Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival

Organised since 2006 by the Flota Institute, Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival is held annually at the end of August in Murska Sobota, in Slovenia’s eastern Prekmurje region. It features high-quality Slovene and international dance performances, contributing to the decentralisation of the contemporary dance scene, and also offers workshops, artist talks, and improvised dance gatherings.

The festival is regularly co-produced by the MIKK Youth Information Cultural Club, Murska Sobota and the Municipality of Murska Sobota, with other cultural organisations in Murska Sobota occasionally acting as partners.

Programme

Over the past twenty years, the Front@ Festival has presented more than two hundred events and hosted numerous renowned international artists and companies, including Chris Haring and Liquid Loft (AT), Pal Frenak Company (HU, FR), Les SlovaKs (SK), Zagreb Dance Ensemble (CR), Sébastien Ramirez (FR), Radioballet (HU), and Propos (FR), as well as Slovenian creators such as En-Knap Dance Group, Fourklor, and many independent artists. The festival has showcased outstanding contemporary dance productions, some of which began their international trajectory here, and has activated diverse urban spaces as performance venues, including parks, streets, museums, and galleries.

Front@ offers emerging dancers valuable opportunities to present their work, sometimes featuring selected miniatures from OPUS 1 – International Competition of Young Dance Performers, organised by the Dance Programme, Public Fund for Cultural Activities. It also fosters an international network of dance makers and maintains a long-standing tradition of improvisation evenings within the Dance Communication Lab (DCL), bringing together invited dancers, musicians, and guests from various countries. Through round tables, artist talks, and discussions, the festival addresses key issues in contemporary dance, education, and cultural policy, and emphasises the importance of contemporary dance as a critical artistic practice.

International cooperation and networking: Beyond Front@

Drawing on its peripheral position as a point of connection, the festival actively fosters collaboration with neighbouring countries and has successfully led a series of international projects under the umbrella title Beyond Front@, supported by EU funding and connecting partners from Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. Its latest edition, Beyond Front@: Bridging Periphery, co-funded by the Creative Europe Culture Programme, brings together partners from six countries – Sweden, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia (alongside Flota Institute, also the Bunker Institute), and Hungary – with the aim of increasing the visibility and social impact of contemporary dance.

External links

Gallery

Monster Tamer, joint production of the Dance Explorations Beyond Front@ network, 2009

Improvisation Attack, in the frame of the project Dance Communication Lab (DCL), featuring invited dancers, musicians, and other guests from different countries, Flota Institute, 2009

Humorous performance of bedtime antics Expedition Paddock by Tango Sumo (F), performed at Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival, 2013

The Memory of Water written by British playwright Shelagh Stephenson, choreographed by Maša Kolar (HR), performed at Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival, 2013

Front@ Contemporary Dance Festival

Contents

Programme

International cooperation and networking: Beyond Front@

See also

External links

Gallery

Operated by

Financed by