“People would be happier if there were no words. Words separate people."
This is a quote from the book «Citizen of the World» by Italian poet, writer and film director Tonino Guerra. The thought of a humanist seems to be placed on the pole of the victorious flag of dance. After all, every adherent of this art knows that dance is the best way to express your feelings and experiences. Without words.
Wait a minute, fans of the greatest of arts – music – will object. Are you sure? Yes, but you forgot painting, others will say. What about architecture? - still others will continue. And all this, mind you, against the backdrop of portraits of the great writers of civilization.
What to do? Should we first learn to think differently and only then speak, so that words did not separate us? And would art, including modern dance, help us?

The 35th festival took place thanks not only to the words, but also to the deeds of its organizers - the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, the Vitebsk regional and city executive committees and the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus. Not only the organizers of the IFMC, but also its participants and, I hope, the audience remained grateful to its partners - the enterprises Beltelecom, Pharmacia, Polimerkonstruktsiya, the cafe chain Capybara; the official partner - "Belorusneft-Vitebskoblnefteprodukt" and the General partner - the Belwest enterprise. IFMC’2024 was sponsored by Rubicon and Eurotorg.

IFMC’2024 is the year of the international contest. On the opening day of the festival, November 20, the groups that passed the qualifying video round went on the stage of the «Vitebsk» Concert Hall:
- Educational group of modern dance "Academy", Tyumen
- Theater-Studio of Modern Dance by Irina Afonina , Moscow
- Project by Anastasia Golesheva, National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater
- Kristina Chernyshova, Chelyabinsk
- Yulia Ochakovskaya, St. Petersburg
- Workshop of Popular Dance of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts
- Studio of modern choreography “YARKO”, Moscow
- Modern dance studio “TEG” of Vitebsk State College of Culture and Arts
- Valentin Isakov’s project “X-perIments”, Gomel State College of Arts named after Sokolovsky
- Dance company “Okoyom”, Yekaterinburg
- Project by Ksenia Androsova, Minsk
- Project by Elena Lisnaya, St. Petersburg
- Du Wenzheng Project, Shangtsiu
- Project by Maria Isakova “HANDS”, Gomel
- Dance project “MAYAK”, St. Petersburg
- Project by Alexandra Ananenko and Paulina Babak of the Minsk State College of Arts
- Dance company "Nika", Tula
- Project by Yulia Sulyak, Minsk State College of Arts
- Project by Anna Leppo of the Department of Choreography of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts
- Dance company “Dennitsa”, Yekaterinburg
- Project by Anna Konstantinova, Vitebsk
- Jiangsu Ethnic Dance Theater, People's Republic of China
- Dance Theater [REFLECTIONS], Minsk
- Choreographic group“Alesya”, Mogilev
- Dance company “Three in a Boat”, St. Petersburg
- Dance company "Reka", Samara
- Project of the modern choreography troupe of the Belarusian State Youth Theater
- Theater-studio of modern choreography, Vitebsk

The Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Alexander Subbotin and the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus Valery Gromada delivered welcoming speeches. Then the contest participants and spectators applauded the members of the international jury and the festival's expert council.

International jury:
- National Artist of Belarus, laureate of international contests, ballet master-tutor of the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of the Republic of Belarus, Chairman of the jury - Konstantin Kuznetsov
- dancer, choreographer, laureate of international contests, artistic director of the company “Double Drope” - Juan Tirado, Spain
- dancer, choreographer, teacher, laureate of international contests, artistic director of “ETO” Russian Modern Dance Company - Alexander Mogilev, Russia
- teacher, choreographer of the State Academic Mariinsky Theater - Dmitry Pimonov, Russia
- dancer, choreographer, teacher, laureate of international contests - Jovana Iconic, Serbia
- choreographer, dancer, teacher - Jeanne Yasko, Sweden.

Expert Council:
- 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 - Svetlana Gutkovskaya, Belarus
- candidate of art history, musician, journalist, researcher in the field of modern dance and theater - Tatyana Ratobylskaya, Germany
- teacher in the field of intercultural communications, cultural adviser to the humanitarian organization “CARE International” - Manar Eldeib, Egypt
- art critic, dance historian, associate professor at Ivanovo State University, head of the Kaluga information and research center TANTZSOYUZ ("Dance Union") - Ekaterina Vasenina, Russia.

The first in the list of festival guests was the St. Petersburg State Academic Theater named after Leonid Yakobson. In January of this year, the theater celebrated the 120th anniversary of the birth of its founder. It is noteworthy that the master’s favorite genre was choreographic miniature. The choreographer himself spoke about this several times. Everyone knows that miniatures inspired by the art of Auguste Rodin are the hallmark of the theater. Created by Jacobson in different years and later combined into a single composition, they were called “Roden”. Everyone also knows that if Rodin made a revolution in plastic arts, which led to the creation of a new language of sculpture, then Leonid Yakobson made a revolution in choreographic plasticity and created a new language of dance. Of course, Vitebsk could not deny itself the pleasure of meeting the theater and the one-act ballet “Roden”.
After the intermission, a concert for the orchestra by Rodion Shchedrin “Naughty Ditties” was performed. The first dance incarnation of the concert appeared on the stage of the Mariinsky in the mid-1960s. Especially for the composer’s birthday, the Leonid Yakobson Theater prepared a new choreographic interpretation of this music. The author of the production - winner of the highest theater award in St. Petersburg "Golden Soffit" in the category "Best Ballet Performance" in 2023 - was one of the most successful Russian choreographers Vyacheslav Samodurov.
It was a good evening of new meetings, pleasant acquaintances, and admiration for the dance.

November 21, National Academic Drama Theater named after. Y. Kolasa, 19.00

That evening we saw two noteworthy performances. “Lullaby for Mayakovsky” to the music of Anna Mart. The name of the poet instantly brings to mind the image of a rebellious herald of the revolution. For the people, Mayakovsky is a lump, loud, indestructible in his faith. And for his beloved, he is a small defenseless boy with a whole fan of doubts and fears. It’s mind-boggling, but the revolutionary poet lived third in the family. His extremely polar attitude towards power and life led to brilliant poetry, and subsequently to suicide. Of course, the authors and performers of the play, Alexander Isakov and Victoria Yanchevskaya, in no way set themselves the task of retelling the plot of Mayakovsky’s life. According to them, the performance is a desire to explore the emotional state of Mayakovsky’s personality through the body.
What do we know about the stage character “Petrushka”? - a Russian jester, personifying the most striking features of the national character: lively, sharp-tongued, not afraid of either ecclesiastical or secular authority and ready to fight for justice. A constant feature of all scenes with Petrushka’s participation was conflict, ending in a fight and often the death of the character, which greatly amused the audience.
But, as the company “Ballet.Theater” noted, “... a new scene began - and Petrushka came to life again. In one day, he died and was resurrected on the stage of a farce theater several dozen times. An endless series of farcical scenes and a complete feeling of immortality. A sad sight." The choreographer of the performance to the music of Lera Finkelstein was Daria Vergizova.

November 22, Concert Hall “Vitebsk”, 19.00

The evening passed in two parts. In the first, Vitebsk first became acquainted with the work of “ETO” by the Russian modern dance company Alexander Mogilev. The artists presented a touching, sincere performance “It's Just Things.” In my opinion, the strong point of the production is the direction of Alexander Mogilev. As for the content, it is very succinctly and accurately stated in the confidential annotation to the performance: “... We endow things with a certain value that binds us to the material world. We cannot get rid of our first tooth that fell out, the first phone we bought with our own money, our favorite soft toy that saved us from monsters at night, or the very tickets to the cinema thanks to which we met our love. Things become part of us, sometimes cluttering up not only physical space, but also mental one. But valuable, new things, old, comfortable or expensive - they are just things.
By creating the performance, we would like to encourage people to free themselves from the burden of old things and allow themselves to finally let go of the past and free up space within themselves for the present and the future.
2nd department, theater "Ballet of Evgeniy Panfilov", one-act ballet “REKA” ("River").
In the now distant year of 1998, the premiere of the performance took place, which, then and now, does not amaze with the virtuosity of choreographic discoveries, the incredible level of performance, but continues to capture the imagination amazingly.
What happens on stage excites thoughts and feelings, drawing you into the flow of the story, and invariably leaves behind a trail of light sadness.
“River... where do you carry your waters, who comes to you to quench the thirst, who lives life on your banks, organizes holidays, arranges secret meetings, sings in quiet evenings, quenches sadness? Why do you sometimes rage like the sea, grow dark and frighten us? But the worst thing is when you leave, dry. Is it because we want to conquer nature and rule over each other, instead of taking care of it and ourselves. And our faces have turned dead many times from the words “disaster”, “epidemic”, “war”. The essence of things and strife is carried away by the river of time, what remains is simple and essential: life is water, love is good, earth is Mother, God does exist...”

November, 23, Concert Hall “Vitebsk”, 16.00

On November 21 and 22, a closed round of the contest was held, where 33 groups and solo projects were presented, and 43 productions were shown. 13 works made it to the public final of the contest. Almost all participants of the final became laureates and winners of special prizes of the contest, and during two concerts of the evening the audience was able to see the most interesting works, in the jury’s opinion, in full-length performance.
After the intermission, the State Youth Song and Dance Group “Altay” performed. In July of this year, the group pleased its compatriots with the premiere of the play “The Land Near the Sky” based on the works of Siberian writers. Four choreographers worked on the production as part of the “Creative Workshop” project under the direction of Vladimir Vasiliev. Vitebsk saw part of the performance, one of the short stories - “Grace. Heritage".
According to the author Yuri Smekalov, “... The inspiration for this ballet was the work of Vasily Shukshin. The role of women in the life of a writer has always been key. Together with composer Vartan Gnoro, we tried to identify the parallel between life and creativity, as well as create an atmosphere of the soul of a person trapped in the cage of his own aspirations and limitations.”

November 23, Concert Hall “Vitebsk”, 19.00 (continuation of the public final of the international contest)

After watching the second part of the final of the contest, the jury began summing up its results, and the Evgeniy Panfilov Ballet theater took the stage with the premiere performance of “Jokicle”. The production by Alexey Rastorguev is a choreographic poem, where each miniature is based on one of the popular fables of the famous Russian writer Ivan Andreevich Krylov. The focus of the play is on the main character, the Narrator, who seems to lead the spectator through the pages of the narrative, being part of it and a kind of key to understanding the action. The situations are familiar to everyone from school - simple, funny, sometimes even ridiculous to the point of stupidity. Another thing is that after so many years they are still an integral part of our lives and still echo the plots of famous fables or ridicule stories (synonymous with the word fable).

November 24, Concert Hall Vitebsk, 16.00

On the closing day of the festival, awards from the international contest IFMC’2024 were given. The first special prize from the General Partner of the festival, the Belwest enterprise, was awarded to the soloist of the Wuxi Song and Dance Theater, Yu Jia Jun.
By decision of the expert council, in agreement with the international jury, special prizes for the contest were awarded to:
- “For the depth and sensuality of the image” for the production of “Every thing to recall” to the music of classical and modern authors for Elena Lisnaya Project, St. Petersburg,
- “For the conceptuality of artistic expression” in the contest work “Missing” to the music of foreign authors for the Dance Project “Mayak”, St. Petersburg,
- a special award named after Evgeniy Panfilov “Best Choreographer” for the contest work “Cycle” performed by the artists of the Valentin Isakov Project “X-perIments” of the Gomel State College of Arts named after Sokolovsky, to Valentin Isakov.

The contest prizes were distributed as follows. The 3rd prize of the contest is shared by:
- “Hands down”, Project by Anna Konstantinova, Vitebsk
- “Speaking Silently”, choreography – Yana Bykova, performer – educational group of modern dance “Academy”, Tyumen

By the decision of the international jury, the 2nd prize of the contest is also shared by:
- “Responsibility Lottery”, dance company “Reka”, Samara
- “A Place under the Sun”, choreography - Arina Nikiforova, pop dance workshop of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts
1st prize of the contest – production “Let's Create the World”. Choreography - Igor Shuvalov. Performer - Honored amateur group of the Republic of Belarus folk choreographic group "Alesya", Mogilev
The Grand Prix of the international contest was awarded for the work “Engraved Breath” to artists of the Wuxi Song and Dance Theater (Ethnic Dance Theater of Jiangsu Province), People's Republic of China.

And the public program of the 35th IFMC was completed by a joint project of the modern choreography troupe of the Belarusian State Youth Theater and the Evgeniy Panfilov Ballet Theater. The play “Beauty”, staged by the choreographer of the Belarusian Youth Theater Kirill Baltrukov. Time will answer the question whether beauty will save the world. But the statement that beauty requires sacrifice, in the opinion of the authors and participants of the play, is always relevant. So it was, is and will be. The artists showed with their own eyes the closeness and kinship of the actors on stage and the people in the audience. “Just like everyone else,” they - people of art - are looking for their place in the world. And although they show beauty on stage every day, distracting us from the dullness and worries of life, everyday life with all its hardships is not alien to them. "Beauty" is mostly a personal story of victories and defeats. This is an attempt to shed masks, present a person in original form and remind him (her) of the importance of searching for beauty not outside, but inside. After all, it lives in each of us.

In short, IFMC’2024 looked like this. You can find out what critics and art critics think about the festival by clicking on the link to the “Criticism and Press” tab. Moments of dance are presented in the Gallery 2024 section. In the IFMC’2024 photo lounge you can see the works of Olga Burakova.
The festival traditionally expresses gratitude and recognition to its participants, spectators and project volunteers, who this year were: Bozhenok Anastasia, Danilkina Anna, Masko Arina, Sergeenko Dmitry, Ovchinnikova Veronika, Sivachenko Irina, Sheiko Dmitry, Meshcheryak Vladislav, Komissarova Milana, Yasyuchenko Violetta, Lyutskaya Anastasia, Fishchenko Anastasia, Khokhlova Elizaveta, Verkhovskaya Veronika, Kapshukova Kristina, Markova Ksenia, Kostevich Victoria, Gavrilova Veronika, Zyatikova Evgeniya, Guzikova Lyubov, Gornostaeva Olga, Rashidova Ksenia, Oleynikova Polina, Shvetsov Kirill, Gunko Mikhail, Alekseev Alexander, Buevich Oleg, Zalatoy Maxim, Emelyanenko Daniil, Repinsky Maxim, Ugolev Vladislav, Kozlov Alexander, Yakubova Carolina, Fomchenko Valeria, Ivanova Anna.

IFMC’2024 Poster

Festival Executive Director
Eduard Chernivchan