|
|
The author of the idea, the founder and director
of the festival Marina Romanovskaya: |
 |
«Nowadays Vitebsk is often mentioned as
the cultural capital of Belarus. It's very nice to hear
but we know that back in the early XX century our city
was one of the centers of European culture, first of all,
due to the avant-garde, which has already become the world
classics. With the Festival we contribute to Vitebsk revival
as a part in the global creative process. Facing numerous
difficulties related to non-commercial character of the
project, we could feel the support of the city itself,
its mysterious inner aura, hidden from extraneous look.
The main property of the IFMC is people who believe that
the international language of dance helps us understand
each other and ourselves. I'm firmly convinced that flashes
of the new talents on the Festival stage are worth of
any efforts. We are grateful to all our friends in various
countries and we hope to meet more confederates who realize
that the best of today's avant-garde will become the classics
of XXI century». |
|
  |
History |
|
 |
The
International Festival of modern choreography in Vitebsk
takes place annually since 1987. Initially, it was an
experiment with the aim of finding among the choreographers
and ballet companies those who had been exploring either
intuitively or deliberately contemporary forms and techniques
of dance. Several years of search made it clear that the
undertaking was a success. IFMC grew into the biggest
and the most prestigious forum of the contemporary dance
in the countries of former USSR. The festival has discovered
and made renowned the names of “pioneers”. Among them
were “Still life factory” (Vladimir Polyakov, Moscow),
“Aura” dance theatre (Berute Lietucaite, Kaunas, Lithuania),
Nickolay Ogryzkov’s contemporary dance school (Moscow),
dance theater “Provincial dances” (Yekaterinburg), “Fine
five dance theater” (Rene Nymmik, Tallinn, Estonia), Natalya
Fiksel’s dance theater (Novosibirsk), Elena Bogdanovich’s
studio (Moscow), “Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet” theater (Perm).
The outstanding works of the above companies have become
a “treasury” of the Festival, whose history is bonded
indissolubly with their creative biographies.
The IFMC remains open to the daring projects of young
choreographers and dancers. Its main event is the International
Competition biennale in two nominations: one-act ballet
and choreographic miniature. This is the only competition
in the world where the works are estimated as a whole
(i.e. neither choreography nor technical skills are judged
separately, but the entire creative work). According to
the rules, Grand Prix is only awarded for the work, which
is performed in Vitebsk for the first time and is considered
by the International Jury to be an outstanding piece of
art.
Aside from the Competition itself, master-classes by well-known
choreographers and teachers, research seminars on the
art history as well as performances, photo-exhibitions,
video-shows, news conferences and round tables are included
into the Festival program. Over 40 prominent ballet troupes
and solo dancers from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia,
Moldova, Poland, USA, Germany, France, Netherlands, Israel,
China, Japan have performed at IFMC within recent years.
Among the accredited media were “Culture” weekly (Minsk),
“Literature and art” weekly (Minsk), “Beloruskaya delovaya
gazeta” weekly (Minsk), “Komsomolskaya Pravda” daily
(Moscow), “Ballet” magazine (Moscow), “Moscow tribune”
weekly, “Itogi” weekly (Moscow), “Dance Magazine” (USA),
“Les Saisons de la Dance” magazine (France), “Ballet
Internationale” (Germany), “Dancer’s Path” (Japan),
Belarusian National TV Company, Russian State Television,
Estonian TV Company etc.
|
|
|
 |
|
  |
The members
of the International Competition Jury: |
 |
Valentin Yelizariev - choreographer, professor, artistic
director and chief choreographer of the National Academic
Bolshoy Theatre Ballet of Belarus
Raza Hammadi - choreographer, artistic director of the
“Jazz-art ballet”, France
Alain Bernard - choreographer, the president of the Swiss
Association of ballet artists, Switzerland
Benjamin Feliksdal - choreographer, teacher, Netherlands
Pascale Just - art historian, critic, France
Valery Panov - choreographer, artistic director of the
“Panov ballet theatre of Israel”
Leonid Kozlov - choreographer, artistic director of the
“Dance International Company”,
USA.
Kenji Usui - art historian, critic, professor and director
of the Russian ballet Academy in Tokyo, Japan
Xiao Suhua - choreographer, professor of Beijing Choreographic
Institute, China
Serge Peyrat - art historian, deputy director of the “Theatre
de la Ville”, France
Alla Sigalova - choreographer, artistic director of “Independent
troupe” theatre, Russia
Mark Heim - choreographer, teacher and ballet master,
USA
Evgeny Panfilov - choreographer, artistic director of
the State “Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet”
theatre, Russia
Sigrid Gareis - art historian, critic, Germany
Askold Makarov - professor, artistic director and chief
choreographer of the State ballet theatre “Choreographic
miniature”, Russia
Lorren Barret - art historian, artistic director of the
Contemporary dance festival “Choreo-graphique”, France
The participants of the
IFMC research seminars: |
Guri Baryshev - professor of the University of Culture,
Belarus.
Julia Tshurko - doctor of art history, professor, head
of the sub-faculty of choreography of the Belarusian Academy
of Music, Belarus
Valeria Uralskaya - professor, vice-president of the association
of choreographers of Russia, editor-in-chief of the “Ballet”
magazine, Russia
Larisa Barykina - musical and ballet critic, chief of
musical and literary department of Yekaterinburg opera
and ballet theatre, Russia
Audronis Imbrasas - author of survey on dance for the
“Lietuvos rytas” weekly, head of the Lithuanian centre
of the information on dance, Lithuania
Natalya Dmitrieva - art historian, head of department
of the Theatrical Union of Russia
Mitsuko Miyazaky - art historian, ballet critic, Japan
Vladimir Kotykhov - art historian, ballet critic, Russia
Philippe Verrielle - Editor-in-chief of the “Le Saisons
de la Dance” magazine, France
Olga Gerdt - ballet critic, Russia
Emil Dimitrov - the Chairman of the Foundation of the
International ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria |
The master-class teachers:
Frederic Lescure
Pascaline Verrier (France)
Barbara Hailey
Mark Heim (USA)
Christine Brunel (Germany)
Valery Panov
Natalya Shupaeva (Israel)
Nickolay Ogryzkov
Evgeny Panfilov
Tatiana Baganova
Natalya Fiksel
Olga Pona (Russia)
Rene Nymmik (Estonia)
Teng Aimin (China)
|
|
|
 |
|
  |
The participants of the IFMC
International Competition /1992 - 1999/ |
 |
Belarus:
Russia:
Ukraine:
Poland:
Uzbekistan:
Estonia:
Azerbaijan:
Latvia:
Israel:
Lithuania:
China:
Moldova:
Japan:
Netherlands:
|
 |
|
“Lanthanides” theatre, Minsk
“Gostitsa” folk-theatre, Minsk
“TAD” contemporary dance group, Grodno
“Quadro” contemporary dance group, Gomel
“Gallery” modern ballet, Grodno
Troupe of the sub-faculty of choreography of the Belarusian
University of Culture,
Minsk
Troupe of the Belarusian State Choreographic College,
Minsk
“Natalya Furman’s little ballet”, Minsk
Radu Poclitaru project, Minsk
“Still life factory”, Moscow
“Dance-College” contemporary dance group, Toliatti
“Free ballet” company, Moscow
Ballet troupe of theatre of a musical comedy, St. Petersburg
“Graphic ballet” company, Moscow
Natalya Fiksel’s dance theater, Novosibirsk
“Jazz-Andre” company, Moscow
“Russian seasons”, ballet, Moscow
“Art ballet” company, Moscow
“The road from the town” dance theatre, Kazan
“Avers” ballet, Novokuznetsk
Alexander Kukin’s dance theatre, St. Petersburg
Antonina Krasnova’s dance studio, Moscow
“Paradox” jazz-ballet, Moscow
“Choreographic miniatures” State Academic theatre of ballet,
St.-Petersburg
Elena Bogdanovich project, Moscow
Contemporary dance group of Tcheliabinsk Institute of
culture and arts
“Provincial dances” theatre, Yekaterinburg
“Small theatre”, St.-Petersburg
Tcheliabinsk contemporary dance theatre
“Evgeny Panfilov’s ballet” theatre, Perm
Maya Popova’s dance theatre, St. Petersburg
“Kinetic” dance theatre, Moscow
“Cannon dance” jazz-modern dance school, St. Petersburg
“Nota bene” troupe, Moscow
“Contrasts” dance theatre, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski
“Moscow” russian chamber ballet
“Graffiti” dance theatre, Yaroslavl
Taisia Korobeinikova’s mono theatre, Tcheliabinsk
“Vampyter” dance theatre, Novosibirsk
“Mar'in spev” group, Severouralsk
“Free movement territory” dance theatre, Moscow
“Kypling” independent dancing team, Yekaterinburg
Elena Konnova’s independent troupe, Moscow
“Elta” dance theatre, Yelets
“Visavi” dance theatre, Saransk
Maria Bolshakova’s contemporary dance studio, St. Petersburg
Natalya Agulnik’s contemporary dance theatre, Kaliningrad
National University
Olga Bavdilovich’s studio, Vladivostok
Contemporary dance theatre, Volgograd
“Color-ballet”, Herson
“Empire of dance” free ballet school, Dnepropetrovsk
Alla Rubina’s dance theatre, Kiev
“Other dancing” contemporary dance school, Dnepropetrovsk
Lublin dance theatre
“Reggy” dance theatre, Dushanbe
“Nord Star” dance theatre, Tallinn
“Fine five dance theatre”, Tallinn
Troupe of the choreographic school, Baku
Olga Zitluhina’s modern dance company, Riga
Erika Tsimbrovskaya’s dance theatre, Eilat
Yaron Margolin’s ballet theatre, Jerusalem
“The three from Vilnius” company
“Aura” dance theatre, Kaunas
Rasa Maguilayte’s project, Vilnius
«Fluidus» ballet, Kaunas
“Beijing modern dance Company”, Beijing
“Guangdong modern dance Company”, Guangdong
“Arbore” chamber ballet, Kishinev
“Chizu Shoda modern dance fragment”, Tokyo
Danilo Mazzotta, Amsterdam
|
|
|
|