Wild Card residency for Gyula Berger and Ayumi Toyabe

Sent by the network partner Workshop Foundation, the two artists were on a residency in Brussels during which they worked on their latest production:

“Augmented Spaces”:

Hi, how are you doing? / - I’m fine.

What’s your name? / - Ayumi… How did you come here?

I was walking around and I just saw you and you were alone, so I just wanted to talk to you.

Where are you from? / - I’m from Japan.

We are born as humans, so there are things to experience, think about and feel. We face new things from day to day and continue learning. Sometimes we wander and sometimes we stop. Do hardships we encounter on our way living in a foreign country change us? Can real trust be born?

During the creation of Augmented Spaces, Hungarian choreographer Gyula Berger and Japanese dancer Ayumi Toyabe reveale common values and try to create a fusion of their two cultures on the basis of universal human needs.

Japanese dancer Ayumi Toyabe studied modern ballet, jazz dance, hip hop and tap dance in Japan and ballet at the Centrum Nürnberg Fürth Ballett Akademie in Germany. She has participated in the professional training program Dance’s Start UP VI in Leggere Strutture Art Factory in Italy and in the ZeroPlus Contemporary Dance Training Program in Budapest, Hungary. Among others she participated in workshops by Atsushi Takenouchi, Carlos Rodero and Eszter Gál, and performed in the works of Liesel Zinc, Heléna Hrotkó, Volkhard Samuel Guist and Gyula Berger, in solo and group choreographies.

Gyula Berger is a choreographer from Budapest and one of the founding members of the contemporary dance scene in Hungary – making work for the past 34 years. After 10 years of dance training with renowned teachers like Risa Steinberg, David Zambrano and Doug Elkins, he entered the Hungarian dance scene as a choreographer in 1984 with the Berger Dance Company. In 1993 Gyula moved to the Netherlands and studied post-modern dance at the European Dance Development Center, Arnhem for 4 years. After returning to Hungary in 1997 he continued teaching and choreographing while also participating in international collaborations. Currently he is running ZeroPlusz DanceWorks (education and creation) in Jurányi Production House.

Credits:

Performer: Ayumi Toyabe

Visual (set, costumes) consultant: György Árvai

Lights: Géza Budai

Music: De Natura Sonorum (Bernard Parmegiani)

Director: Gyula Berger

Choreographer / Movements: Gyula Berger and Ayumi Toyabe

With the support of: National Cultural Fund of Hungary, L1 Association, Workshop Foundation / workspacebrussels (Life Long Burning / Wild Cards program)