2019 Festival

“Dance is life!”

FESTIVAL AUDIENCE MEMBER, 2019

IDEA is an bi-annual dance encounter of international and local dance performances in Amman, Jordan. It consists of performances, public interventions, master classes, workshops, artist symposium and exchange of ideas. It is an important platform of contemporary dance in Amman for artistic presentation, exchange, and collaboration. World class choreographers, performance directors and dance-makers join with Jordanian dance artists for a cultural celebration from the period of 22 August to 29 August 2019.

For 2019, the 1st edition of IDEA presented 9 cutting-edge dance works from home and abroad, including 46 artists coming from 18 different countries. Among them, 7 international dance performances. IDEA also included two original local productions produced by Studio 8 in collaboration with installation, sound, and light artists from France, Czech Republic and Iran.

IDEA also hosted a variety of learning opportunities, including 8 workshops, a game and a lecture, as well as participatory experiences. The learning opportunities focused on knowledge exchange and cross-disciplinary collaborations. The 8 workshops were led by 17 outstanding international choreographers, performers and artistic directors, teaching and sharing new and enhanced resources for performing arts, including “Release” and “Alexander” techniques, interactive experience of sound, space and movement, games of balance, construction and manipulation of objects, etc.

Finally, IDEA serves as a platform for artistic exchange with its 3-day-symposium (26th, 27th, 28th August, 2019) set for networking and sharing knowledge from international and local cultural experts, curators, educators, teachers, performers and dance-makers. Through presentations, physical games, and creative exercises, artists meet, share, study and discuss together the situation of contemporary dance in Jordan and the process of dance-making.

The first edition of IDEA could not have been possible without the support of multiple local and international organizations. IDEA 2019 is represented by Studio 8 in collaboration with MALAHI Entertainment Inc, Al-shams Theatre, The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Art Hotel, with the support of The Federal Government Commissioner For Culture And The Media, European Union Institutes of Culture – EUNIC, Goethe-Institut Jordanien, The European Union, NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ – NPN, European Cultural Foundation, Compagnia di San Paol, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Pro Helvetia Cairo – Swiss Arts Council, Swisslos / Culture Canton de Bern, Kultur Stadt Bern, Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy, Drosos Foundation, Incapsula, Arab Theatre Training Centre – ATTC, Tamasi Collective, Al Balad Theater.

2019 Program

Inspirational, exquisite, stunning, daring, delightful, heartfelt, and simply beautiful. Download the festival lookbook – IDEA 2019.

Videos

Find out what was behind the scenes. Watch highlights and our favorite moments from IDEA 2019.