19th International DANCE Festival München from May 22 to June 1, 2025
Coming together – the 19th International DANCE Festival München 2025 has set itself a goal that is both very simple and very difficult to achieve. „Community“ is also the secret motto behind the traditional dance biennial of the state capital of Munich from May 22 to June 1, 2025. The new artistic director Tobias Staab explains: „When planning the programme, I couldn’t ignore this almost existential need of choreographers. Triggered by the geopolitical upheavals of recent years, contemporary dance is driven by the utopia of a society that succeeds in overcoming its divisions. This dream finds its artistic expression in practically every single one of the 19 DANCE productions.“
What’s more, the festival literally wants to become a meeting place for the audience and the dance community – in the festival centre BLITZ Restaurant as well as in new venues, some of which do not possess a set stage. This is where another important focus of DANCE 2025 comes into play: the performative linking of contemporary dance and the visual arts in locations such as LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU, the Pinakothek der Moderne or the Haus der Kunst. Previously separate scenes are thus encouraged to open up and come into contact with each other – be it audiences sharing genre preferences, different age groups or communities outside the artistic mainstream.
19th International DANCE Festival München from May 22 to June 1, 2025
11 days, 19 productions, 45 performances, 12 venues: The 19th edition of the International DANCE Festival Munich has set its sights on artistic intensity as well as a significantly expanded presence throughout the city. With the support of the City of Munich, the new artistic director Tobias Staab has succeeded in bringing institutions and venues on board that have never before been involved in DANCE, including the Volkstheater, the Haus der Kunst, LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU and the former riding hall UTOPIA. Staab sees this as extraordinarily positive and encouraging evidence of the current upsurge in solidarity between the cultural institutions and urban society in Munich. DANCE 2025 is meant to show how justified this trust is: „In order to put together a programme for DANCE 2025, I first asked myself very fundamental questions: What is contemporary dance? What is contemporary? And what makes dance genuinely interesting as a live art form? The answers very quickly took on a socio-political dimension. For dance as an art form constantly creates community. Dance lives through the forces and connections that become tangible between bodies. In a society that is increasingly split into ideological bubbles, such connections hold a utopian promise. And it is precisely this, in the literal sense of the word, that moves artists more than anything else right now. It is not an easy mission. After all, the ability to endure the otherness of others is one of the greatest challenges of our time. But it is also our responsibility as a society. This is where DANCE comes in – as a festival that aims to bring very different people closer together. For a start, simply in a room, in a second step hopefully also emotionally.“
Venues that are not designed with the classic juxtaposition of stage and auditorium and promise new visual experiences are particularly suitable for such encounters. Not least for this reason, the programme features a number of performative productions at the interface of dance and the visual arts, that are shown in museums or galleries. Here, the audience is typically mobile and has to find their own position, also in relation to the other visitors. Therefore it is only logical that the opening of the International DANCE Festival Munich will take place in a museum for the first time – in the Haus der Kunst with the US artist Ligia Lewis. She will not only be represented with a performance on the opening evening, but also throughout the entire festival period with the performative installation study now steady, which has so far only been shown in New York.
The unorthodox performance situations lead naturally to other formats and styles. It is very important to Staab and the DANCE team to make communities and subcultures like the ballroom scene or urban dance forms such as breakdance, which were previously not or barely represented at the festival, visible and to open up their enormous potential to a larger audience. Although these subcultures and niches have existed in Munich for some time, there has been little exchange with contemporary dance to date. The festival aims to create a new, joint platform.
At the same time, Staab is determined to build on the long success story of DANCE. After all, the festival has always been known to bring both the crème de la crème and exciting discoveries of international dance to Munich. Some of the companies on the 2025 programme have never appeared in the city before, amongst others Marcos Morau and La Veronal, the amazing queer choreographer François Chaignaud and the French collective (LA)HORDE, who run the Ballet National de Marseille. Others are well established here, but are now represented with pieces that show relatively unknown aspects of their work, e.g. Richard Siegal with a video installation and Marlene Monteiro Freitas, who has collaborated with the inclusive company Dançando com a Diferença. Moreover, some true classics are part of the DANCE line-up, notably Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich from 1982 and Trajal Harral’s Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) from 2012. The specific presentation of Munich artists will also continue – this time shining a spotlight on Moritz Ostruschnjak and Diego Tortelli & Miria Wurm. With the DANCE X AKADEMIE, there will also be a collaboration between DANCE and students from the Academy of Fine Arts. Students from the classes Alexandra Pirici (performance) and Julian Rosefeldt (media art) will realise performative works in LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU and in the Haus der Kunst.
The stage programmeThursday, May 22, 2025
7:30 p.m., Haus der Kunst
in co-operation with Haus der Kunst: Festival opening part 1 German premiere Ligia Lewis: deader than dead
„Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow“: Macbeth’s famous monologue about the meaningless endless loop of life forms the starting point for Ligia Lewis‘ conversation with death itself. In a bitter lament, the US choreographer contrasts the liveness of the performance with the nightmarish hopelessness of history, in which any hope of progress must appear to be an illusion.
second performance on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.8:30 p.m., Muffatwerk
Festival opening part 2 German premiere Ballet National de Marseille X (LA)HORDE: The Master’s Tools
On the opening night, the entire Muffatwerk will be transformed into a parcours for the acclaimed French collective. A performative installation that merges dance, music and video art to create an eminently contemporary aesthetic of resistance. The medium of choice: jumpstyle. The physically extremely challenging dance style, born in the youth subcultures of Belgium and the Netherlands, has become a social media phenomenon.
second performance on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.Friday, May 23, 2025
8:00 p.m., Münchner Kammerspiele (Therese-Giehse-Halle)
in co-operation with the Münchner Kammerspiele: Dançando com a Diferença & Marlene Monteiro Freitas: ÔSS
Ôss, Creole for „bones“, has not only given this performance its title, but also its thematic framework – between the soft and the hard, between the structured and the unstructured. Together with the fabulous inclusive dance company from Madeira, the Cape Verdean choreographer has created a wild, visually stunning evening of contrasts, full of rituals and humanity.
second performance on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.10:30 p.m., UTOPIA
German premiere François Chaignaud & Théo Mercier: Radio Vinci Park
A dancer, a stuntman, a harpsichord player. The mythologically charged, baroque scenario of Radio Vinci Park is as unique as this cast. A riding hall becomes the arena for a disturbing ritual that confronts a delicate, androgynous creature with a figure dressed in black leather on a motorbike. The dancer boldly woos the motorcyclist. An almost suicidal courtship that soon takes on the features of a duel. After all, you don’t wake a sleeping minotaur with impunity …
second performance on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:30 p.m.Saturday, May 24, 2025
4:00 p.m., Haus der Kunst
in co-operation with Haus der Kunst: European premiere Ligia Lewis: study now steady
To start with, they lie twisted on the floor like a motionless installation. But as the performance progresses, the dancers slowly emerge from their torpor and isolation to form temporary communities. Their bodies become social sculptures that are characterised by repetition and memory and tell stories of racism, violence and resistance.
subsequently to be seen during the opening hours from May 24 to 26, 2025 as well as from May 28 to 31, 2025
7:00 p.m., schwere reiter
Ewa Dziarnowska: This resting, patience
„What the world needs now is love, sweet love“: Dionne Warwick’s intensely topical love anthem provides the secret motto for this ambivalent game of closeness and distance, of rejection and reunion. In a dreamlike, sensual durational performance in the form of a duet with Leah Marojević, the Berlin-based dancer and choreographer practises the art of slowing down. With continuous admission, the audience can decide for themselves how long they want to stay. After all, it takes time to discover love, „not just for some but for everyone“.
second performance on Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.Sunday, May 25, 2025
from 2:00 p.m., LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU
in co-operation with Lenbachhaus and Haus der Kunst: DANCE X AKADEMIE
A new collaboration between the festival and the Academy of Fine Arts Munich brings home the diverse links between contemporary dance and the visual arts. As part of an open call, students from the Alexandra Pirici (performance) and Julian Rosefeldt (media art) classes were invited to develop concepts for performative works. The given topic: bodies and their interrelations. A jury selected 10 submissions, which will now be realised and presented in the Kunstbau of the Lenbachhaus and the Haus der Kunst.
also on Friday, May 30, 2025 from 3:00 p.m., Haus der Kunst (Foyer)8:00 p.m., HochX Theater and Live Art
Diego Tortelli & Miria Wurm, TERRANOVA / hidden link
The artistic team Diego Tortelli and Miria Wurm are known for their innovative productions that combine contemporary dance and complex scientific themes and turn them into a sensual experience. In their current work, they are inspired by the „hidden links“ of mycelia, which are intertwined underground and over great distances and communicate non-verbally. A duet about networking that explores the similarities and differences between organic and human interfaces.
further performances on Monday, May 26, 2025 / Tuesday, May 27, 2025 – at 8:00 p.m.Tuesday, May 27, 2025
7:30 p.m., Volkstheater (Bühne 1)
in co-operation with Volkstheater: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich
A true signature piece, Fase marked the Belgian choreographer’s international breakthrough in 1982. The minimalist music by Steve Reich and the stunningly precise dancing follow the same principle: initially perfectly synchronised movements find new patterns through the smallest of shifts. With its razor-sharp structure, consisting of three duets and a solo, Fase sets a standard by which contemporary dance is still measured today.
second performance on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.Davi Pontes & Wallace Ferreira: Repertório N.2
Davi Pontes & Wallace Ferreira: Repertório N.3
The multidisciplinary Brazilian duo studies, analyses and criticises the structural violence against Black and Queer people in the suburbs of Rio. They see their emotionally charged choreographies as an act of self-defence and self-empowerment that reclaims the freedom of expression with tremendous physical intensity. Their international breakthrough came with the Repertório trilogy, parts 2 and 3 of which will be shown at DANCE.
Repertório N.2 on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at 9:30 p.m. & Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 9:30 p.m., Muffathalle
Repertório N.3 on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. & Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 9:00 p.m., schwere reiterWednesday, May 28, 2025
Opening at 7:00 p.m., LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU
in co-operation with Lenbachhaus: World premiere Richard Siegal, art.Life
The sport of Shuudan Koudou, also known as „Japanese Precision Walking“, inspired Richard Siegal to create the futuristic three-channel video installation, which explores the interaction between perfectly harmonising human collectives and the digital world. The source material was provided by the performance COLLECTIVE ACTION in collaboration with Shuudan Koudou master Jiro Omi, 53 athletes from Nippon Sports University and dancers from the Ballet of Difference. The resulting video art.Life was developed in „post-production“, with the participation of light artist Matthias Singer, graphic design studio Fantomas and composer Alva Noto.
subsequently to be seen during the opening hours throughout the festival and until June 15, 20259:00 p.m., Volkstheater (Bühne 2)
in co-operation with Volkstheater: Alice Ripoll / Cia. Suave: ZONA FRANCA
This free trade zone, as the title translates into English, has come at exactly the right time: Anticyclically as it were, Brazil proved that a better future is possible beyond the shift to the right and dystopia. The country’s youth in particular are being carried by a wave of new hope. In an astonishingly organic fusion of popular and urban styles with contemporary dance, the Brazilian choreographer finds a moving expression for this longing for freedom and self-determination.
second performance on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.Thursday, May 29, 2025
8:00 p.m., Haus der Kunst (Westgalerie)
in co-operation with Haus der Kunst: Jefta van Dinther: AUSLAND
The desire to escape the present is as old as humanity itself. However, the ways and means of actually diving into other realities have grown exponentially in recent times. With a hypnotic performance lasting almost three hours, the Swedish-Dutch choreographer invites the audience on a hallucinatory trip that blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction – and gives new meaning to the label „immersive“.
second performance on Friday, May 30, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.Friday, May 30, 2025
6:00 p.m., Münchner Kammerspiele (Werkraum)
in co-operation with the Münchner Kammerspiele: German premiere Koffi-Kégou Afiadegnigban / Aziz Zoundi / Kadidja Tiemanta – Faso Danse Théâtre & ICI Ankata present: Africa Simply the Best
The solo dance competition Africa Simply the Best, initiated by Serge Aimé Coulibaly, wants to find the best choreographers on the continent. The impressive, autobiographically inspired winning productions of the 5th edition can now be seen at DANCE: The topics of the three performances are broad and range from polygamous societies (La Quatrième by Koffi-Kégou Afiadegnigban, Togo) to loss, pain and the struggle for authenticity (Chute Perpétuelle by Aziz Zoundi, Burkina Faso) to illness, resilience and the search for hope (Banbali (100 fin) by Kadidja Tiemanta, Mali).
second performance on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.Saturday, May 31, 2025
17:00 Uhr, ZIRKA – Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Raum und Kulturarbeit
The Animal Kingdom Kiki Ball
As a hybrid of a party, a contest and a safe space, the so-called Balls emerged in New York in the 1960s. This is where the queer and trans scene met and where the art form of Voguing was born, which became known to a wider audience through Jennie Livingston’s iconic documentary Paris is Burning and Madonna’s music video Vogue. The team behind the DANCE Kiki Ball, led by the dancer and activist Soumayya Gad Alla, also organised the celebrated Ball at the PATHOS theatre in Munich in 2023. Thanks to the animal theme, participants will be spoilt for choice when it comes to costumes, with possible inspirations ranging from feathers and animal prints to fake leather and fur.7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., Muffathalle
German premiere Marcos Morau & La Veronal: TOTENTANZ – Morgen ist die Frage
Together with the collective La Veronal, Marcos Morau has created a surreal, instantly recognisable dance universe, which expresses the confrontation with our present in powerful traditional images – just like in Totentanz. Based on the eponymous medieval allegory, the piece tells at least as much about the value as about the fragility of life. An enigmatic, visually overwhelming exercise between installation, video art and live performance.
further performances on Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.9:00 p.m., LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU
in co-operation with Lenbachhaus: Trajal Harrell: Judson Church Is Ringing in Harlem (Made to Measure) / Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at The Judson Church (M2M)
In 1960s New York, postmodern dance and voguing emerged in close proximity, but completely independently of each other. What would have happened if they had entered into a dialogue? With a series of celebrated works, the US choreographer Trajal Harral has expanded his mind game in recent years into an alternative dance story that derives maximum artistic benefit from the encounter of the experimental and the extravagant.
second performance on Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Added time. Friday, June 28, 2025Pinakothek der Moderne
in co-operation with Pinakothek der Moderne: World premiere Moritz Ostruschnjak: Cardboard Sessions
For autobiographical reasons alone, the former active member of the sprayer and breaker scene takes a keen interest in the meeting of subculture and high culture. In Cardboard Sessions, the Munich choreographer stages this encounter in a decidedly literal way by having his performers appear as living works of art in the Pinakothek. A striking transformation that turns urban movement culture into contemporary movement sculpture. On May 31, 2025, Moritz Ostruschnjak invites the DANCE audience to an open rehearsal. A free space for performers and dance fans alike, to come and go, hang out and watch. A jam where boundaries blur and art and everyday life become one.
Open rehearsal on Saturday, May 31, schwere reiter – time to be announced
Service informationTickets are available online in the DANCE ticket shop, except for the two productions ÔSS by Monteiro Freitas and Africa Simply the Best – these are on sale from February 18, 2025 directly from the Münchner Kammerspiele.
Admission to the installations study now steady by Ligia Lewis in the Haus der Kunst and art.Life by Richard Siegal in LENBACHHAUS / KUNSTBAU is free without prior appointment during the opening hours.The entire look of the festival has been redesigned, for all publications as well as for the website. The mission of the CD developed by Manuel Bürger: clear, welcoming structures and a user-friendly access thanks to an inclusive typeface.
