Amala Dianor, Emanuel Gat, Dorothée Munyaneza, Gisèle Vienna, and more: At the initiative of the Institut Français, the greatest artists of contemporary Francophone dance are visiting the United Kingdom for a unique festival. Taking place over four months and 50 performances, FranceDance UK invites 14 artists and companies to perform at 16 British festivals and theatres.

A cultural link between two countries

Created by the Paris Institut Français in 2007, the FranceDance festival has travelled the world since its creation. It has notably been presented in China, Quebec and New York. Buoyed by its success, the Festival is focusing on nine cities in the United Kingdom for its 2019 edition: Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Nottingham and Salford. François Chaignaud will perform at the Royal Festival Hall in London, the (La)Horde collective at the Belfast International Arts Festival, Josette Baïz at the Birmingham Hippodrome, among many others. Discover the full programme. “FranceDance UK will start conversations between French and British artists, with the aim of leaving a lasting legacy in both countries. This applies notably to the new partnership between the Birmingham Hippodrome and the Chaillot National Dance Theatre in Paris, and between the Grenoble CCN and the Belfast International Arts Festival, for example", explains Sarah Bagshaw, director of the arts department at the British Council France, partner of the event.

An edition dedicated to 7 female choreographers

The mission of this 2019 edition is to introduce an international audience to contemporary dance, through a programme dedicated to promoting diversity. Under the aegis of Carlos Acosta CBE, international dancer, choreographer and future director of the Royal Ballet in Birmingham, FranceDance UK honours the work of seven female choreographers: Josette Baïz (Hommage à Trisha Brown, 2015), Jennifer Lacey (Extended Hermeneutics, 2019), Chloé Moglia (La Spire, 2019), Dorothée Munyaneza (Unwanted, 2017), Clémentine Vanlerberghe and Fabritia D'Intino (Plubel, 2019), and Gisèle Vienne (Crowd, 2017). Rwandan choreographer Dorothée Munyaneza notably addressed the issue of rape as a weapon of war in her show Unwanted, through the stories of women who have been raped. The programme puts women's voices at the heart of the festival, alongside many emerging talents, such as Jennifer Lacey, and more experienced ones, such as Emanuel Gat, an Israeli choreographer and artist who works with the Chaillot National Theatre.

A programme sparkling with premiers

A real highlight of the Institut français' 2019 cultural programming, FranceDance UK will also feature many premiers. This is the case for the show Another Look at Memory, a retrospective of Thomas Lebrun's work presented at the Coronet Theatre in London, and for La Spire by Chloé Moglia, a show combining music and circus.

Having opened at the London Institut Français on 10th July, the FranceDance festival will take up residence starting on 8th August at the Edinburgh International Festival, and will continue through 12th November 2019.