Who What Why
About
Open Your Mind (OYM) is an experimental dance festival, celebrating creativity in movement all around the world. True to any art form, OYM is always developing and expanding. Our events currently occur in the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, the U.K., Japan, and France. Although OYM and its community are worldwide, our headquarters are at Parktheater, in the Dutch city of Eindhoven.
Open Your Mind is always looking to expand! We are seeking to collaborate in new ways, to host editions in new locations, and to provide residencies to ambitious artists. Do you have a dope idea for an event? Do you want to host Open Your Mind in your city? Do you want the opportunity to develop your skills? If you want to collaborate or be a part of the Open Your Mind team, please don’t hesitate to email us at: info@stichtingsampleculture.nl
History
Open Your Mind was founded in Moscow, Russia by Andrey Lazarev in 2013. Andrey is an experimental dancer and movement educator who had a dream to organise an event for the emerging experimental dance community. Andrey enlisted the help of fellow dancer and organiser, Andrey “Drosha” Grekhov, who helped him develop and launch a battle format for the first edition. Because of the event’s success, the partnership was officially established and Drosha became OYM’s co-founder.
The momentum from the first edition sparked the birth of an OYM in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Initially, OYM’s events in Eindhoven were used as an active investigation to test how a battle between movers could be more artistic. As a result, a series of small editions of OYM were organised, eventually incorporating imaginative videography as well. With each event, the creative energy kept growing and the experimental community began responding emphatically, coming together more and more. OYM then became a fundamental cornerstone solidifying the experimental scene within the greater dance community. Currently, OYM has the enthusiastic support of the Dutch arts scene and has been established as a non-profit organisation. OYM now continues to expand internationally, with new locations embracing the founders’ energy. Drosha and the rest of the team now work tirelessly to ensure that the festival continues to blossom so that a long future of pushing boundaries in the experimental scene and stirring artists to tap into their fullest potential continues.
Team:
Andrey Lazarev – founder, organiser of OYM Russian
Andrey Grekhov – co-founder, artistic director of the festival, organiser OYM Netherlands.
Jair Franken – financial director, OYM Netherlands
Kellian Cieslak – production leader, marketing director OYM Netherlands
Svantje Buchholz – organiser OYM UK
Shunji Takahashi – organiser OYM Osaka
Mounir Mugi – future organiser OYM France
Emi Matsushita- future organiser OYM USA (and organiser of OYM UK!!) 🙂