- Report on the results of the international contest of the IFMC'2024 competition (Svetlana Gutkovskaya);
- The expanses of the inner wave (Ekaterina Vasenina);
- A Journey of Innovation and Expression: My Experience at the IFMC Festival in Vitebsk (Manar Eldeib).

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Report on the results of the international contest of the IFMC'2024 competition.
By Svetlana Gutkovskaya (Belarus) - Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus, choreographer, laureate of international contests, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Professor of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, Chairperson of the Expert Council.
An abridged version was published in the magazine "Mastatstva" No. 1, 2025.

The anniversary XXXV International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk IFMC was marked by a number of events that clearly revealed the tendency of an interdisciplinary approach to the organization of such events, in general, and to the creation of original works of art, in particular. This approach opens up endless possibilities for innovation and significantly pushes the boundaries of creative expression.
Before the official opening of the dance forum, which included the traditional presentation on stage of the contest participants in the form of extended bows, united by a single musical basis (a kind of parade alley) and creating a special solemn atmosphere, the audience was offered the art project “Another Tsvetaeva”. In it, an exhibition of archival photographs from the life of Valeria Tsvetaeva, the sister of the famous poetess, and the founder in 1923 of the “professional school of modern stage movement”, was accompanied by a plastic performance in the foyer of the concert hall, reminiscent of the time of the “sandal” Duncan girls. Performances by guest troupes were accompanied by mandatory meetings and discussions between the participants (authors and performers) of the performances shown with the audience. The central event of IFMC-24 - an international contest, which this year attracted 185 participants from different countries and was evaluated by jury members from Belarus, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Sweden, had a serious educational program, including master classes in various fields. During the festival, an expert council worked, which included representatives of Eastern and Western Europe and, for the first time in the history of the contest, it also included a researcher of contemporary art from North Africa - from Egypt. A detailed analytical review of artistic achievements identifying trends in the development of modern dance by experts was one of the final chords of the creative competition.
The choice of the organizers as a creative start to the festival of performances, shown by the troupe of the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson and which were released almost half a century apart, seemed very thoughtful. The one-act ballet “Rodin” from miniatures to the music of Claude Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev and Alban Berg, staged by the theater’s founder, which is the pearl of the ballet heritage of the last century, organically gave way to the premiere performance staged by one of the leaders among choreographers - our contemporaries, Vyacheslav Samodurov, to the music of Rodion Shchedrin. called "Naughty Ditties". The latter in 2023 was awarded the highest theater award in St. Petersburg, the Golden Sofit, in the category “Best Ballet Performance,” which speaks for itself. The performance of the world-famous troupe set a high standard for the entire festival.
Polar in genre and thematic orientation, as well as in the ways of implementing the conceived ideas of the performance: the play “Lullaby for Mayakovsky” (company “YATEATR”, Moscow) and the ballet “Petrushka” (theater of modern choreography “Ballet.Theater”, St. Petersburg), the dance performance “These are just things” (“ETO is the Russian modern dance company”, Moscow) and the choreographic novel “Graces. Heritage" (State Youth Song and Dance group "Altai", Barnaul), one-act ballet "River" and the play "Posmeschische" (“Jokicle”) (Evgeniy Panfilov Ballet Theater, Perm) demonstrated a bright and rich palette of contemporary dance art.
What did the contest show?
The creative thinking of modern choreographers, as a process of purposeful mediated artistic knowledge of the world, is certainly seriously influenced by the polyphony of the surrounding reality. This cannot but be reflected in the choice for choreographic works created in the first quarter of the 21st century, both non-trivial approaches to organizing the stage space and a wide range of choreographer techniques used. The works constructed according to the polyphonic principle looked most in tune with the times in contest competitions –the principle of ideological and thematic complexity and versatility in the embodiment of the artistic concept of a choreographic work.
In the festival’s Grand Prix choreographic work by a Chinese representative, “Engraved Breath,” set to music from the repertoire of the American solo project “Slow Meadow,” the postulate was convincingly demonstrated that art appears as a way of intuitive penetration into the unknown with the embodiment of this intuition in artistic image. This was largely facilitated by atmospheric chamber ambient music, designed to serve as an unobtrusive accompaniment to the visual picture and characterized by a repeating instrumental melody. The choreographic miniature was directed by Yu Jiajun and performed by a representative of the Wuxi Song and Dance Theater (Ethnic Dance Theater of Jiangsu Province), demonstrating his refined technique. In the contest work, there is a research focus on the creative search of the director and performer, due to the interaction of dance technique with the constantly developing philosophy of movement and knowledge about the capabilities of the human body.
A special prize named after Evgeniy Panfilov “Best Choreographer”, by agreement of the jury and the expert council, was awarded to Valentin Isakov for the contest work “Cycle” to the music of our contemporary - the German composer and musician Stephan Micus. It is significant that this is the second time the Belarusian choreographer has been awarded this prestigious prize. A one-act ballet performed by the X-perIments Project, representing the Gomel State College of Arts. N. F. Sokolovsky, stood out against the general background primarily due to the slowness of dramatic development, metaphorical nature and the promise of an associative perception of the plastic action taking place in a continuous cantilena. A choreographic work of a meditative nature, in full accordance with the musical basis, was distinguished by the presence of harmony and aesthetics in everything: movements and patterns, costume and lighting design, technique and manner of performance. In the choreographic text, the appearance of some finely defined mise-en-scène structures, organically fused with movement motifs, was evoked by various associated images from other forms of art. The viewer was given the opportunity to build various kinds of associations, referring to the mystery of conception and the origin of life, the act of filling everything with the energy of the Universe, the inevitable process of withering, and then the inevitable repetition and living of each revolution. One after another, images of a cocoon, an umbilical cord, DNA chains twisted in a spiral, a blossoming flower and many others appeared, resolved through dance, which in turn evoked new associations in memory. The presence of a polysemantic associative series is a great advantage of modern works of art.
It is significant that among the winners of the main prizes - five contest works, three were presented by participants from Belarus, and most of the works awarded laureate titles were born in the bowels of special educational institutions of culture and art.
It can be assumed that it was the theme of the contest work performed by the honored amateur group of the Republic of Belarus of the folk choreographic group "Alesya", staged to the music of Max Richter (choreographers Yaroslav Klimov, Zakhar Pukhovsky, Igor Shuvalov) "Let's Create the World", prominently indicated in the title, that determined it position at the top of the winners - laureates of the XXXV IFMC (1st prize). A priori, throughout the history of human development and the existence of art, the problem of preserving peace on a global scale and creating one’s own small world for each person is one of the most pressing and priority ones. In turn, in my opinion, this implies a rejection of straightforwardness, requiring a more careful approach to its implementation in order to obtain a highly artistic result.
The 2nd prize was shared by two contest works: “The Responsibility Lottery” to the music of the Swiss composer Mario Batkovich in the choreography of Andrei Razzhivin, performed by the dance company “Reka” from Samara, and “A Place under the Sun” to music from the repertoire of the Japanese group “Asa-Chang & Junray”, directed by Arina Nikiforova – participant of the Popular Dance Workshop of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts. The works were distinguished not only by their appeal to socially significant topics, but also by their dramatic elaboration with a thoughtful semantic ending.
Also, two contest works were awarded the 3rd prize: “Hands down” to the music of a French singer-songwriter under the pseudonym “Woodkid” staged by Anna Konstantinova from Vitebsk and “Speaking Silently” to the music of the performer Cucina Povera, in which Yana Bykova was the choreographer and the performer was educational group of modern dance "Academy" from the city of Tyumen. In the works presented to the jury, the authors turn to understanding issues that are relevant here and now.
The expert council, in turn, selected several contest works and individual performers.
A special prize “For the conceptuality of artistic expression” was awarded to the contest work “Without News” (“Missing”) staged by the young choreographer Anzhe Abdrakhimova, emotionally, energetically and technically performed by participants of the dance project “Mayak” from the northern capital of Russia. The topical idea is revealed very convincingly due to precisely selected semantically charged movements and mise-en-scène. The use of countless newspapers, which first covered the floor (an obvious reference to Pina Bausch’s favorite theatrical technique - the floor covered in carnations, etc.), and then turned into masks on the dancers’ faces, completely leveling them, enhanced the effect of the exciting plastic action. The work, declaring hopelessness, on the verge of hysteria, from the inability to resist the flow of information that falls on a person every minute, made a strong impression.
Elena Lisnaya, a recent graduate from the choreography department of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, whose creative activity is today connected with St. Petersburg, received a special award “For the depth and sensuality of the image.” The director and performer in one person embodied her idea in the miniature “Everything to recall”, the title of which can be translated as “Everything that can be remembered.” The author envisioned different readings of this poignant choreographic monologue with a clearly underlying philosophical meaning. One of them: a man who has lost everything that was dear to him, naked spiritually and physically, looks up to the sky, turning to God.
Diplomas were awarded to the works of the dance company “Three in a Boat” and Maria Blokhina from St. Petersburg, and the Irina Afonina Theater-Studio of Modern Dance from Moscow.
The principle of interdisciplinarity, which is relevant today when creating works in many forms of art, has been adopted by the creators of contest choreographic works. Combination of expressive means from the arsenal of theatre, circus, sports, use of literary texts (an attempt to translate a poetic text into a dance score - contest work “Every Evening” by Maria Blokhina) and ordinary colloquial speech (“THE BORSCH” by Kristina Chernysheva), the use of modern IT technologies distinguished a number of works of art shown during the festival.
The thematic focus reflected, as in previous years, the commitment of modern choreographers to philosophical reflections related to finding one’s place in life, problems of self-affirmation and achieving success. Works that reflected in plastic form the psychological state of anxiety among the younger generation prevailed, which may be due to an inflated level of expectations. The attempt of several authors to turn to humor and irony in their works looked gratifying. This is, first of all, the work of the festival debutants (and successful debutants!), the duo Alexandra Ananenko and Paulina Babak from the Minsk State College of Arts, entitled “Everything is invented” (“That’s all. It’s made up”) about the “torments” of the staging process. In the miniature “Illness” (Studio of Modern Choreography “Yarko”, Moscow), directed by Alisa Kulikova, there was clearly an ironic look at the attempt of three girlfriends to perform a fortune-telling ritual. The absurd, and therefore funny, movements of throwing out an old shoe of enormous size in order to cast love spells on the groom were accompanied by theatrically exaggerated coughing and sneezing, helping to reveal the main idea: blind faith in magic is akin to a disease. Unfortunately, the director did not have enough passion to develop the stated plastic motif until the finale. An attempt to make the audience smile was also made by Anastasia Golesheva in the choreographic play “Matisse’s Dance”.
The concern is that many contest works refer to the same lexical dictionary of modern dance, when the uniqueness of the choreographic text is replaced by the endless reproducibility of monotonous basic movements, combinations and techniques of certain dance systems. All this gives rise to a certain set of cliches that wander from performance to performance. Often, while watching, there was a feeling of movement and, as a result, visual redundancy in the contest works, caused, I dare to assume, by the desire of the participants to show everything that they can and what they know, without caring about the artistic content of the contest works. The use of complex attributes, for example, treadmills, and their use in order to justify presence on stage (when all the action revolves around them, on them and under them) often replaced the search for figurative original vocabulary and actually led to its impoverishment. Some of the contest entries lacked completeness; many, especially solo projects, looked like sketches.
Communication with young choreographers during the festival showed that the path from awareness of a certain artistic problem situation leading to the formation of a plan - determining the theme and idea of the contest work, to the creation of an artistic image, embodied through basic and additional means of expression, is often long and thorny. Of course, comprehending modernity in all its diversity is a difficult task for every creator. There are no ready-made recipes here and everyone follows their own way. As noted in the scientific research literature, against the backdrop of unification processes, there is an increasing interest in unique experience, both formed today and belonging to other historical ones. Yulian Semyonov rightly notes: “Whoever controls the past will not get lost in the present, nor will he get lost in the future.” From this perspective, it is worth paying closer attention to folklore as an informative source for forming the concept of a choreographic work and as a rich cultural layer for searching for original means of expression, that allow to experiment with synthesizing dance elements from different eras. A rare exception was the work of Anna Polyakova and Maria Tarbeeva called "Lul/Urt", which was created on the basis of Udmurt folklore (Dance Company "Dennitsa", Yekaterinburg).
The desire to generate new ideas, turn to various sources for inspiration, embody socially significant themes, find non-standard choreographer and director solutions, apply innovative approaches to organizing plastic material and modulating the stage space in their works - this is the formula that is successfully used today by the most talented and modern-minded representatives of choreographic art.
Without stopping at the obvious achievements, we begin to prepare for the XXXVI festival, the central event of which will be the national contest.

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The expanses of the inner wave.
By Ekaterina Vasenina - art critic, dance historian, associate professor at Ivanovo State University, head of the Kaluga information and research center TANTZSOYUZ ("Dance Union"), Russia.
https://balletmagazine.ru/ru/post/vitebsk-modern-dance

In oceanography, the concept of an internal wave is associated with depth. The greater the depth, the higher the density of ocean waves. Internal waves influence the formation of currents and the height of visible surface waves. It’s the same in art: what shapes the future is initially under an invisible layer and hidden by the noise of what has already come to the surface. At festivals there is an opportunity to feel the movement of a still hidden internal (inner) wave, which may form a new powerful current.

TARGET
The Vitebsk contest-festival of modern choreography IFMC, held in 2024 for the 35th time, opened with the plastic performance “Sandals” performed by students of Ivanovo State University. The theme of continuity of generations, important for the Vitebsk festival, was revealed in the plot of honoring Marina Tsvetaeva’s sister, Duncanist and plastic artist Valeria Tsvetaeva (1883–1966), founder of the Moscow courses “The Art of Movement” in the 1920s and 1930s. At the festival, a special award for the best choreography is named after the Perm choreographer Evgeny Panfilov (1955–2002), whose theater continues to show legendary and new works on the Vitebsk stage and always finds a rousing welcome. Nikolai Ogryzkov (1954–2010) is also remembered here, who set the focus of the festival precisely on the contemporary direction; his student Alexander Mogilev came this year with master classes. The photo exhibition “Another Tsvetaeva” in the Vitebsk concert hall told about how modern dancers from Ivanovo understand and interpret the ideas of free dance of their fellow countrywoman Valeria Tsvetaeva. The fate of “another Tsvetaeva” was dramatic in its own way: a stranger in her family, after the death of her mother, she sought happiness in plastic movement and found it. After the destruction of the “Art of Movement” course, she “lost” the archive, but it was happily found almost a hundred years later by Evgeniy Chernov in the basement of the dormitory of the Moscow Circus School, the curriculum of which was once based on Valeria’s methods. It is symbolic that some fragments of the photo installation were covered with canvas for conservation storage. And the dancers, as if they had stepped out of photographic canvases, softly and persistently compositionally broke through the museum burlap with their living energy and memory of Valeria Tsvetaeva.
The program of the Vitebsk festival traditionally consists of three blocks. This year's foreign participants were predominantly Chinese ones. The international jury included practicing choreographers not only from Russia and Belarus (Konstantin Kuznetsov, Alexander Mogilev, Dmitry Pimonov), but also Jeanne Yasko from Sweden, Jovana Ikonich from Serbia, Juan Tirado from Spain. The guest program included the one-act ballet “Roden” and “Naughty Ditties” by the St. Petersburg Academic Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson, “Lullaby for Mayakovsky” by the Moscow company “Yateatr” staged by Alexander Isakov and Victoria Yanchevskaya, “Petrushka” by the St. Petersburg Theater of Modern Choreography “Ballet” .Theater" choreographed by Daria Vergizova, “These are just things” by the Moscow collective “ETO” of the Russian modern dance company Alexander Mogilev”, “Graces. Heritage" of the State Youth Song and Dance Group "Altai" choreographed by Yuri Smekalov. The Evgeniy Panfilov Ballet Theater brought the one-act ballet “The River”, the play “Jokicle” by Panfilov’s student Alexei Rastorguev based on the fables of Ivan Krylov, and also showed a joint project with the Belarusian State Theater, the play “Beauty”, staged by Kirill Baltrukov.
In the third block, student and professional teams from Russia and Belarus took part in the contest program. Their number indicates the continuation of the extensive development of modern dance in Russia and Belarus, the breadth of geographical coverage and the rootedness of teaching modern dance techniques in the curricula of colleges institutes of culture.
The Samara dance company "Reka" performed the play "Lottery of Responsibility" choreographed by Andrei Razzhivin. Physical theater develops the theme of cultivating a complex person, which is important for modern dance. The central decoration of the play is a large black and white target with an arrow from the center, which points each time to a new person. The reaction of the “sacred victim” to the finger of fate is always different. This moment of interactivity and ethical resourcefulness was appreciated by the jury, and “River” took the second prize to Russia.
Yulia Ochakovskaya from St. Petersburg showed a philosophical and parable solo “Ak-Kadyn” in honor of the mummy of the princess of the Ukok plateau found in Altai. This mental connection of modern artists with ancient artifacts gives rise to hope for building strong intergenerational cultural ties in the recent history of Russian and post-Soviet modern dance: even though the fate of the princess who lived in Altai 2500 years ago is far from us, her life was energetically recreated in the body movements of our contemporary. The arched foot, arched body, clasped hands were passed through the spiritual sphere of the performer and the image of the princess acquired materiality in the muscular mechanics of the artist, excited by her fate.
The Ekaterinburg dance company "Dennitsa" brought the play "Lul/Urt" choreographed by Anna Polyakova and performed by Maria Tarbeeva based on Udmurt folklore. To the musical material of the Izhevsk women’s group “Bird Tyloburdo”, combining Russian folk songs, Udmurt ritual “krezy”, Scandinavian and African rhythms, Maria Tarbeeva plastically reflected on the limits of travel of the human soul. “Lul” among the Udmurts is the soul of a living person, “urt” is the soul that leaves the body after death and travels in closed concentric circles. The fragile girl, dressed in an exquisite ethnic costume by Elena Avdeikina and designer ethnic jewelry, was given the task of embodying the theme of the transcendental, which always eludes individual stage embodiment. Dance-plastic post-folk is a long-term theme of Polyakova and Tarbeeva’s quest; “Lul/Urt” has become an interesting link in this research.
The choreographic drama The Borsch by Chelyabinsk dancer Kristina Chernyshova is dedicated to the problem of parents and children: it is difficult for parents to accept the flight of creativity to which their child has dedicated herself, they force her to respect everyday life. Potatoes, onions, butter, cabbage, tomato paste... - Chernyshova lists the ingredients of borscht as the main subjects of the drama, assigning herself the position of a performer, following the blue bird of female happiness at the will of beets and carrots. The Borsch is not the first original performance by artists from the Chelyabinsk Olga Pona Modern Dance Theater, where Chernyshova works. This group actively and enthusiastically explores Russian identity through various key concepts of traditional, everyday culture. This The Borsch, truly prepared on stage in accordance with all fire safety rules (it was finished cooking in the foyer after the show and was served to everyone), is full of bitter self-irony and a sincere desire to be a skillful housewife without losing her creative personality.

MEDITATION
For those who visited the Vitebsk festival after a long break, the name of the Gomel choreographer Valentin Isakov became a discovery. He and his team “X-perIments” already received the Evgeny Panfilov Prize for best choreography two years ago, and received it for the second time in 2024 for the production of “Cycle” performed by Isakov’s team and students of the Gomel State College of Arts named after Sokolovsky. The annotation talks about the mystery of conception and transformation of matter, about the beauty of living the moment: this is the case when the contents of the program, on the one hand, correspond to what is presented on stage, on the other hand, it does not matter, it is so compositionally perfect and spelling and syntactically pure planned choreographic text. It seems that diligent study of the nature of joint movements has expanded the possible range of amplitude of performers and contributed to more sophisticated coordination with each other. Soft, strong, long movements of the performers, competent and restrained inclusion of male parts in the structure of the female cantilena dance, good work with light. Good luck and happiness when the choreographer masters the abstract structures of the composition and the team is sensitive to the assigned tasks.
The project of Alexandra Ananenko and Paulina Babak from the Minsk State College of Arts with the plays “That’s all, it’s made up!” about the pangs of creativity and the joy of finishing a lesson and “Independent Dependence” about the complex duality of body and mind showed the spectators the importance of humor and fun in the space of modern dance, sometimes ready to outdo itself. Cheerful teenage energy, skillfully shaped by teachers, proved once again that the open energy message in contemporary art often overrides the most highbrow concepts.
The St. Petersburg dance company “Three in a Boat” presented a comic solo “Dinosaur”, in which work with an object (the familiar typewriter is glorified and a complex, unusual laptop is disgraced) is supported by interesting choreography: the girl manages to show the natural animal sluggishness of a creature obliged to adapt to the trends of progress; the plasticity of the surprised rage of a kind-hearted herbivore at contact with the complex and incomprehensible made the audience laugh knowingly.
The Tula dance company “Nika” brought Sofia Panova’s solo “Alone. Spring" with choreography by Daria Buzovkina and Veronika Oreshkina. This solo dystopian “The Rite of Spring,” where a girl dances until she is exhausted in honor of the arrival of spring, does not lead to a change of season; the same winter remains all around. But there is so much fragility, subtlety, strength and hope in her dance that it is impossible to forget it and believe that all this beauty was in vain. In Sofia Panova's dance one could feel small living impulses that were more delicate and subtle than physical action; they contained a core of vibration that movably worked with the centers of the beginning of a new movement.
Belarusian choreographer Pavel Luntsevich performed the solo “Divine Wind” in the style of a Japanese samurai. Solo on large stages requires highlighting light, perhaps even a zoom video on the backdrop, small plasticity is so important in solo works. In “The Divine Wind” it is important that Luntsevich is equal to himself in his statement: dance poetry was revealed, the full embodiment of an exciting statement about selflessness as the highest form of human achievement and, on the other hand, psychological manipulation. There was no pretentiousness, no contrived philosophizing, although the topic was attractive.
The play “The Little Mermaid” choreographed by Ekaterina Leshchenko at the Moscow Theater-Studio of Modern Choreography of Irina Afonina gave me the pleasure of meeting the bright performer of the role of the Little Mermaid, Eva Anokhina, a graduate of the department of modern choreography of the Moscow State Institute of Culture. Her sharp, touching plasticity made us believe in her reincarnation as Andersen’s Little Mermaid, the archetype of all female sacrifices in the name of love, which will not be appreciated and will only bring bitter self-indulgence.
The dance project “Mayak” brought from St. Petersburg the suite “Missing” choreographed by Enge Abdrakhimova, a student at the St. Petersburg Institute of Culture, and received a special award “For conceptual expression.” The action score and rhythmic structure were built very professionally. The duality of the name sharpened the relevance of perception: the girls rushed about in search of the missing; everyone, in the rays of changing colored light, not finding relief in the news, was desperately looking for positive information and could not get enough of the news that was already there. Newspapers glued to the blinded faces and airplanes of electronic messages flying across the stage made the production spectacular and memorable.

OUROBOROS
“Modern dance,” as choreographer Alexander Mogilev noted, “is the language in which the values of the modern world are expressed,” and I experience feelings of harmony and justice when I see young and honored artists in the IFMC program watching each other’s work. The large number of student productions in the IFMC-2024 contest and the presence of the Methuselahs of Russian modern dance and modern ballet in the guest program represented by the Evgeniy Panfilov Theater and the Leonid Yakobson Ballet are certainly a justifiable cultural strategy, which combines promising work for the future and memory and respect for creators who have made their not yet fully appreciated contribution to the development of art. For many decades, the very fact of participation in the contest program of the Vitebsk Festival of Modern Choreography has occupied the first line in choreographic CV. The founders of the festival, Marina Romanovskaya and Eduard Chernivchan, are able to work like clockwork against the backdrop of any storms and vicissitudes, and dancers should appreciate this: only talented creative work can be an adequate response. Oscar Wilde said: “A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even looking at.” Chagall, who was born in Vitebsk, Kazimir Malevich and Nina Kogan who worked here, Isadora Duncan who performed here in the courtyard near the palace of Governor, knew this. “We die of thirst over a stream,” of course, is also one of the strategies in art, but what a pity for the breadth of unused possibilities. In modern dance you can take it wider, bolder, more passionately, you can live another self. I would like to wish future participants not to miss a single drop of such possible gifts of the IFMC creative contest. And then we will not only feel, but also see the fruits of new inner waves of domestic modern dance.

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A Journey of Innovation and Expression: My Experience at the IFMC Festival in Vitebsk.
by Manar Eldeib - teacher in the field of intercultural communications, cultural adviser to the humanitarian organization “CARE International” (Egypt).

Introduction: My recent visit to Vitebsk, Belarus, as a council expert at the IFMC Festival was nothing short of extraordinary. The city itself, with its rich history, stunning architecture, and vibrant culture, set the perfect stage for this incredible event. From the very first moment, I felt welcomed by the warm-hearted and open-minded Belarusian people. Despite their conservative values, their kindness and openness toward strangers made the experience even more memorable. Let’s make a pause for some outstanding performance that stood me let’s start with -
The lottery of responsibility: it’s a performance that discuses a great concept goes in mind of this generation and its challenges that each action is accidental and not accidental at the same time , which led by a series of choices that impact the person and his surroundings , and the dissections he made . this philosophy is brilliant that been showed with the acting performance and customs and music which was into the point and made the concept to the core of the art work , and in a cultural point of view this is work is a full package of the todays language of this generation and the tools they use to express themselves creatively. And all these aspects what makes a great show.
The Borsch: this called a drama choreographic discuss the expectations of the parents from their kids which is a very cultural thing especially in the countries which value the family concepts like Belarus that’s how the family want to pass their legacy and their own expectations and dreams to their kids and young generation, which leads us to the conflict between two generation and different traditions between those generation so from this conflict comes the language that can express this by a nice performance to show the thoughts of the dance and the voice of the mom behind her was a great idea reflects the thoughts which is the motive for the girl who want to follow her dreams or satisfy her parents’ wishes, in a point of view this was a nice performance that can reflect the Russian culture and the family values and the cuisine which symbolizes in the Borsch the main dish in Belarus, it was a good performance maybe needed to have some changes to be better but so far is was a complete artistic show.
Missing: The combination of music, costumes, and choreography was truly captivating. The show was not only visually stunning but also deeply meaningful, capturing the essence of human emotion through art. This is about the thoughts and news that fills our world so what happening when we pay attention to it or don’t pay attention to it how all this affects us, what chances we have here, all this question was amazingly showed in a great choreography steps that shows the concept successfully the tools they use and décor like newspaper and the voice of advertising, there is a great idea also in the customs which reflect the todays appearances one point I admire in this show is the Sufi music that plays in the middle I believe it’s the choices of the art director of the show this Sufi music coming in a very great moment in the show when the enlighten moment happen that something lights up and finally the dancers can decided their way finally after an amazing dancing steps this was one of the best shows I had seen so far and all tools they used from décor, music, customs, dancing steps, it was a full inspiring artistic performance.
Cycle: this was a great show with a concept of repetitions of each turn and shows the beauty of living in the moment, sometimes moments of transformation that are fill of energy with a great dance steps with amazing dancers abilities of controlling the body moves that aligns with a great music was into the core that form a great artistic way that shows again the energy of young artist and their passion about their art and shows it’s a good structure of a very good dance performance.
One world: if I can describe it only with a great show have all aspects of success and cultural wise have all the items of success and the add of the young dancer was very meaningful to the show and reflect the concept of the show and the idea of all generation chain together to show they real self to the world and express themselves openly and this what art shows it’s a global language and worldwide tool to express ideas and exchange cultures’ this summed up all the greatness of shows we attend at IFMC.

Side Events: A Festival of Artistic Excellence In addition to the main performances, I had the amazing opportunity to attend side events, including stunning theater performances. These shows, filled with creativity and expression, left a lasting impression. The choreography, dance moves, lighting, costumes, and music all came together perfectly to tell beautiful, captivating stories. The overall artistic quality was exceptional, and the level of professionalism in every performance was evident.
I also had the chance to see unique performances like Lullaby For Mayakovski, ballet Petrushka & It’s Just Things. These shows were brilliantly executed, offering a mix of art, culture, and modern expression. Each performance brought something new to the table, and I felt incredibly fortunate to experience such a wide range of artistic displays in such a short period. There is no words can describe the amazingly executed performance whit high concept and performances by great dancers that we dream to see worldwide more.
Discussions with Young Artists in one word Passion and Vision One of the most enriching aspects of the festival was the open discussions with participants. These conversations provided valuable insights into the passion and dedication of the younger generation. Many of the artists were deeply concerned with preserving folk traditions while also exploring modern dance and music. It was inspiring to hear how they envision the future of their art forms and how they strive to merge tradition with innovation. As a cultural advisor having this discussion and side talks with participants was insightful in many ways that shows how those young people are passionate and open to the world want to show their art and artistic spirit to the world.
A key takeaway from these discussions was the idea that culture is not something that can be owned or restricted. Culture, in its purest form, belongs to everyone, and it is through our collective efforts that we can preserve and nurture it. Art, too, is a shared space. It requires hard work, dedication, and collaboration to truly own and elevate it. These conversations reaffirmed my belief that art is a unifying force that transcends boundaries and brings people closer.
Eventually I would love to say that was A Transformative Experience The IFMC Festival in Vitebsk was an experience that I will cherish for years to come. It was an inspiring celebration of creativity, passion, and cultural exchange. From the outstanding performances to the insightful discussions with fellow artists, every moment of the festival reinforced my belief in the power of art to bring us together. I left Belarus with a renewed sense of purpose, inspired by the young generation’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of creativity while honoring their cultural roots.
I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a transformative event side by side with amazing council expertise and jury members came from all over the world in addition the brilliant director and stunning staff of IFMC which enrich the experiences itself and the process was stunning that makes me hoping to return to Vitebsk in the future. The festival not only showcased the incredible talent of its participants but also reminded me of the universal language of art - one that connects us all, no matter where we come from.