Visiting Artist Programme 2026: Recap
Four Days of Dancing Inspiration
Seven emerging dance artists and choreographers took part in the fourth edition of the Visiting Artist Programme - an initiative for creative exchange, learning, and professional development, supported by the National Culture Fund.
Dance as Dialogue and Shared Space
Beween 28 and 31 May, the programme offered meetings, performances, and workshops woven into the calendar of the 18th edition of One Dance Festival and the 2nd edition of One Dance City - outdoor dance performances and workshops supported by Plovdiv Municipality.
The programme brought together artists from different countries who built a new creative community, exchanged ideas, knowledge, and working methods, and learned new movement material. The participating artists were Gaetano Palermo and Michele Petrosino, Eni Vesovic, Thjerza Balaj, Kinga Jaczeska, Maya Oliva, Stanisław Bulder, aged between 25 and 35, representing the next generation of the European dance scene.
The guest artists were selected by leading European festivals and cultural centres:
Torinodanza – Italy
Zodiak – Finland
Danish Dance Theatre – Denmark
KAAP – Belgium
Lublin International Dance Theatre Festival – Poland
Dance Week Festival – Croatia
In Plovdiv, artists shared experience and knowledge with Bulgarian counterparts from various collectives and representatives of the performing arts sector who participated in the events.
The programme included visits to performances, dance workshops, presentation sessions, artist talks, and meetings with key figures from the European scene - among them Pierre Thys, Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Belgium, and Jens Nymand Christensen, advisor to the Danish government and former Deputy Director-General for Education and Culture at the European Commission.
Christensen highlighted the responsibility of artists and the power of culture to defend Europe’s values - democracy, pluralism, and diversity which are under attack in times of rising xenophobia and shrinking cultural budgets.
The programme also featured a dance workshop and presentation by Mexican curator and choreographer Jaciel Neri, who introduced the institutions, mechanisms, and opportunities for collaboration within the contemporary dance scene in his home country. These conversations outlined key questions for the future of contemporary dance: how to create sustainable working models, how to build communities, and how culture can act as a powerful tool for solidarity and imagination.
The artists attended performances such as “Battle of the Lianas” by Zora Snake, “Kassia Undead” by Lara Barsacq, and “AnOther” by Katherina Radeva at the Boris Hristov Cultural Centre. They also joined the One Dance City open-air stage with two performances — “Into the Lianas” and “La Danza de la Zurda” followed by free dance classes by the companies of Belgian-Cameroonian choreographer Zora Snake and LaCerda from Spain, which welcomed participants of all ages from Plovdiv and beyond. They took part in workshops: improvisation and interdisciplinary movement composition combining tribal African dance and contemporary dance with Zora Snake (Cameroon/Belgium); work with fabulation and archive with Lara Barsacq (Belgium); and the Kadencia method with choreographer and curator Jaciel Neri (Mexico).
About VAP
The Visiting Artist Programme once again proved to be a springboard for future projects and artistic collaborations, offering valuable professional reflection on key topics such as production, marketing, funding opportunities, and creative themes.
It enabled guest artists and their Bulgarian colleagues to exchange knowledge, learn choreographic methods, movement material, and expressive tools developed by leading creators in the field of contemporary performing arts.
Behind the Visiting Artist Programme stands the pan-European sectoral organization Dance Festivals Network, uniting 23 festivals and cultural institutions from 22 countries.
For us as hosts, this was the fourth edition of the programme that is now part of a separate project supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, featuring twice as many guest artists and, accordingly, sending and hosting festivals.
Photos: Shtiliana Andonova & One Dance
Project Visiting Artist Programme, funded under the Creative Europe program CREA-CULT-2024-COOP-1/ Project 101173715 — VAP and co-funded by the National Culture Fund under contract TE-2024-12/2024.
