Press releases

The concert program of the dancing forum will kick off with a show from Kiev Modern Ballet. The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus will present Radu Poklitaru’s Giselle. The play will make part of the official opening ceremony of the 29^th International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk on 23 November. The forum of contemporary dance mainly takes place in Vitebsk, with some of its events held in the Belarusian capital and also other cities of the country.

The festival will run through 27 November. The events will be held in the Vitebsk Concert Hall and the Yakub Kolas National Academic Theater. The program will include performances from the leading dance companies of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, France, Sweden, Norway, and others. The festival will present a number of premieres. Apart from Giselle, the forum will include AkhmatModi play from French Compagnie Autre MiNa and Son of Mr Piero from Vinci/Mona Lisa” by Evgeny Panfilov Ballet Theater from Perm.

The forum will also comprise meet-the-artist sessions and dance performances. Meet-the-artist sessions will be held after the AkhmatModi play at the Yakub Kolas National Academic Drama Theater on 24 November and after the play There by Norway’s Jo Stromgren Company at the Vitebsk Concert Hall on 25 November. Performances by dance companies from Russia and Sweden will take place in the Vitebsk Concert Hall on 23 and 25 November. The program will also include master-classes, roundtable sessions, interactive lectures, exhibitions.

The modern choreography competition will be the draw of the festival. This year it is be an international competition.

The 29^th International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC 2016) will be held on 22-27 November. Among the founders of the festival are the Culture Ministry of Belarus, the Vitebsk City Hall and the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee, the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus. The organizer of the forum is the Vitebsk Cultural Center.