Volxfest

A costume and folk dance ball of a special kind.

Volxfest is a proposal for a new ritual, a universal folk dance. It manifests as a folk dance ball, embedded in ritual practices. The Volxfest takes the form of a permanent event, party or celebration, bringing a strong social dimension to the work, a sense of togetherness in which the audience also takes an active role and becomes part of the performative whole.

The project spans a long period of time and encompasses various formats that achieve local continuity, anchorage and audience through participative, preparatory events: workshops (on self-empowerment, national identity and trauma, universal folk dance, exploration of customs and traditions, celebrations as letting go) and devotion), salon and Stammtisch of home feelings (workshop-like events to deal with home-based relationship through discursive, musical and dance elements), Volxfest and ball of home feelings (Volxfest as rural, the ball as urban version), occasion-related celebrations and events (national holiday, festivals ) and "folktrance party" (trance and universal folk dance). The concrete contents are redefined and artistically shaped with the respective partners and regions.

The specific contents are redefined and artistically curated with the respective partners and regions.

The Volxfest is a celebration. A celebration that celebrates folk art as a symbol of free development and as a creative expression of the people. A day and an evening, created by Volxfest artists together with artists and traditional groups from the region and the audience.
The Volxfest loads in a playful way to experience its own relation to local, national and global roots. Here meet people and perspectives that might otherwise not meet. Old rituals are rediscovered in the light of a global consciousness.
The Volxfest welcomes people of all origins, all sexes, all sexual (non-) orientations, living in every (non-) relationship form and with every form of physical particularity. It is normal to be different!

Die Veranstaltungen im Vorfeld bieten vielfältige Möglichkeiten zum Reinschnuppern, zum Beispiel:

Round tables: 

Abende, an denen das Publikum eingeladen ist, das Volxfest Team kennenzulernen, zu plaudern, gemeinsam zu tanzen, zu musizieren und sich auf das Volxfest am gemeinsam einzustimmen. Jeder Stammtisch wird um ein spezielles Thema kreisen.

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Dance floor (workshop)

Beim Tanzboden Workshop wird es vorwiegend um die Freude am gemeinsamen Tanzen und Singen gehen. Wir lernen existierende Volkstänze, Schuhplattler und Lieder, üben und spielerisch neue erfinden. Wir gehen der Frage auf den Grund, wo denn der Volkstanz seinen Ursprung hat, und versuchen, diesem Ursprung mit verschiedenen Experimenten näher zu kommen. Elemente aus Volkstänzen und Liedern anderer Kulturen und aus dem Hip Hop fließen ebenfalls ein. Dieses Event ist für all diejenigen, die gerne volkstanzen, singen oder es lernen wollen, und genauso für alle, die gerne experimentieren, für alle, die sich als Nicht-Tänzer/Sänger definieren oder nichts mit Volkstanz und singen am Hut haben.

Traditional workshop with root soup (workshop)

Artistic Direction: Teresa Distelberger / Mario Sinnhofer aka Touched

Costumes are often seen as uniform clothing of a particular region. But what does it mean to find an individual version of one's own costume in which other roots and affiliations also become visible? What could a gold dome look like that expresses inner wealth beyond money and gold? What is possible if apparently opposing styles are unfamiliar but combined with a fine sense? Traditional-traditional, urban, oblique, transgender, multicultural mixed - everything is possible and will be tried out right away. This playful approach to one's own concept of home is deposited with subtle, deep-acting interview techniques. Finding unsuspected nutrients in your own home soil is even possible not unlikely. Even - or maybe even exactly - when the horror comes at the word "home" itself.

Daheim in mir (Workshop)

Volxfest-Workshop mit Tanz, Musik und Gesprächen
Are you curious about the complexity that opens up when you trace your own homeland? Have you always wanted to explore what dance, song and home have to do with each other? Based on the home in one's own body and the exploration of different spaces, Simon Mayer and Teresa Distelberger are organizing two workshop evenings. Inspirational impulses, crazy shoe-plate improvisations, the search for a universal folk dance and discussions about being at home provide for inner and outer movement.

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Salon of Home Feelings

Wir laden dazu ein, die eigene Beziehung zu Österreich, zu einem anderen Heimatland oder zum Daheimsein an sich zu erforschen. Wut, Scham, Liebe, Heimweh und noch mehr – alle Gefühle sind willkommen. In gemütlichem Ambiente wird gepflegte Wiener Salonkultur neu interpretiert: Hier trifft sich Tradition mit zeitgenössischem Ausdruck, Performance mit Apfelstrudel, zünftiges Tanzen mit Meditation und so manch inspirativer Input mit fein gspürigen Gesprächen.

The Salon of Home Feelings is open to people of all backgrounds, sexes, sexual (non-) orientation, living in any (non-) relationship form and with any form of physical particularity.

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Artistic Director Simon Mayer, Teresa Distelberger
Performance, Recherche, Publikumsinteraktion und kreative Mitarbeit
Mario Sinnhofer aka Touched, Manuel Wagner, Patric Redl, Katharina Frieda Meier, Agnes Distelberger, Farah Deen, Valentin Alfery, Annegret Schalke, Robert Steijn, Sophie Rastl, Simon Mayer, Teresa Distelberger
Gastkünstler und Gruppen Schuachplattler Menscha Ried, Ledarsoinbuam Ried, Goldhauben- und Trachtengruppen des Bezirkes Perg, Claudio Prima
Dramaturgische Beratung Robert Steijn
Immersives Bühnenbild Mario Sinnhofer aka Touched, Simon Mayer
Light Annegret Schalke
Sound Lukas Froschauer
Musik/Band Asgeiger, Volxfest Band, Banda Adriatica
Production Kopf hoch / Sophie Rastl & Martina Knoll, Hiros
Workshopteam Mario Sinnhofer aka Touched, Katharina Frieda Meier, Agnes Distelberger, Simon Mayer, Teresa Distelberger

Eine Koproduktion von Kopf hoch & Festival der Regionen

With the kind support of the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna, the Federal Chancellery of Austria and the Flemish Government

Thanks to: Impulstanz Festival, Forschungsfeld Heimatgefühle, Arbeitsplatz Wien, Jägerwirt

Photos: Niko Havranek, Franzi Kreis, Sophie Rastl, Shao Hui He

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Tour Dates

Datum	Stadt	Location	Land
15.06.2024	Grundlsee	Gasthof Veit	Austria
	im Rahmen der Kulturhauptstadt Salzkammergut 2024
25.05.2024	Gmunden	Esplanade	Austria
	im Rahmen der Kulturhauptstadt Salzkammergut 2024