Dance workshop Volkstänze aus aller Welt conducted by Francis Feybli (Switzerland) & guest dance teachers

19 -21. 7. 2019., 19.00 Upper Town High School, Katarinin trg 5

Francis Feybli from Switzerland is a longtime associate of the International Folklore Festival and its first dance workshop leader. Since 1983, Feybli has been teaching dance within the workshops Dance with Us together with the members of the Group for International Folklore of the “Ivan Goran Kovačić” student ensemble, which Nenad Bićanić founded two years earlier with his help. The repertoire of the workshop includes the dance heritage of many nations, primarily European. Francis Feybli is also a great connoisseur of Croatian folklore. In addition to the dance workshop Dance with Us, conducted by Vido Bagur and Goran Ivan Matoš, Feybli also leads a day workshop for foreign and domestic participants, teaching Croatian dances and dances of other European nations.

At this year’s Festival, special guests at his workshops at the Upper Town High School are Bruna Piccazio (Brazil), and two students of postgraduate master studies (Choreomundus International Joint Master in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage), organized at four universities: Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Clermont Auvergne University in France, Hungarian University of Szeged and the University of Roehampton in the UK: Ximena Banegas (Bolivia) and Estefania Solórzano (Ecuador). At every workshop (from Friday to Sunday), along with the dances of various European countries, half an hour will be dedicated to the dances of Latin America – Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador!

Bruna Piccazio (Brazil) is a dancer and percussionist specialized in Brazilian folklore. She graduated from Campinas State University – Unicamp (São Paulo, Brazil). In 2015, the Brazilian National Art Foundation Funarte supported her project Inquietos, which promotes the relationship between music and dance and teaches about the modern and contemporary dance works of different genres (both foreign and Brazilian) that change the paradigms of art. In 2016, she led the performance by Lou Harrison Percussion in Motion for the first time in Brazil, in honor of the American composer and his music. She’s the author of the spectacles Fris Sound, Sound Skin and Sound Image, for which she has been awarded, and in which she creates sound costumes and sculptures inspired by the Brazilian folk dances.

She has taught classes in somatic learning, oriental dance techniques, butoh, Indian rhythmic techniques, rhythmic reading with Fernando Hashimoto, and more. Piccazio is the director of CODAPE, the Contemporary Percussive Dance Company, which she founded in 2015. She has danced and taught in contemporary dance ensembles for over 12 years in various parts of São Paolo.

Estefania Solórzano was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is a dancer and actress with ten years of professional experience. She studied Theater at Laboratorio Malayerba for three years and contemporary dance at Centro Cultural Sarao (La Fábrica, Cuerpo-Espacio) for eight years. Solórzano also obtained a degree in international business management from the Guayaquil University. She has participated in several workshops by various choreographers: Marcela Quintero (Colombia), a dancer with the Pina Bausch Company, Lisie Estarás (Argentina) from Les Ballets C de la B, as well as with David Zambran (Venezuela) and Jennifer Ocampo (Germany). As a dancer, she cooperated with Nathalie Elghoul, Gringa Danza and Omar Aguirre (Ecuador), as well as Jordan Klitzke (US). She has performed in theater plays, as a soloist, and at over twenty theater festivals in Latin America (Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Cuba). Solórzano is developing a project focused on persons with special needs and their caregivers in Ecuador, with the help of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. She has just finished a field research in Greece, where she has been studying the influence of the traditional Greek dances on dance techniques and choreography.

Estefania will present the Andarele, an Afro-Ecuadorian dance from the northern coast of Ecuador. Andarele is a traditional song and dance of the Esmeraldas region of Ecuador. It represents an Afro-Esmerald innovation with some contributions of the indigenous music and in a general way it is danced in parties and celebrations. The Andarele is one of the traditional rhythms of the Afro-Emerald people, which has its origins in the countryside, where it arose to celebrate its festivities; they were entertained with marimba, guitar, bombo, cununo and guasá. The Andarele has a polka and pasodoble influence, and is considered a classic dance.

According to the traditions, it is danced at the end of the festivities as a farewell, and can be classified as an Afro-Emerald creation. It also comes from the musical culture of the slaves that led to the province of Esmeraldas. It is sung by a soloist and a choir. It is usually played at the end of a celebration; a piece of end of party, hence his refrain ‘andarele vamonó’. His refrain is always repeated in chorus after each verse. It is one of the few dances of the Ecuadorian black repertoire in simple binary compass.

Ximena Purita Banegas Zallio was born in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She was involved in the filming of the TV show Unitoons as a child, which influenced her further learning of the traditional Bolivian dances. She has worked with several dance companies in Bolivia: Academia Canedo, Tentayape, Bellart and Danzarte, with whom she has won several awards at competitions. With the support of the Ministry of Culture of Bolivia, she has performed Bolivian folk dances on the stages in Brazil, Peru and Mexico, and was also chosen to represent Bolivia at the Li Po Chun United World College in Hong Kong. She traveled to North Korea as a Young Ambassador of Goodwill to connect the two countries. After obtaining an international diploma in Bolivia, Zallio graduated in art at Earlham College in the US, and performed at the festival Dance Alloy in Richmond, Indiana. She received the award “Escudo Cruceño” (2017) from the local government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra for the promotion and preservation of traditional dances during the Santa Cruz carnival. She specializes in Bolivian traditional dances. Zallio has researched at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington DC, as well as the Mediterranean traditions and creativity in Catalonia.

Ximena prepared the workshop about the Tinku dance from the Highlands of Bolivia and Dances from the Amazonic region of  Bolivia (Tauqirari).

Tinku is a ritualistic combat dance from the State of Potosí, Bolivia. The Tinku dance is a representation of a quechua tradition where a battle between two groups is simulated. This Festive Tinku dance carries a warlike rhythm. The Tinku is always present in the major festivals and parades of Bolivia. The dance movements are exhaustive, at times the dance position is bent down at the waist, and the arm and hand gestures provoke fighting just as the ritual of their origin. Tinku music has a loud constant drum beat to give it a native warlike feel, while charangos, guitars, and zampoñas (panpipes) play melodies. The dancers perform with combat like movements, following the heavy beat of the drum.

The Taquirari is a folk music rhythm and a dance from Bolivia, characteristic of most of the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando in the eastern part of the country. To dance Taquirari, the couple must face each other and with their hands clasped. The jumps are marked by a moved rhythm, a little less than the carnivalito, and the variations sometimes improvised by the musicians.