„KARIDA: Open Rehearsal” – Josef Ka and Dancing with the Inner Bull
In „KARIDA: Open Rehearsal,” Josef Ka’s latest performance (July 2025, premiere at Experyment Festival, Poland), viewers are drawn into an incredibly intense journey where the tradition of the Spanish bullfight becomes merely a starting point for a deeper, personal confrontation. It’s 40 minutes of emotional tension, where Butoh meets flamenco, and the artist’s body becomes the arena of an internal duel, rife with both passion and pain.
Movement, the central element of the performance, combines butoh—a mysterious, tense dance—with the expressive, intense flamenco. The clash of these two traditions in Ka’s hands becomes an almost metaphysical experience, where every gesture is a struggle with oneself, and every step a dancing confrontation with the inner Bull.
The music displays an equally strong fusion of tradition and modernity. Franciszek Araszkiewicz @araszkiewiczfranciszek Paul Beaudoin @paulbeaudoin create a soundscape that blends ambient textures with pulsating, often overwhelming rhythms. Tymoteusz Onyśków @tym.onys_ guitarist, brings a lively, fiery energy to the performance that fuels the dance.
The audience interaction in „KARIDA: Open Rehearsal” is subtle yet profound – viewers become part of this ritual, which doesn’t end after the artist leaves the stage. The performance is not a closed show, but an open rehearsal, in which everyone present becomes a witness, and perhaps even a participant, in an internal struggle.
In her work, Josef Ka not only transcends the boundaries of performance art but also introduces aspects of art therapy, in which the body is a healing tool.
Ireneusz Solarek,
the founder of The Experyment International Arts Festival
photo Dorota Bulínska
@fotografiadorotyb
Zbaszyn, 2025
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