Friday 17th
Urban Dionysus
Alexander Wenzlik
Urban Dionysus transfers the mythological figure of Dionysus and his dance rituals from the natural world of antiquity to contemporary urban space. The central thesis is: We are all Dionysus. What possibilities do we have to break free from the normative and societal constraints of urban living spaces? How can we follow the longing for wildness and escape in order to connect with our own Dionysian qualities? Is an epiphany of Dionysus possible in the present?
A key focus lies in the dance work with a bull mask, which is closely linked to the figure of Dionysus. Dionysus is considered not only the god of dance but also the god of masks - a figure in constant transformation. Inspired by mask dancers such as Mary Wigman, Oda Schottmüller and Lavinia Schulz, I investigate how the body itself can become a mask, how masks can radically expand dance expression, and how they can open new spaces for the Dionysian in our modern world.
Alexander Wenzlik was educated in performance work at the Dance Vision Institute in Freiburg and as a dance educator at the Institute for Movement Studies and Dance Therapy in Munich. He found his artistic home in Butoh dance 22 years ago. His key teachers include Stefan Maria Marb, Alessandro Pintus, Tadashi Endo, Atsushi Takenouchi, Yoshito Ohno, and Zyia Azazi. Since 2012, he has been developing his own stage pieces, both solo and in collaboration with his partner Seda Büyüktürkler. Most recently, in 2024, he premiered the solo piece Dionyzoé – A Butoh Dance Myth at Theater schwere reiter in Munich (https://www.asperformance.de/dionyzoe/). In his work, Alexander Wenzlik seeks fruitful connections between Butoh and elements of contemporary dance. He is also particularly interested in exploring themes from Greek mythology.
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