Tjedan suvremenog Plesa DANCE WEEK FESTIVAL is Croatia’s primary international contemporay dance festival, one with one of the longerst traditions in Europe. Over the 40 years, the Festival has presented over 1000 works of international and Croatian dance artists, and has consistently produced works by Croatian dance makers. The Festival was founded by Mirna Zagar, international dance producer. The Festival is produced by the association Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance (Hrvatski institut za pokret i ples www.danceincroatia.com).

This edition of the Festival continues to reflect on sustainability. Who do we dance for, who dances, why do we dance, whose is the dance?

Over the past four decades the Festival has contributed to decentralization and popularization of the Croatian contemporary dance scene and has contributed to its connectivity within Croatia and to international dance networks. Through festival workshops and often also recruiting non-dance related partners, dance has penetrated broadly into diverse facets of Croatian cultural communities; it has also inspired and supported numerous other initiatives across the country contributing to the rise of several generations of dance professionals who are active today in Croatia but also internationally. The Festival has also contributed to the rise of new professions within the arts sector in Croatia: dance dramaturgy, dance production, dance writing and publishing. Thanks to its wide-spread international network DWF has contributed to raising the awareness for Croatian dance artists within an international context (17 EU projects, numerous international cultural exchange projects, specific promotional activity: Netherlands, Italy, France, Denmark, Sweden etc).

The President of Croatian, Stjepan Mesić, awarded the Festival with the Presidential Declaration in 2010 for the contributions made to contemporary dance developments in Croatia.
In 2017., the European Association of Festivals awarded the Festival with the EFFE Label (European Festivals for Europe), supported by the European Commission, in acknowledgement for its continued high quality and contribution to dance reflecting European values.

The Festival is produced by the association Hrvatski institute za pokret i ples – HIPP(Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance), which through its other projects aims to develop interest for contemporary dance and raise awareness of the need for the continued investments of dance-related resources within Croatian society. Through its international activities HIPP connects Croatian dance practitioners to international cultural communities. HIPP has produced several EU projects among which a number were identified by the European Commission as examples of best practices. Through EU project that HIPP has been engaging in, over 100 Croatian dance artists and experts from other sectors, participated in international projects across Europe.

Periodic publishing activity has also fuelled dance research resulting in pioneering publications: Kaspomanija (first ever DVD in sphere of culture, featuring through the lens of the Chamber Ensmble of Free Dance – Komorni ansambl suvremenog plesa, the work and impact of choreographer Milana Broš); Modern Zagreb (the first publication in English which presented a the breadth and impact of modern art in Crotia in the second half of the 20th centry; the publication was commissioned on the occasion of presenting over 400 Croatian artist across diverse disciplines to Danish and Swedish audiences, as part of the inaugural European Cultural Capital project, featuring new European Capitals); Contemporary Dance Development> Ana Maletić – a Biography; and, Korpografije, a critical overview of 20 years of contemporary dance in Croatia through the lens of the Festival.

The Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance, initiated the development of Zagreb Dance Centre, and operated the venue successfully since its opening in 2006 to 2017, establishing programs that form the core current programming strands.

2023 concludes a two-year project Empowering Dance 2 – Soft Skills, The Teaching and Learning Approach https://empowering2.communicatingdance.eu
and we embark on a new three-year project Beyond Fronta, Bridging Periphery https://www.facebook.com/beyondfronta/

2024 is the start of new 3-year EU project Moving Balkans.eu      www.movingbalkans.eu

HIPP is member of the European DanceHouse Network, a European network of dance houses and organizations: https://www.ednetwork.eu

Festival 2024:
Artistic Direction: Mirna Žagar
Producer: Josip Nalis
PR and Marketing: Kristina Krtanjek
Festival Technical Director: Bojan Gagić 

Partners:

Festival Inkluzivne scene, Rijeka  
Zagrebački plesni centar

Perforacije festival 

 Cocoon Dance presentation at the Festival is supported by  the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

The Festival is made possible through the funding support of:
Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske
Grad Zagreb, Ured  za kulturu  i civilno društvo

We thank all participating artists and our our audiences for their contributions and support!