News

A wonderful CircusDanceFestival 2023 is behind us. After the dismantling and a few days of summer sleep, we are still full of this inspiring festival experience with all the performances, films, parties, talks and encounters. It was a lot of fun! We want to say a big thank you to everyone who contributed in so many ways to make this festival happen!

Here you can browse through the program 2023 again.
For some visual impressions, please have a look at our archive.
The CDFthek is also happy to provide you with exciting input on the topics of contemporary circus and dance, e.g. with films, talks or articles.

We are going on summer break.

A nice time wishes the CircusDanceFestival-Team

We are looking for German speaking people who would like to support us as part of the awareness team at the CircusDanceFestival. The assignment days are from May 24 to 29, 2023 at the festival site in Cologne Riehl and will be compensated. All further information can be found in our Open Call (only available in German).
You are also welcome to take a look at our awareness concept, which we are currently revising together with the Initiative Feministischer Circus (IFC).

We are looking for helping hands who would like to support us during the festival period from May 20 to 29 in the areas of box office, admission, bar or artist:inside support. If you are interested, please contact us at support@overhead-project.de. Here you can find more information.

From now on you can view the program for CircusDanceFestival 2023 and buy tickets.

Also you can watch our brandnew festival teaser in our CDFthek.

Have fun and see you at the end of May!

From May 20 to 29, 2023, the 4th edition of CircusDanceFestival will take place in Cologne. Contemporary circus meets contemporary dance: that is the basic constant of this model project initiated in 2019 by the company Overhead Project as part of the TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund excellence funding. In 2023, the CircusDanceFestival will be funded as an individual project by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Curated once again by the Cologne circus artist and choreographer Tim Behren, this edition places the body at the center of social negotiations. It is about the political body, our relationship to human and non-human bodies, our relation to architectures and our physical environment.

The diverse stage program of this year's festival, with 23 different international works and a total of 34 performances, will be accompanied by panel discussions, film evenings, concert performances and festival parties, among other events. Feminist circus perspectives and interdisciplinary explorations around "grotesque" bodies reflect on the historical and colonial legacy of the circus. The VOICES magazine with the focus "Re-exploring grotesque bodies - circus perspectives on diverse bodies" accompanies the CircusDanceFestival and is already published by Verlag Theater der Zeit at the beginning of May.

What's special this year: to kick off the festival on the weekend before Whitsun, Contemporary Circus for all will be coming to town on May 20 and 21. For free and outside around the Haus der Architektur on the Joseph-Haubrich-Hof the CircusDanceFestival celebrates an extraordinary encounter of architecture, body, acrobatics and dance in public space.

From Wednesday, May 24, the festival grounds at An der Schanz in the north of Cologne will host the multifaceted world of international contemporary circus and dance until Whit Monday (May 29).

Detailed information on the festival program and the opportunity to purchase tickets will be available here on the festival homepage from the beginning of April 2023.

For the period from April 3rd - June 30th 2023 we are looking for an intern who would like to organise a fantastic CircusDanceFestival 2023 with our production team!

More Info (only in DE)

Workbook Theater der Zeit | Can be purchased now!

Over the past fifty years, the circus has undergone a remarkable transformation. Progressive circus forms have gained a new position within society internationally as "contemporary circus." The workbook is dedicated to this still young circus form and presents analyses, interviews, commentaries, extensive photographic material and artistic positions of international and German circus artists. With the additional special insert of the VOICES magazine "Re-thinking objects" the book dives deep into the current circus-aesthetic discourse on new materialisms and also takes up the connections to contemporary dance.

To order

To the VOICES III magazine "Re-thinking objects

The expert jury of the Performing Arts Fund awards the Tabori Award 2022, endowed with 15,000 euros, to Overhead Project. The award honors a unique signature of the fusion of contemporary dance and contemporary circus, which creates a performative language of its own that makes a special contribution to both establishing and communicating the formats and their differentiated thematic worlds.
The Tabori Prize is the highest award for the independent performing arts in Germany. In addition to this, the jury awards three prizes. In doing so, it reacts to current developments and honors experimental, courageous formats by artists and groups who have convinced through a unique upcoming or through continuous developments of an experimental format.
On May 25, 2022, the Fonds Darstellende Künste will present the Tabori Prize and the Tabori Awards for the thirteenth time in a hybrid award ceremony at HAU Hebbel am Ufer and online in a live stream in the presence of the Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth.

To the Tabori Awards 2022

Further event information

The CircusDanceFestival is looking for body-intensive short pieces at the artistic interface between contemporary circus and dance. These are to be shown on the 360° open air stage (with air truss) as part of the CircusDanceFestival 2023.

Applications can be sent in until Monday, December the 5th.

Further information

The CircusDanceFestival is looking for film contributions for the open air cinema program on the one hand, and research or artistic works that deal with the interface between contemporary circus, new technologies and digitality on the other hand.

Applications can be sent in until Monday, December 5th.

Further information

Workbook Theater der Zeit | To be published in July 2022

Over the past fifty years, the circus has undergone a remarkable transformation. Progressive circus forms have gained a new position within society internationally as "contemporary circus." The workbook is dedicated to this still young circus form and presents analyses, interviews, commentaries, extensive photographic material and artistic positions of international and German circus artists. With the additional special insert of the VOICES magazine "Re-thinking objects" the book dives deep into the current circus-aesthetic discourse on new materialisms and also takes up the connections to contemporary dance.

To the publication preview

Between November 11 and 13, the nationwide festival Zeit für Zirkus, the German counterpart to the French Nuit du Cirque, takes place. In Cologne, you can even experience circus for a whole week at numerous venues. The CircusDanceFestival is also participating in this with two film evenings and one show:

On November 7 at 5 p.m., we will show three film portraits on French circus artist Chloé Moglia, the Cologne collective Raum für Zirkus and Swiss Julian Vogel in the Filmforum NRW at Museum Ludwig.

On November 12 at 5 p.m., you can see two films, one about computer scientist and juggler Adrien Mondot and sculptor Claire Bardainne, and the other about French-based artist Claudio Stellato at Filmhaus Köln.

On both evenings, Tim Behren and Jenny Patschovsky will introduce the art form of contemporary circus and give an insight into the young publication "Circus in Flux", which they have published with the publisher Theater der Zeit.

On November 10 at 2 pm + on November 12 at 1 pm you can experience the juggler Benjamin Richter with "Taktil" at the Haus der Architektur.

We invite you to have a look at the Zeit für Zirkus website for further information on the programme in Cologne and other German cities.

In October and November the CircusDanceFestival invites the artists Marija Baranauskaité, Ting Kuan Zhao and the make a move collective to Cologne. For a period of one week each they can dedicate themselves to their current projects, develop (further) artistically and experiment with where they want to go with their project.

We are already very happy to welcome the three artists and hope for a creative time!

Here you have an insight into former residencies.

As part of the residency program, the CircusDanceFestival invites applications for two rehearsal residencies in Cologne for fall 2022. The call is aimed at professional artists and companies working at the interface of contemporary circus and dance. Submissions from related fields such as physical theater, puppet theater or performance art are also possible.

Further information and application formalities

We are looking for young people from a performing arts field (dance, circus, drama etc.) for the ensemble KoEFFEKT. The ensemble will create a piece that dares to combine contemporary circus and contemporary dance. Literary works by the author Haruki Murakami will serve as the inspiration for this year's KoEFFEKT production.

KoEFFEKT represents an annually changing ensemble under an existing name. The production as well as the rehearsals will run under the direction of Tanja Manderfeld and Tim Plegge. This work is a part of the support project of the youth and young talent section Young Savages.

A Work In Progress Showing will take place before the premiere at the CircusDanceFestival 2023. A performance opportunity is also the festival Zeit für Zirkus, the German cooperation partner of the international Nuit du Cirque.

For more information and to register for auditions on Nov. 5 and 6 between 10 am and 5 pm, click here.

We are overwhelmed by the CircusDanceFestival 2022! For the first time the festival could take place live and on site.
On the festival grounds on the banks of the Rhine we had intense and playful performances, discussion-rich film evenings, talks and workshops as well as exuberant silent parties.
A big thank you for this common and inspiring time goes to all artists and companies, technicians, supporters and the team. And of course to our new audience, who came to the festival in such large numbers for the first time.
Our festival photographer has accompanied the 5 days and captured many beautiful moments. You can find these and an aftermovie from our festival filmmaker on our impressions page.
In the CDFthek the festival continues digitally, with the documentaries shown for the first time, the artist-talks and the new VOICES magazine "Re-thinking objects".

On the long Whitsun weekend of 2022, the CircusDanceFestival will finally be able to take place live in Cologne, with a select program of pieces that move in the realm of contemporary circus, dance and performance. In order to make this possible, we are looking for volunteers to help out on site as stand-ins, in the shift team for the bar, in looking after the artists or in designing the grounds. So if you feel like getting involved and helping to put on an unusual Cologne festival for five days with a big team, you've come to the right place. You can find all the information in the attached PDF.

Support PDF

The Cologne TANZPAKT project CircusDanceFestival is in the starting blocks for the 2022 edition.
The body and its relationships to space, objects and architecture, as well as a look at the political body that frees itself from common attributions, are the focus of this year's festival program.

With more than 20 artistic positions in the form of performances in the circus tent, site-specific performances, performative exhibitions, and an evening film program in the open-air cinema, the CircusDanceFestival invites you for five days to discover artists:inside who present the experimental field of contemporary circus forms as well as highly physical forms of dance and performance.

To the program