ON THE BORDER – THE BUTOH IN EUROPE

The film "On the border" contains a selection of Performances from various editions of the Butoh-Dance Festival “Dancing on the border” (La danza di Confine), of which Annalisa Maggiani was the Art Director. The film explains the art of Butoh, through interviews with the dancers-choreographers and researchers who participated to the festival between 2003-2013. A surprising variety of answers to our question "what is the border dance?" will lead us to an understanding of butoh, so connected to our lives. In the film we can appreciate the different expressions of Butoh, how they are absorbed and transformed by their disciples who have presented their personal research. The film also shows the Butoh dance and it’s development in Europe, the influences of many Japanese masters, living in Europe, on the European dance and art scene. We were very happy to find out that we have been able to bring everyone to meet our personal borders, between land and sea. As we can see, plenty of artists have left their mark, a trace of their personal transit. The vision of the film can explain in detail the words that we have used in the presentation of the various editions of the Festivals “La Danza di confine”: “Dancing in this world means running the risk of tracing new unexplored territories, putting in contact different worlds, known and unknown, shaped and shapeless forms, and also tracing a new border between East and West. A land where the body can find all its extraordinary power of poetry and communication” and now after this project: "In the film the possibilities that this dance opens up are visible and recognizable. The land that opens up in listening and in the expression of the body from the dance between impression and expression is infinite: a land of com-passion, multiplicity and interculturality. The border through dance is inhabited, lived, unhinged, crossed" Annalisa Maggiani