Mika Kühn

Dance Meeting of Youth 22: A testimonial

Mika experienced the festival in October as a dance ambassador

Mika Kühn is 18 years old and works as a dance ambassador on behalf of PURPLE and Offensive Tanz in the Berlin dance scene. In October, she attended the Youth Dance Meeting 2022 at the Berlin Festival. She wrote down her impressions for our blog.

In October 2022, the Haus der Berliner Festspiele became a meeting place for young dancers from all over Germany. For eight days, young ensembles met here to move, exchange and make contacts – always in the context of their collective passion for dance.

During the day, the hours were filled by the varied workshop program, while the evenings ended with the participants' own dance pieces on the stages of the house. So I perceived every day of the dance meeting as a celebration of sharing with each other. A moving give and take, which gets a verbal form in addition to private conversations in the follow-up conversations set out in the supporting program. These rounds open up an exchange space to express and share impressions and questions, but also feelings about the piece seen on the eve. A framework that I have learned to appreciate very much these days.

But even more was the encounter with all the dancers enriching, a colorful bunch of young people, who otherwise, I allow myself to guess, would not necessarily have met each other. Despite our differences, I was able to find a lot of overlaps with regard to the themes of our dance pieces.

So many ensembles have devoted themselves to the topic of identity. The identity as an individual, the individual within a society, but also the identity of a society and the associated scope for action. Topics and questions that concern our generation. And find expression in dance.

I saw the dance meeting as a gift to have my life turned around for a full week. I have made new friends with whom new projects are planned. And let's see, maybe it will also be an application for next year.