05 Dec International Festival of Modern Choreography Vitebsk, Belarus

Impressions from an amazing trip – in a list:

Flight, flight. Embassy and waiting, photographing, waiting.

An endless car drive with famous strangers. No strangers anymore, in the freezing air at the border of Belarus, all foreigners are the same.

A concrete block of a soviet hotel, with a huge, deserted, stony entrance hall, wide and empty corridors, thick, wooden, rattling doors, brown and yellow wallpaper and no sign where to find the restaurant.

I finally found it in the morning, a choice between pancakes, English breakfast, or egg. Every choice a finite whole, down to the milk-less coffee.

A charming assistant, a brisk walk, a wooden, slippery studio floor. Mirrors, dancers, cameras, interviews. Excitement. The contestants arriving.

The companies piling in during the day as we have tea in a photographer’s studio, on the top floor. Photoshoots, arms, cats, more tea, beautiful connections and deep voices.

Another drive, another class, another group, every dancer more hungry than the next, Russian-speaking – mostly.

Shouting in Russian, repeating in English, running, music-ing, laughing, loving it.

Short nights, shows, Giselle, Kiev Modern Ballet, thank you very much! Party po-belorusski! And the most talented folk-dancing children!