Tanzfestival Rhein-Main 201716.10.–31.10.2017

The second edition was a major success! Around 6.800 visitors – 2.800 more than last year – came to the Tanzfestival Rhein-Main 2017, which took place for the first time from 16 to 31 October 2017 in a total of three cities: Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Darmstadt. Many performances were entirely sold-out.

The program featured pieces by international stars of choreography as well as discoveries in the making, including: Brazilian choreographer Bruno Beltrão, who was met by the audience with standing ovations for ideosyncratic hip-hop and avant-garde style. As part of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main’s “Participatory Projects” program, Sylvain Groud and his Compagnie MAD worked with 150 people from the Rhine-Main region. The resulting XXL dance concert “Music for 18 Musicians” tore the audience from their seats so that everyone joining in the dancing by the end of the performances. Also enthusiastically received were pieces by Emanuel Gat Dance, Antony Hamilton and Alisdair Macindoe, Eyal Dadon, Isabelle Schad, “Eine Winterreise” by the Hessische Staatsballet and “Urban Soul Café” by Christoph Winkler.

We are especially proud of the projects produced as part of the Tanzplattform Rhein-Main at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and/or Hessische Staatsballet and presented during the festival – such as the “Makulatur” project by Frankfurt director Ksenia Ravvina and choreographer Kristina Veit, Janna Pinsker’s and Wicki Bernhardt’s lecture performance for spectators age 11 and up, May Zarhy’s piece “Next to Near”, Olivia Hyunsin Kim’s piece “Miss Yellow and Me – I Wanna be a Musical” and “Good Passports Bad Passports” by Helena Waldmann.

Another highlight was the Tanztag on 21 October featuring over 150 trial dance classes in seven cities across Hesse. In addition, there was a wealth of events, e.g. tea dances, panel discussions and artist talks, warm-ups and “physical introductions”, interactive post-performance talks and parties.
A new feature to the festival was our bus shuttles, which drove the audience comfortably and on time from one festival venue to the next.

The Tanzfestival Rhein-Main is a once a year event. The first edition, which took place in Darmstadt and Frankfurt in autumn 2016, straightaway inspired 4.000 visitors.

The complete programme in the festival brochure (PDF)