painting, and performative canvas work, presenting her short-form videodance pieces at international festivals worldwide.

More info: https://ciabatafurai.wordpress.com/ratones-coloraos-o-the-broken-voices/