Sola festival
Solo Festival (international festival of solo choreographies, performances and photographs) is the first festival of that kind which will be held in our country, produced and organised by the Belgrade Dance Institute. The Festival will be held in May 2021 and will last up to five days, with the idea to become a regular annual festival.
Why Solo Festival, especially in the situation when there has already been the Belgrade Dance Festival, the Monodrama and Pantomime Festival in Zemun, as well as many other festivals?
This festival will offer presentations of artistic forms characteristic for the 21st century, which lean on the history of dance and visual arts but have grown into some new forms that correspond excellently with contemporary audience and with the time we live in.
The process of creating a solo dance show or a solo performance implies only one performer on the stage, just as the festival name speaks for itself; on one hand, the process contains a deep individual research, and on the other hand, it contains the capacity for revealing and putting in the state of vulnerability not only of the performers but also of the audience. A festival of this kind celebrates the exciting possibility of solo performing as a form of personal and artistic expression and rebellion. An individual voice, a solo instrument, a body has the power to create a visible and loud gesture, which often makes a stronger effect than a group work.
Modern stage forms such as contemporary solo dance, or the forms coming from modern visual art, such as performance and photograph, are most present on the world art scene, so that a festival of this kind would put our country and city at par with the world artistic events.
When an educational institution of the highest level in the field of artistic dance and its form such as the Belgrade Dance Institute is the main spiritus movens and the axis of this festival, then our young artists and students are offered great opportunities to connect with the art epitomes of the world and to learn from the best. In this way, continuity in education and professional work in these fields is made sure, and our young people are also provided with the situation in which they do not have to leave their country and work abroad in order to be active professional artists in their field of work. On the other hand, our audience will be given a chance to see what is the most modern and most interesting in these fields.
During the days when the festival is taking place, it will present solo dance and performance projects, photograph exhibitions with an appropriate topic, it will organise a series of professional workshops, discussions and debates, as well as films.