IFMC’25: A Five-Day Choreographic Fusion from Italy to Russia
Experience the 36th International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk
From November 26 to 30, Vitebsk will host the 36th International Festival of Modern Choreography, IFMC’25. Over five days, various venues across the city will showcase choreographic ensembles and dancers from Belarus, Russia, Italy, and Germany. On November 28, IFMC guests will present their performances in Minsk at the Youth Theater.
The Main Event: Modern Choreography Competition
The highlight of IFMC is the modern choreography competition, which will take place in a national format this year. Participants from all over Belarus will be presented to the public on the opening day of the festival, November 26, at the Vitebsk Concert Hall. In the second part, the audience will see the divertissement program “Bolero+” by the “Ballet Moscow” troupe of the “New Opera” theater – three dance miniatures staged by three choreographers.
“Tango, Song and Dance”
“Tango, Song and Dance” is a unique anthology of the “love dance” in the aesthetics of the 1950s, set to the music of Andre Previn by choreographer Maxim Sevagin, the artistic director of the ballet troupe of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater.
“Undine” and “Jeux d’eau”
Choreographer Anna Deltsova used Maurice Ravel’s “Undine” as the musical basis for her production, supplementing it with the piano piece “Jeux d’eau”.
“Bolero” Reimagined
The main idea of choreographer Kirill Radev’s new interpretation of Ravel’s famous “Bolero” score is the concept of self-limitation. As Ravel gradually increases the number of instruments, amplifying the sound and the passion in “Bolero,” the choreographer mirrors this technique by intensifying the choreography and increasing the number of dancers on stage towards the climax.
Evening of Modern Choreography “Two Marias”
On the evening of the second day, November 27, festival events will take place simultaneously at two venues. The Vitebsk Regional Philharmonic will host the Evening of Modern Choreography “Two Marias.” The program will include the mono-ballet “The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year,” performed by Maria Tikhonova, a soloist of the Perm Theater “Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov.” The ballet is set to the music of Gustav Mahler by choreographer Sona Ovsepyan, based on the novel by British writer Sue Townsend.
International Guests
Two guest ensembles from Italy and Germany will also perform during the evening. The Spellbound Contemporary Ballet company from Rome, founded in 1994 by choreographer Mauro Astolfi, will bring two productions to Vitebsk: “The Best Place” and “Unknown Woman,” a ballet dedicated to dancer Maria Cossu, who has been a soloist with the company for 25 years. This is a realistic and imagined story performed by the heroine of the production and the choreographer’s muse herself.
Another participant of the evening, Frantiks Dance Company from Berlin, will present the ballet “Ordinary People” with choreography by Marco di Nardo and Juan Tirado to the Vitebsk audience. Tirado was a member of the international jury of IFMC 2024 and returns to the festival this year with his company and a production that explores the paradox of simultaneous competition and cooperation among people in everyday life.
Evening of Belarusian Modern Choreography
On the same day, November 27, the Vitebsk Concert Hall will host the Evening of Belarusian Modern Choreography. In the first part, the audience will see an unusual project at the intersection of choreography and football! The mono-performance “One Man Ball” was staged by choreographer Ekaterina Desheva specifically for Vladislav Kostyuchenko – the world champion in football freestyle (Prague, 2018), a soloist of the “Leningrad-Center” troupe, and a participant in the Cirque de Demain circus festival in Paris. Vladislav creates experimental performances in which the ball is a full-fledged partner in the dance, and improvisation opens new boundaries of stage art. His innovative approach – a synthesis of sports, choreography, and acting – has repeatedly been awarded at the international festival of experimental dance Open Your Mind in the Netherlands.
“The Overcoat. Gogol”
In the second part of the concert on November 27, the Belarusian State Youth Theater will present its performance “The Overcoat. Gogol” to the IFMC audience. By trying on the role of the “little man” through the images of the modern world, the authors of the performance (choreographer Kirill Baltrukov) draw parallels with each of us.
More Choreographic Performances
Another choreographic performance from the repertoire of the Belarusian Youth Theater troupe – “Fragility,” for which tickets in Minsk have been sold out since the premiere – will be shown at the Vitebsk Regional Philharmonic on November 28 at 17:00. This is the first experience of choreographer Alexandra Buyalskaya, the head of the Smart Dance Center for Contemporary Choreography, working with the Youth Theater troupe. “Fragility” is a story about each of us, and that is why it resonates so much in the hearts of the audience. Even being told without words, through the language of choreography, using the plasticity of the human body, gestures, and glances, “Fragility” is such a sensual and deep conversation that performances of the play do not pass without tears in the eyes of the audience…
Evening Dedicated to Choreographer Evgeny Panfilov
On the same evening, November 28 at 19:00, the Vitebsk Concert Hall will host an evening dedicated to choreographer Evgeny Panfilov, the creator of the beloved Vitebsk public Theater “Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov.” This year would have been Panfilov’s 70th birthday… The Vitebsk audience will experience a live dialogue with the Master’s heritage, embodied in the plasticity of his followers: the troupe of the Theater “Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov” from Perm and the laureates of the Panfilov Prize awarded at IFMC: Zaleski Dance Design Show / Theater “D.O.Z.SK.I” (Minsk); Valentina ISAKOVA’s project “X-perIments” (Gomel); Theater-Studio of Modern Choreography (Vitebsk).
Don’t Miss the Unique Evening of Choreography in Minsk
On November 28 at 19:00, a unique evening of choreography will take place in Minsk at the Youth Theater. The program will feature four performances by guest ensembles of the International Festival of Modern Dance IFMC 2025. The first part will present “Unknown Woman” and “The Best Place” by Spellbound Contemporary Ballet (Rome, Italy) with choreography by Mauro Astolfi, and the ballet “Ordinary People” (choreography by Marco Di Nardo, Juan Tirado) by Frantiks Dance Company (Berlin, Germany). In the second part, the audience will see the performance “The Runner,” staged by choreographer Olga Pona in collaboration with the dancers of the Chelyabinsk Theater of Modern Dance (Russia).
The Final and Closing of IFMC’25
On November 29, the final of the Republican Competition of Modern Choreography will take place at the Vitebsk Concert Hall. In the second part of each of the two concerts of the day, performances by festival guests will be shown: “Dialogues” by the Chelyabinsk Theater of Modern Dance (at 16:00) and the one-act ballet “The Doll” by the Theater “Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov” (at 19:00).
The closing of the 36th International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk, IFMC’2025, will take place in the Vitebsk Concert Hall on November 30. In addition to announcing the names and ensembles of the competition laureates, guests will be shown the one-act ballet “Eight Russian Songs,” staged by Evgeny Panfilov for his theater troupe to the music of Russian folk songs performed by Ivan Surzhikov.
For more information, visit the official website of Vitebsk.
