In 2021, international contemporary dance festival New Baltic Dance celebrated its anniversary. The 25th anniversary of the festival took place from the 1st to the 30th of July, and invited to experience dance in museums, and in spaces under the open skies of Vilnius and other Lithuanian regions. Fans of dance could enjoy exclusive performances by artists from Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus as well as the most recent works and dance sketches by Lithuanian creators.
The festival that has taken place in summer avoided the trap and restrictions of the pandemic, yet the great part of the events took place in the open space of MO museum terrace. A part of the performances were adapted for this specific space, and another one in the gallery space, since the performances were introduced in the National Gallery of Art. The audiences of the festival witnessed even 7 premières.
For the first time, the audience saw a work by Dovydas Strimaitis who dances in the National Ballet of Marseille (France), headed by a creative trio La Horde which is very attentive to the contemporary art and fashion. Another artist introduced was that of the choreographer and performer from Switzerland, Ana-Marija Adomaitytė.
The festival welcomed a duo Jonas & Lander (Portugal) who impressed the audience already in 2017. They introduced a unique dance installation-performance “Coin Operated”. One of the greatest discoveries of 2020 European Dance Network Aerowaves was choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak (Germany) who appeared with a solo work “TANZANWEISUNGEN (It won’t be like this forever)”. Anne Mareike Hess, a dancer and choreographer who arrived from Luxembourg, introduced to the New Baltic Dance Festival a new version of her performance Warrior, developed for the space of the National Gallery of Art.
Menų spaustuvė served as a venue for an artist from the neighbouring Belarus, Igor Shugaleev, and his work “375 0908 2334 / The body you are calling is currently not available”.
The festival featured works by Sabina Bočková & Johana Pocková (the Czech Republic), Marta Wołowiec (Poland), Lukas Karvelis (Lithuania), dance theatre Airos (Lithuania), Šeiko Dance Theatre (Lithuania), Vilma Pitrinaitė (Lithuania), Vilnius City Theatre Art and Research Laboratory. The sketch programme included Urtė Groblytė, Marius Pinigis, Petras Lisauskas, Julija Mintautė (Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura).
The work “Lion’s Den” by Czechs Sabina Bočková & Johana Pocková (European Dance Network Aerowaves) was introduced exclusively in a tour around the Lithuanian regions: Molėtai, Anykščiai, Žagarė, Plungė, Prienai, Šiauliai and Garliava.