Visiting Artist Programme during One Dance Festival
Eight international contemporary dance artists participated in our Visiting Artist Programme module, which offered creative exchange, training, and professional development. It took place between May 22 and 24, 2025, during the first long weekend of Edition No. 17 of One Dance Festival, with the support of the Municipality of Plovdiv.
For us, this was the third edition of the Visiting Artist Programme, and now, in a separate project supported by the EU’s Creative Europe Programme, the programme has doubled the number of visiting artists and, respectively, sending and receiving festivals. In Plovdiv, the group gathered diverse dance artists - choreographers, performers and lecturers.
Full list of participants and sending festivals:
Lilian Steiner - Danscentrum Syd
Aura da Fonseca - DDD Festival
Malika Djardi - Biennale de Lyon
Nataša Kustura - Dance Week Croatia
Clara da Costa - Tanec Praha
Jean-Baptiste Baele – Europe Beyond Access
Rita Mazza - Europe Beyond Access
Shannelle Fergus - Dance Umbrella
The Visiting Artists, between 25 and 35 years of age, were selected by 8 festivals in Europe, from Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Czech Republic, France, the UK, Portugal and Croatia, part of the Dance Festivals Network. A special mention goes to the Europe Beyond Access project to support artists with special needs in the performing arts, which selected two representatives in the artistic delegation who create performances adapted for artists and audiences with hearing, speech and physical differences.
Visiting Artist Programme during One Dance Festival
On May 22, they visited the outdoor stage of One Dance City in the centre of Plovdiv with two lessons in new urban dances and the performance LEVEL UP by the French choreographer Amala Dianor, which was attended by hundreds of citizens and guests.
In the next two days, 23 and 24 May, the artists participated in 4 studio workshops on Indian waacking, African pantsula, improvisation and a class on dramaturgy, as well as in many additional events, such as the opening performance of the festival - DUB by Amala Dianor, and the subsequent freestyle dancing with the audience in front of the Boris Hristov State Palace. It was a successful strategy for the program to provide full-circle activities by bringing in guest artists as lecturers themselves, such as Shannelle Fergus, who led a class about her practice.
There was room for debate and discussion, as well as social activities, such as a night tour of the Old Town and a presentation at a partner chocolate factory. The visiting artists shared this packed programme with local artists who had pre-registered for the events, and the participants of the CultArt Academy of Municipality Foundation Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture 2019.
Visiting Artist Showcase as the first step
The first-of-a-kind and free evening Visiting Artist Showcase on May 24 attracted strong interest. The event presented in succession in the Boris Hristov House of Culture a 45-minute performance-lecture by Lillian Steiner, a 15-minute solo by Natasha Kustura inspired by the myth of the mermaid-seducer Melusina, and finally the VR-performance “Sex and Death” by Aura Fonseca. Solo performances in the lobby of the theatre were presented by Clara da Costa (“Peel the Onion” and Jean-Baptiste Bael with “FERA”. Thus, the artists had the opportunity to become part of the festival program and present their works or material in progress to the audience.
The Visiting Artist Showcase demonstrated the diversity of voices in the dance scene, which is thriving in Europe thanks to mobility and experience-sharing projects such as the VAP. Moreover, this is a precedent for the history of the Programme, which has emerged as one of the main activities of the Big Pulse Dance Alliance project, in which ODF is the only Balkan co-founder.
About Visiting Artist
A new initiative uniting 23 leading contemporary dance festivals and organisations across Europe, the Visiting Artist Programme is set to foster creative exchange, artistic development, and valuable networking opportunities for early and mid-career dance artists. The programme offers selected artists the chance to immerse themselves in the vibrant atmosphere of Europe's top dance festivals, with access to performances, masterclasses, discussions, and networking sessions.
Partner Festivals / Institutions of Visiting Artist Programme: Danscentrum Syd (Sweden), DDD - Festival Dias da Dança (Portugal), Dublin Dance Festival (Ireland), Biennale de la Danse de Lyon (France), December Dance (Belgium), One Dance Festival (Bulgaria), Torinodanza Festival (Italy), Zodiak – Side Step Festival (Finland), Bratislava in Movement (Slovakia), Festival Sismògraf (Catalonia – Spain), STHLM DANS (Sweden), International Dance Theatre Festival in Lublin (Poland), Julidans (The Netherlands), Albania Dance Meeting (Albania), Dance Week Festival (Croatia), Dance Fest Skopje (North Macedonia), Iridescent Festival (Romania), Reykjavik Dance Festival (Iceland), STL (Estonia), International Dance Festival Tanec Praha (The Czech Republic), CODA Oslo International Dance Festival (Norway), New Baltic Dance (Lithuania), Tanz im August (Germany).
