Staging of the “Körper-Kunst-Kultur” Festival in Heidelberg

The following is an excerpt from the media report on the festival:

Why this festival?

“The festival aims to use dance and art to spark people's curiosity about other cultures and bring them closer together, regardless of age, nationality, or skin color,” says Evelyne Krüger-Maitrel about her concept for body art culture. Together with director Isabella Freilinger, the festival became a reality: “We wanted to inspire people to awaken their own creativity, to think outside the box, and to exchange ideas with each other.”

Dance, cinema & discussions

For two days, the world was danced around with workshops in contemporary dance, hip-hop, combo dance, Afro-Caribbean jazz, and classical ballet. Throughout the day, music from many eras and countries rang out from the Bürgersaal, including European classical, American jazz, Caribbean rhythms, and Latin American beats. Dancers Médelice Ode-Krüger Maitrel, Katharina Geyer, and Evelyne Krüger-Maitrel taught their individual dance styles to the enthusiastic audience. In the evening, the “creative cinema” was something very special. This was because it was as much about interaction and exchange among the audience as it was about watching films together.

Enthusiastic audience

“Finally, we're really talking to each other again. There are so few spaces for real exchange,” said Susanne, a press officer from Heidelberg. “I traveled here from Berlin especially for the festival. My friends and I immediately asked if there would be more events like this. We would come back right away!” said Felicitas, a doctoral student.

The audience included people of all ages, from families with children to senior citizens. Among them was Vivienne: “I had certain expectations. But my expectations were exceeded.” “The people here are all about community, and you can tell,” beams Helga, an entrepreneur. “Just an incredibly beautiful weekend!” concludes Lawen, an actor.

Dance workshops from a wide variety of cultures

In keeping with the festival's name, these were not simple dance lessons, but dance journeys. Through dance, participants learned the basis of certain figures and movements in the respective dances, but above all their cultural origins. According to professional dancer and dance teacher Katharina Geyer, the atmosphere in the workshops was “first-class.” Up to 30 participants attended each workshop.

Creative movie nights

The creative movie nights were something very special. The film could wait; first, under the guidance of Isabella Freilinger, the participants exchanged ideas on the topics of the short films that would be shown later and got to know each other better in the process. From the very beginning, the focus was on profound topics, not small talk. Listening was just as important as sharing one's own experiences with the topics. Before you knew it, you were right in the middle of the film. The preceding exchange of experiences made the films much more personal.

In “Sound of You,” members of the German City Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate meet other people from Ludwigshafen on a “blind date.” In the first part by Tyfanie and Daniel, for example, the questions “What is home,” “What drives you,” and “What gives you the strength to get back up and keep going” were discussed.

The four award-winning short films “Dance with Monsters,” “Water Wings,” “A Few More Things to Dislike You,” and ‘Muse’ also dealt with central themes such as “What can creativity achieve?”, “What is fear?”, “How far does despair go?” and “How long does true friendship last?”

The audience was not left alone with these topics after the films. In the subsequent panel discussion, the audience was able to ask the filmmakers all their questions directly. These questions concerned both the content and the background of the respective films. Mirko Vianello moderated the discussion.

“We wanted to try something new,” said Thorsten Hupperts and Mirko Vianello from the neighborhood association's board. “And it was worth it!” The concept by Evelyne Krüger-Maitrel (choreographer and director of the Académie de Ballet Heidelberg) and Isabella Freilinger (author, director, and actress) was gratefully accepted by the Bahnstadtverein.