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© Mehmet Kerem Özel GöteborgsOperans Danskompani (Gothenburg Opera Dance Company), which celebrates its 30th anniversary in the current 2024-25 season, has evolved over the past 10 years from a classical ballet company to a company that performs exclusively contemporary dance pieces. The company's general strategy is not to have a resident choreographer, but also not to have a choreographer as artistic director. Instead, the artistic directors commission pieces from choreographers of their own choosing, and this strategy ensures that the company's repertoire is full of world premieres. Very rarely does a piece created for another company become part of the repertoire. Katrin Hall, the company's artistic director since 2016, follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Adolphe Binder, and continues to bring the company a repertoire of original pieces by today's most sought-after choreographers, as well as young choreographers just emerging on the international dance scen...

© Pinelopi Gerasimou  Greece has had, and continues to have, important creators in the field of contemporary dance over the last 20 years. Dimitris Papaioannou, who became known with his work in a squad in Athens in the second half of the 80s, peaked with his extraordinary creation for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and has continued to mesmerise audiences with his subsequent pieces. In addition to Papaioannou, Ioannis Mandafounis, who studied dance and has been choreographing since 2004, has been at the head of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, which was founded by William Forysthe, since last season; Euripides Laskaridis, whose work we had the chance to see in Istanbul two years ago, has been travelling the world from Chile to Finland, from the Far East to London with his pieces in which he blends the grotesque and pop with his unique style and in which the use of sound and material stands out; Dancer and choreographer Andonis Foniadakis n...

J ulien Faveau, BBL Boléro  ©  Clarissa Lapolla Bari One of the most important choreographers of the 20th century, Maurice Béjart's company Béjart Ballet Lausanne returns to Istanbul 37 years after its first visit in 1988 and 18 years after its last visit in 2007. This time in Istanbul, the company will perform Béjart's 1996 piece Ballet for Life ( Le Presbytère n'a rien perdu de son charme, ni le jardin de son éclat , originally in French), which uses songs by the legendary rock band Queen, compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and costumes by Gianni Versace.  In this piece, Béjart has translated his love for Queen into the language of dance, inspired by their songs.  "A ballet about youth and hope, as hopeless and optimistic as they are. In spite of everything, I believe that 'the show must go on', as Queen would say ."  On the occasion of Béjart Ballet Lausanne's tour of Istanbul, we interviewed Julien Favreau, who was appointed artistic director ...

Posters of Kontakthof - Echoes of '78 and Kontakthof at the entrance of the Barmen Opera in Wuppertal waiting for Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78 Kontakthof by Pina Bausch (1940-2009), first performed in 1978, is one of her masterpieces. Literally translated as 'contact court', Kontakthof is set in a dance/ballroom, a large and spacious meeting place with high ceilings and a stage for other purposes, such as music-theatre-cinema performances, where European society has traditionally gathered to meet, socialise and dance, usually on Sundays. [There are also authors who interpret the Kontakthof as the hall in the red-light districts of cities where prostitutes present themselves to customers]. The set and costumes for Kontakthof were designed by Rolf Borzik, Bausch's partner at the time and one of the most decisive figures in the form and aesthetics of Bausch's theatre in the early years of Tanztheater Wuppertal, as he was also involved in the choice of music and many...

© Kamerich & Budwilowitz - Eyes 2 Atta, Turkey's first and only international arts festival for babies and children, has been held in Istanbul around 20 November, the International Children's Rights Day, since 2016. The festival, which has hosted many groups from abroad so far, brings together babies aged 0-3, children aged 3-18, young people and their accompanying adults, and children and young people with disabilities aged 3-18 with theatre, dance, music, film and exhibitions as well as interactive content. The programme of this year's sixth edition of the festival includes opera for babies, dance for audiences aged 7 and above, theatre and pop-up performances. From 22 November to 8 December 2024, performances by ensembles from the United States, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Ireland, as well as Atta Festival's own and co-productions, will be staged at Alan Kadıköy, Arter, Caddebostan Cultural Center, Hisar Schools Cultural Center and Kadıköy Barış Manço ...

© Housam Mcheimech Lebanese theatre director, actor, visual artist and playwright Rabih Mroué's performances of Taking the Road with a Cloud and Make Me Quit Smoking met with audiences for the first time in Turkey on 24 and 26 April at the Beykoz Kundura Stage. We invited Mroué to our series of conversations in ten questions. What is the essence of performance in your opinion? The essence of art and the theater and performance in my opinion is like to open a platform where artists, performers, theater makers can share their thoughts, their questions, their doubts with audience made of individuals, and to open a discussion maybe after the performance, and dialogue.  Do you believe in the transformative power of art andhow do you think it achieves it?  Yes, I believe with this magic of performing arts and art in the sense that it really can ignite discussions, debates, new ideas, new concepts in this sense. Like it looks like for me like the philosophers role in life, thoughts. ...