The CircusDanceFestival is one of the pilot projects of the federal funding TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund. The company Overhead Project is initiating a model project in Cologne that is dedicated to current artistic forms of contemporary circus in the border area to dance in Germany. Beside the festial at the heart of the project it offers space for creation, research and discourse. Cologne, as a hub in the neighborhood of circus countries such as Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic, becomes an international festival center every year. The project focuses on aesthetically experimental and political forms of circus, dance and performance. Discourse, creation and young talent are also promoted in several project pillars: Residency and co-production programs, university projects, youth and young talent support program ‘Junge Wilde’, professional symposia and the magazine VOICES.