The International Dance Theatres Festival (since 1997) launched by Hanna Strzemiecka, the Artistic Director of the Lublin University of Technology Contemporary Dance Group (since 1993) and later Lublin Dance Theatre (since 2001). From the beginning, the festival has been aimed at art, education and promotion. Therefore, apart from performances various dance workshops, seminars and lectures (and since 2009 a science conference co-organized by the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University), presentations of films (Kino Tańca) and meetings with artists take place at the festival. Currently, Lublin Dance Theatre, i.e. Ryszard Kalinowski, Wojciech Kaproń, Anna Żak and Beata Mysiak, have been responsible for the concept of the festival – referring to Hanna Strzemiecka’s vision, she is still art consultant for the event – and its organization.
The festival gathers artists from all over Europe and the world, focusing on a multitude of aesthetics, chorographical styles and cultural diversity. The organizers of the festival observe the evolution of dance and its creative dialogue with other arts, therefore artistic pluralism of expression and experiments, being the basis of the festival, were recently incorporated into subsequent editions of the festival. For instance, at the 10th jubilee edition performances from all continents were presented; at the 11th edition, Western European artists (where, as written, “artistic freedom was always in place”) were confronted with Central European artists where dance theatre has only a ten year history (Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey); and the newest editions were dedicated to mutual relations between dance/choreography and the other arts, respectively: visual arts (2008, accompanied with a final exhibition of works inspired by festival presentations), literature (2009) and music (2010). While recent line-ups of the festival are organized, diversity of artistic approaches and the willingness to inspire combined art activities from different fields – both from the West and the East – are inherent elements of the festival.
Before Poznań Old Brewery (Old Brewery New Dance Programme, coordinated by Joanna Leśnierowska) was launched, it was the Lublin festival, which gathered artists such as Peter Pleyer & Eszter Gall, Jonathan Burrows and New Art Club (UK), Yann Marrusich (Switzerland), Yasmeen Godder Dance Company (Israel) – all have visited Poznań in the last few years – as well as many many other artists – who used to return to Lublin (and Poland, for other events) and became regular guests of the festival– such as Joe Alter Group and Johannes Wieland Company (USA), Compagnie Stanisław Wiśniewski (France), Nanine Linning Company (Netherlands), groups from the East, including Aura Dance Theatre (Lithuania), Quadro Contemporary Dance Group (Belarus), artists from Russia, Spain, Italy… and Polish artists, from the Silesian Dance Theatre and Polish Dance Theatre, Alter Theatre, Dada von Bzdülöw, Okazjonalny (Occasion) Theatre, Iwona Olszowska as well as the youngest artists, including Izabela Chlewińska, Konrad Szymański and Dominika Knapik.
