Kizz Me, Budapest!

Kizomba Festival Budapest 2014 – Party im Experidance Haz – Foto: (c) George Bufan

Dieses Festival war anders – intensiv, vereinend, berührend und sogar spirituell. Ein Festival, das seinesgleichen sucht. Nicht nur tänzerisch, sondern auch auf menschlicher Ebene brachte es hunderte von Kizomba-Tänzern aus Europa und selbst weit entfernten Kontinenten zusammen und ließ sie einige Tage die Essenz des Kizomba genießen.

Das Wochenende in der wunderschönen Stadt an der Donau begann bereits am Donnerstag mit einer entspannten und schönen Pre-Party in einer wunderschönen Location Experidance Ház, in der auch die Workshops am Samstag und Sonntag stattfanden.

Kizz Me 2014 – Budapest Kizomba Connection – Foto: (c) Magdalena Matysiak

Am Freitag startete dann eine beachtliche Gruppe von bereits angereisten Kizomberos und Kizomberas ausgestattet mit Ghettoblaster und Tanzlaune zu einem geführten Städtetrip. An jeder großen Sehenswürdigkeit wurde selbstverständlich eine Tanzpause eingelegt. Die tanzenden Paare waren eine interessante Attraktion für die Einheimischen und stahlen dem einen oder anderen Bauwerk für einen Moment die Show. Abends sorgten berühmte DJs aus Frankreich, UK, Mozambique und Ungarn, wie DJ Chad, DJ Hugo Boss oder auch DJ Tó Costa d’Angola und DJ Vasco für abwechslungsreiche Kizomba-Musik.

Am Samstag und Sonntag fanden tagsüber einige ausgesuchte und qualitativ hochwertige Workshops mit den absoluten Stars unter den internationalen Kizomba-Künstlern wie Albir & Carola, Tony Pirata & Sophie Fox oder Vasco statt.

Daneben hatten wir auch die Gelegenheit an einem Workshop der etwas anderen Art teilzunehmen. „Kaizen Dance“ hieß der Workshop des berühmten Kwenda Lima. Mit Kizomba hatte dieser Tanz augenscheinlich nichts zu tun – eher erinnerte er zu Beginn an spirituelle Tänze afrikanischer oder indianischer Stämme. Die Übungen hatten es jedoch in sich. Nicht wenige Tränen flossen, als wir das Thema „Vergebung“ in einer Partnerübung umsetzten und bei der anschließenden Umarmung wollten sich viele Übungspaare gar nicht mehr los lassen. Die Worte Kwenda Limas gingen ins Herz und berührten die Seele. Man kann Kaizen Dance nicht beschreiben – man muss es erlebt haben.

Auf der Samstags-Party herrschte dann auch eine ganz besondere Atmosphäre. Noch nie fühlten die Besucher sich so verbunden miteinander. Dies kam nicht nur durch die weißen Outfits zustande (das Motto des Abends war Diamonds/White Party), es war einfach diese ganz besondere Stimmung des Festivals, die in der Luft lag. Eine unglaublich hochwertige Show von Tony Pirata & Sophie und eine großartige Vorstellung von Albir & Carola krönte das Abendprogramm. Und, weil auf einem guten Festival auch ein Vertreter der Kizomba-Musik nicht fehlen sollte, überraschte der Künstler Kaysha uns mit einem Konzert.

Viel zu schnell war der Sonntag angebrochen und nach einem weiteren interessanten Workshop-Tag erreichte das KizzMe Festival mit der Sonntags-Party unter dem Motto Glow/Neon sein Finale.

Interview mit Nikolett Hamvas, Organisatorin von KizzMe

Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, Nikolett Hamvas, der Organisatorin dieses tollen Festivals, ein paar Fragen zu stellen und freue mich sehr über ihr exklusives Interview für Salsango. Im Folgenden verrät Sie uns das Erfolgs-Geheimnis des Kizomba Festivals KizzMe, gibt uns Einblick darüber, wie sie selbst zu dem Tanz gekommen ist und geht schließlich auch dem Phänomen auf den Grund, warum Kizomba so viele Menschen fasziniert. Wir erfahren auch, was uns nächstes Jahr in Budapest erwartet. Ich habe das Interview auf englisch geführt und möchte es auch erst einmal in dieser Sprache belassen:

Salsango: As the organizer of Budapest Kizomba Connection it would be interesting to know, how did you yourself learn Kizomba?

Nikolett Hamvas: I used to work in France for a while back in 2008. That’s where I first heard Zouk music as in the salsa parties they also played Zouklove. And we danced this very simple slow dance to it. Then when I returned to Budapest, I saw a video of Kwenda Lima on a dance forum and fell in love for the smoothness I saw, I felt like „this is my dance“. I googled it, but there was not much information online about Kizomba. So I decided to meet him personally. And I found a festival in Paris where he was on the line up so I got my ticket and travelled to Paris for the festival. I have taken my first classes with Kwenda and already there I realized that he is much more than this dance. The first time I really consciously danced Kizomba was in Paris, where the community was already growing at that time, at united party there was already a packed room dancing it. I went there with a friend, who led me my first real dances and helped me to be a good follower, and I ended up dancing all night. I realized the real beauty of this connection. And I decided to travel more. I met Kwenda again in 2011 in Belgrad, and that’s where I first participated in his Kaizen class and spent a whole weekend with him. And that’s when I decided I will organize something and bring him to my country.

Salsango: With regard to the Kizomba community in Budapest: how did it develop in the last years and how is it now?

Nikolett Hamvas: Kizomba started in Budapest with some individuals liking it and trying to share in their own way. The problem why we could only make „the boom“ in 2011 was that there was no cooperation. In 2011 I have met Tamás, the founder of yes (hungarY afrodanE congresS) and travelled with him to Belgrad to Kwenda’s workshop weekend. Tamás was already organizing his first „yes“ with Petchu and that’s how it all started. Then the first BKC happened in the same year in December. And there was no stop. We both started to do our thing separately, bring many famous teachers to Hungary, give workshops before parties, or regular classes. Even though I gave my first class in 2011 March, with full room, I think the real kizomba boom started after BKC. Later on more and more teachers started to appear like mushrooms, and some months of really stressed situation between teachers – the old ones and the new ones. Nowadays the wars seem to be over. The biggest school is still the school of Tamás and the biggest event is still BKC. 4 years of history already, it’s a lot… but finally I can say, everyone is in peace with what the others are doing and BKC is finally not considered as „Nikolett’s event“ but „Hungary’s event“, and this year we had more than 120 Hungarians participating which is great, compared to the last 4 years.

Salsango: What do you think: Why does the dance Kizomba touch so many people in such a strong way?

Nikolett Hamvas: I think our running life stopped us all from having real connections… it is not Kizomba that resolves this huge problem, but it is part of it. For me already salsa dancing brought a huge change in 2008, and the 90% of people I see now dancing Kizomba in Budapest are former salsa dancers. We all need real connections, we need human touch, and we need hugs and dance. I call it the old-school way of socializing. Dance has been always a strong part of human society. And when we dance, we open up much more to emotions and we can release so much stress that this running life creates… I think Kizomba helps people re-connect to their inner self, discover their need to be hugged and to hug, it is something that is in all of us, and comes from the childhood… Kizomba is an embrace. Doesn’t matter the steps, but it is a very intimate embrace, that is not at all sexual when done correctly, but sensual in a meaning of the souls connect through the bodies. Kizomba is like a therapy. It helped me make peace with my need for love, helped me accept my fragility and build my trust in another person. Helped me re-discover my inner woman, the one I had to cover for years to be able to survive in this man’s world. In Kizomba, men can be man and women can be woman. The way it should be. And the world needs this energy.

Salsango: What is the special thing about your festival “KizzMe”?

Nikolett Hamvas: Maybe I am not the best person to ask this question, coz I might sound self-centered or self-indulgent to some… But I really think that we are unique. The special thing about Kizzme is the constant smile on the faces, random people hugging each other all the time, and this inexplicable overall „good vibe“ that everyone is talking about. Something is in the air. One German girl actually asked me after BKC4 „what are you doing there? I know you are doing something, but what?“ She meant we are doing some spiritual programming. We don’t. It is just that all this is created with real passion and LOVE. I just organize the way I think it is good, and I just give what I would like to receive. And somehow this good will manifests itself in a real positive energy. Of course, good team, who are all my friends/family, careful artist selection and professionalism is also a BIG part of this. Not many festival organizers have studied event organizing, but I actually studied this, this is my profession. I know exactly what and how I am doing and I only have a team for the event itself, the rest of the year I work alone and from the graphics design till the dinner menu you can be sure that it is my work. I only think about what would be my own dream festival, how it would look like, where, with who, and I try to realize it the best I can. It is a wonderful thing that so many people are happy with the results, my vision.

Salsango: What can we expect from the next Budapest KizzMe in 2015?

Nikolett Hamvas: Well, I have many surprises. Cannot share details now, but generally you can expect at least the same quality (organization, venues, food, etc.), same care about customer service (in which I consider ourselves probably the best of all events I have ever been), and a kickass artist line up. We keep the good ones we found during these 4 years, and we add some who couldn’t join until now. We will have a third workshop room at this edition for seminars, as I think there is a real big and growing need for theory classes, about music, dance, history. We have enough steps. It is time to concentrate on the information and put everything in the right place in our heads. So the title of BKC5 is „ROOTS & INFLUENCES“ – you can already guess from this, that we are going to concentrate a lot on the original way of dancing Kizomba, how it was born and where, and how it developed after arriving to Europe. It is going to be a great travel in time and space, through dance workshops, seminars, conferences, and parties. And a real celebration of our 5th Anniversary, because let’s not forget the meaning of Kizomba: PARTY!!!!! So hope to see you at BKC5 again!

Nikolett Hamvas (rechts) und ihr Team der Budapest Kizomba ConnectionFoto: (c) Eva Perőcsényi

Mehr solcher Artikel findet Ihr in unserer Kategorie Kizomba oder auch in unseren Salsango-Specials.