The Festspielhaus Hellerau was built in 1911 as a festival theatre and educational institution for rhythm according to the visions of the pioneer of modern architecture Heinrich Tessenow and the music educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. As the cultural centre of the first German garden city, the legendary building attracted artists from all over Europe to Hellerau until 1914, including Rilke, Kafka, Diaghilew, Van de Velde, Kokoschka, Gropius, Van der Rohe, Werfel, Busoni, Milhaud, Le Corbusier, Nolde and Stefan Zweig.
Today HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts in the Festspielhaus Hellerau is one of the most important international centres for contemporary arts in Germany and Europe. With around 350 events a year, HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary co-production and guest theatre and offers the contemporary arts of dance, theatre, performance, music and media art spaces for production and presentation.
Under the motto "Who are we and who am I?", the dance and performance programme in the season 2023/24 deals with questions about origins, identities and communities. Artists explore their family backgrounds, their (cultural) heritage - but also their self-chosen communities and places of belonging. Various music projects present unusual constellations between old music, new music and digital arts. In addition, the programme includes eight premieres of co-productions by independent performing ensembles.
With the dance piece "Carcaça"by Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira, HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts opens the 2023/24 season. In this piece, Marco da Silva Ferreira draws on contemporary urban dance forms, often developed by minority groups, and combines them with folkloric heritage. The result is a joyful corps de ballet accompanied live by drums, percussion and electric sounds (15 - 17.09.2023).
In autumn 2023, HELLERAU will cooperate for the first time with the biennial Swiss festival Culturescapes, which has been promoting a cross-border cultural dialogue for many years, in the focus "Dance Forms - Portraits of Contemporary Choreographers from the African Continent". On show will be three works by artists and companies who produce between their African countries of origin and Europe and are among the most important dance protagonists on the contemporary international scene.
Various dance pieces are aimed at children and families.As part of "explore dance. Network dance for young audiences", mobile pop-up productions are once again being created that provide access to the art form of dance beyond theatre stages.
Musically HELLERAU starts the season with the work "Convergence" by Alexander Schubert and the Hamburg Ensemble Resonanz (14.10.2023). In 2021, "Convergence" was awarded the Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica.
Proven collaborations will be continued. "Fast Forward - European Festival for Young Directors" (02-05.11.2023), the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden with a portrait concert of Georg Friedrich Haas (02.02.2024) and the Dresden Music Festival (01.06.2024) are again represented at HELLERAU. At the PORTRAITS - Hellerau Photography Award, the winners of the 2023 and 2024 residencies will present their work at HELLERAU.
Today HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts in the Festspielhaus Hellerau is one of the most important international centres for contemporary arts in Germany and Europe. With around 350 events a year, HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary co-production and guest theatre and offers the contemporary arts of dance, theatre, performance, music and media art spaces for production and presentation.
Under the motto "Who are we and who am I?", the dance and performance programme in the season 2023/24 deals with questions about origins, identities and communities. Artists explore their family backgrounds, their (cultural) heritage - but also their self-chosen communities and places of belonging. Various music projects present unusual constellations between old music, new music and digital arts. In addition, the programme includes eight premieres of co-productions by independent performing ensembles.
With the dance piece "Carcaça"by Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira, HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts opens the 2023/24 season. In this piece, Marco da Silva Ferreira draws on contemporary urban dance forms, often developed by minority groups, and combines them with folkloric heritage. The result is a joyful corps de ballet accompanied live by drums, percussion and electric sounds (15 - 17.09.2023).
In autumn 2023, HELLERAU will cooperate for the first time with the biennial Swiss festival Culturescapes, which has been promoting a cross-border cultural dialogue for many years, in the focus "Dance Forms - Portraits of Contemporary Choreographers from the African Continent". On show will be three works by artists and companies who produce between their African countries of origin and Europe and are among the most important dance protagonists on the contemporary international scene.
Various dance pieces are aimed at children and families.As part of "explore dance. Network dance for young audiences", mobile pop-up productions are once again being created that provide access to the art form of dance beyond theatre stages.
Musically HELLERAU starts the season with the work "Convergence" by Alexander Schubert and the Hamburg Ensemble Resonanz (14.10.2023). In 2021, "Convergence" was awarded the Golden Nica of the Prix Ars Electronica.
Proven collaborations will be continued. "Fast Forward - European Festival for Young Directors" (02-05.11.2023), the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden with a portrait concert of Georg Friedrich Haas (02.02.2024) and the Dresden Music Festival (01.06.2024) are again represented at HELLERAU. At the PORTRAITS - Hellerau Photography Award, the winners of the 2023 and 2024 residencies will present their work at HELLERAU.
