euro-scene Leipzig

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The euro-scene Leipzig - festival of contemporary European theater and dance - was founded in 1991 and takes place annually in November. It brings experimental theater and innovative dance from all over Europe to Leipzig and is one of the city's cultural highlights. The euro-scene Leipzig is the only festival for contemporary theater and modern dance in the new federal states and is one of the most important of its kind in Europe.

The festival shows the current developments in the European theater and dance scene and presents around 12 different guest performances each year with a total of around 25 performances in around 8 different venues. This includes the stages of Schauspiel Leipzig and Opera as well as those of the independent scene and unusual, newly discovered places. The duration is 6 days each (Tuesday to Sunday). The program is in the hands of festival director Ann-Elisabeth Wolff and the artistic advisory board. From 2021 Christian Watty will be the new festival director and artistic director of the euro-scene Leipzig.

In addition to the people of Leipzig, more and more spectators come from the surrounding area, other German cities and abroad. In addition, the festival is a fixed point of contact for national and international specialist colleagues.

Program selection

Important criteria for the selection of artists are: high professionalism, international quality, innovation , extremely individual artistic signature, courage to aesthetic experiment. The euro-scene Leipzig detects new tendencies, is committed to time-related and socially committed issues, is a hub between Western and Eastern Europe and transcends genre boundaries. Above all, the productions should touch people, excite, but also disturb, provide food for thought and discussion material.

The festival program is made up of both "big names" - directors and choreographers who are already established on the international theater and dance scene - as well as young companies to be discovered and promoted. The city's own artistic powers are selectively included in international events. The competition “The best German dance solo” developed into one of the festival highlights, designed by the important Flemish choreographer Alain Platel from Ghent / Belgium. This competition has been held biennially since 1997 on the now legendary 7 meter diameter round table.

The euro-scene Leipzig has been choosing a motto or thematic focus for many years in order to concentrate the guest performances and avoid the offer of a “general store”. The headings were, for example, “The structure of our own” (2004), “Elective affinities” (2005), “Consonances - Dissonances” (2006), “Splits” (2007), “Staggering on a smooth sea” (2008), “ Sonnenfinsternis ”(2009),“ Spurensuche ”(2010),“ Tonstören ”(2011),“ Herbstzeitlose ”(2012),“ Schwarze Milch ”(2013) and“ Transit ”(2014). At the euro-scene Leipzig 2015, a motto was dispensed with due to the anniversary. Instead, the festival took place under the heading "25 years - a festival". A supporting program with discussions, workshops and films complement the festival. In 2016 the motto of the festival was “But I'm nowhere, oh! at home". The focus was on a retrospective of the puppeteer Nikolaus Habjan from Vienna. The 2017 festival was held under the motto "Excavations" and showed reconstructions of historically significant choreographies as well as contemporary new creations as well as the 13th edition of the competition "The best German dance solo".

The next euro-scene Leipzig will take place from November 6th to 11th, 2018.

Structure, team and budget

The euro-scene Leipzig is organized by the Saxon Association for the Promotion of the Cultural Exchange of National and International Dance and Theater Groups e. V. organizes. The team consists of three permanent employees (managing director and artistic director, management assistant, administrative manager) as well as temporary staff (technical management, press and public relations, graphic design).

The festival is financed by the city of Leipzig and the Free State of Saxony. In addition, there is support for guest performances from foundations and national cultural representatives, e.g. B. Messages. After the contract with the multi-year main sponsor BMW-Werk Leipzig expired in 2012, the euro-scene Leipzig was looking for new partners, without whom the festival was faced with a difficult and existential situation from 2013 onwards. The media partners are Friday , the Leipziger Zeitung and the Leipziger Internet Zeitung, and the cultural partners are MDR Kultur and ARTE .

Networking

The national and international contacts are extremely diverse. The festival has been a member of the IETM (International network for contemporary performing arts), based in Brussels, the most important network for independent theater in Europe with around 500 members, since 1992, and provides important public relations and representation for the city of Leipzig, the Free State of Saxony and the new federal states.

Furthermore, the euro-scene Leipzig has been a member of the International Theater Institute (ITI), Paris - Center for the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin since 1994 .

The euro-scene Leipzig has been one of the 10 co-organizers of the German Dance Platform (with institutions in Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt / Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart), the most important festival for innovative dance of the Federal Republic. The Germany Dance Platform is an event of international standing and is held in a different city every two years.

The Saxon Association for the Promotion of Cultural Exchange of National and International Dance and Theater Groups e. Due to the great reputation of the euro-scene Leipzig, V. was entrusted with the organization and implementation of the dance platform Germany 2002. Under the project management of Ann-Elisabeth Wolff and co-director of Michael Freundt, long-time employee of the euro-scene Leipzig, a dance platform took place in the new federal states for the first time. More than 350 organizers and journalists from all over the world as well as 35 representatives from Goethe Institutes came to Leipzig from February 6th to 10th, 2002 and experienced 24 choreographies in around 45 performances.

The artistic advisory board

In 1995 an artistic advisory board was founded, alternating between 3 and 5 internationally known experts in contemporary theater. The members exercise an advisory function and represent the festival on an international level. The advisory board currently consists of the following people:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Watty will be the new festival director and artistic director of the euro-scene Leipzig from 2021. In: Theater of Time . September 12, 2019, accessed August 18, 2020 .