The Thirteenth Belgrade Dance Festival, under the slogan “Happiness is danced“, was opened in Sava Centre on Saturday night with the performance by the legendary Nederlands Dans Theatre, which presented to the local audience their three pieces, “Shoot the Moon”, “The door is missing” and “Stop-Motion”.
After the spectacle of the Dutch company, the organisers of the Belgrade Dance Festival and general sponsor of the festival, Vip mobile, hosted a cocktail reception for numerous representatives of cultural and public life. Among the fans of modern dances were the actors Slaven Došlo, Lena Bogdanović and Maja Suša, journalist Duška Jovanić, photographer Miša Obradović and many others.
This year’s edition of the festival, was opened by the famous French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, who invited the audience to enjoy more than 30 choreographic settings from 15 companies originating from 13 countries worldwide.
The wavy paths of artistic dance will bring to Serbia even more famous names – e.g. Dimitris Papaioannou, who is known as the creator of the choreography from the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and London 2012, as well as choreographer and director of the New York group “Complexions” Dwight Roden, who created the choreography for the company “Cirque du Soleil”, and his colleague Desmond Richardson, who is remembered by the general public by his appearances with big stars such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, as well as by the films “Chicago” and “Last game”.
Belgrade Dance Festival this year brings two international premieres, as well as many parallel programs aimed at the local dance community.
“Belgrade Dance Festival has the privilege to offer local audiences a diverse artistic expression, from ballet aesthetics to physical theatre, and this year we are especially proud because we managed to bring the renowned productions that we were waiting for several years,” said Aja Jung, founder and director of the Belgrade Dance festival.
“Number thirteen does not scare us, on the contrary, it motivates us to do even better edition, and put on our cultural scene some new artistic achievements. Communication and dance, represent the common foundation on which rests the cooperation of Vip and the Belgrade Dance Festival” said Dejan Turk, CEO of Vip mobile.
As a long-time sponsor of the festival, Vip has been giving, for nine years, a great contribution to the development of artistic dance in Serbia and in the region, through projects such as the award “Vip calls” journalism prize “Vip breakthrough”, a project for the youngest “Vip talents” and support the National Dance Foundation. This year’s laureate “Vip calls,” Zorana Marković, ballet-masters, pedagogues and choreographers of “Tranz Lucerne” in Switzerland, the audience will have the opportunity to greet the finale of this cultural event in the Opera Madlenianum, on the 10th of April with a thunderous applause.
More information about this year’s edition, as well as the overall programme of the Belgrade Dance Festival can be found at: www.belgradedancefestival.com.