Birmingham International Dance Festival (BIDF) returns to the city 1 – 24 June 2018

In the UK’s leading city for dance, BIDF showcases fantastic choreography in theatres and a takeover of Birmingham’s streets and squares, championing the best of current choreography and putting local talent on an international stage.

Festival celebrates the city exploring themes of imagination, digital art and the diversity of dancer’s bodies.

Choreographers and companies include Wayne McGregor, Rui Horta, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Compagnie Didier Theron, Yasmeen Godder, Rosie Kay, Vera Ondrasikova, Compagnie TPO, ISH Dance Collective, Compagnie Gilles Jobin & Artanim, and Compagnie Dyptik.

Produced by Birmingham-based DanceXchange, working with a rich network of partners.

First festival under Lucie Mirkova sees strong focus on contemporary and current choreography and looks to the future.

• Atomos by Company Wayne McGregor at New Alexandra Theatre on 1 and 2 June.  This is a rare opportunity to see this celebrated choreographer’s work outside London. A beautiful exploration of movement, film, sound and light – where the audience wear 3D glasses for part of the show.
• Continuing the digital theme, Guide by Vera Ondrasikova & Collective makes its UK premiere at The Patrick Studio on 8 and 9 June. Guide is an absorbing audio visual experience in which the past and present become one, as the performer sculpts light watched by an audience immersed in electronic music.
• Leaders in VR technology the Swiss Cie Gilles Jobin & Artanim bring an immersive, fun and unforgettable Virtual Reality experience ideal to share with friends and family. Tracked by an optical motion capture system, five participants at the same time become their own avatar, physically moving in a virtual environment, meeting five virtual dancers in VR_1.
• Challenging the notion of what can be presented on a traditional stage, on 14 June ISH Dance Collective will bring vert ramps and extreme sports to the stage of Birmingham Hippodrome in Elements of Freestyle. A UK premiere, the show will feature a dynamic fusion of live music, dance and theatre with break dance, inline skating, free running, skateboarding, BMX and freestyle basketball.
• Midlands Arts Centre will host a festival family weekend on 16 and 17 June, bursting with an exciting indoor and outdoor programme for children and families to participate, create and watch dance. The highlight is the unmissable Kindur by Company TPO, a magical interactive theatre experience for 5–10 year olds. The whole audience can join in an adventure with the Kindur (Icelandic for sheep) as part of a larger flock, either from their seats or on stage, as their movement triggers sounds, images, music and colours.
• As part of the festival’s focus on the diversity of dancer’s bodies, renowned veteran dancer and choreographer Rui Horta, whose audacity and doggedness has propelled him to get back to the stage after thirty years of absence, presents a deeply personal performance of Wasp at the Patrick Studio on 15 and 16 June. Candoco Dance Company, celebrated for cutting edge work that challenges and broadens perceptions of art and ability, will make a rare visit to the city on 13 and 14 June at Midlands Arts Centre with their double bill by Yasmeen Godder and Hetain Patel.
• From 15 – 23 June, Birmingham Repertory Theatre in association with BIDF 2018, presents the world premiere of Woyzeck. Woyzeck is a celebration of fighting for a better life when everything else seems to be against you. Most of all it's a celebration of the West Midlands spirit as a stellar professional cast is joined by a community chorus of one hundred performers and dancers choreographed by Rosie Kay.
• An exhilarating triple bill, Polarity & Proximity by Birmingham Royal Ballet, 20-23 June, includes a new choreographic work by George Williamson.
• In the final days of the Festival work from Colette Sadler, and Cecilia Bengolea & Florentina Holzinger explore the limits of the body and survival.
• In the Quantum Exhibition Centre James Batchelor and collaborators create the mesmerising installation Deepspace inspired by a trip to the remote volcanic islands of the sub-Antarctic.
• On Saturday 23 June Birmingham International Dance Festival teams up with fierce to close the Festival with Club Fierce, harbouring some of the world’s Fiercest dance outlaws to whom no move is illegal. Full line coming soon.

• Opening the Festival Square on 1 June is Morning Gloryville, the original morning ravers.  The event, part exercise craze, and part mass party, is a city premiere in collaboration with firm favourites from the local music scene and a big headline DJ, to be announced soon.
• Under the title of Birmingham Dances, the opening weekend 2 and 3 June will kick-start the outdoor festivities with a special programme of performances, participatory activities and playful interactive installations, interweaving dance, fitness and movement activities from local talent; featured spectacles such as Marawa The Amazing and her Majorettes, and much more to be announced.
• A special programme celebrating the best of Midlands dance talent takes place 4 to 8 June – supported by Dance Hub Birmingham and West Midlands Railways. Midlands Made commissions are from Andy Ingamells, Rebecca Thomas and Mickael Marso Riviere. Existing work from Becky Namgauds, Johnny Autin, Laura Vanhulle, Maya Verlaak and Sara Macqueen & Christopher Radford will also be featured across lunchtime and early evening presentations.  Also animating the square will be captivating multi-disciplinary artists and local DJs; morning yoga and mindfulness activities, bringing that outdoor summer vibe.

• D-Construction, a high octane hip-hop dance performance with a powerful beat by Compagnie Dyptik, challenging our perception of borders, questioning the profound nature of social links in the public space. What unites us? What separates us? To what extent are we able to question territories, borders and institutions?
• Challenging head on the perceptions of a dancer’s body, Compagnie Didier Theron present the UK premiere of Air, a bold and playful performance where four dancers are dressed in inflatable latex suits which transform and magnify their movements. They will be bouncing into unexpected places around the city centre.
• Ofir Yudilevitch’s Gravitas is a breath-taking duet combining dance and acrobatics performed on an air floor mat. The performers explore the elemental force of gravity, playing with it in one moment and in another becoming pure mass, surrendering to its blind will.