Cannes – Côte d’Azur Dance Festival France 2025: dance in top form!

A range of delightful offerings from the great names of dance, renowned companies, young ballets and exciting new discoveries, presenting a lively panorama of creation and repertoire around three main themes:

• The spotlight on ballets and major choreographic forms

This form of dance, and the craze it arouses in audiences, unfolds on the Festival’s main stages, with the Ballet National d’Espagne opening the Festival with Marcos Morau’s eventful show in homage to the famous Colombian photographer Ruvia.the Junior Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris, the German ensemble TanzMainz, the Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon, the CCN – Ballet de Lorraine and the Nederlands Dans Theater – NDT 2.

• Creations combining dance and live music

Paulo Ribeiro’s Portuguese company has teamed up with composer Luís Tinoco to present a creation of dance and original music performed by the Orchestre national de Cannes. The unclassifiable Dutch artists Club Guy & Roni, with the Australasian Dance Collective, and the percussion ensemble HIIIT open a new section of their “Human Odyssey”. As for Cannes-based Hervé Koubi, his No Matter brings together ten Korean dancers with the musicians of the Dear Deer group, as part of the Cannes-Busan year.

• Popular and traditional practices are also a source of contemporary creation, as demonstrated by the fado show by Portuguese dancers Jonas&Lander, the dances of South Africa honored by Robyn Orlin and the “coloured people” of the Garage Dance Ensemble, and the latest creation by Rocío Molina, the most talented of flamenca dancers.

Launched in 2023 to explore the links between dance and cinema, the MOV’IN Cannes international competition has become a not-to-be-missed annual event. In 2025, the event will be expanded with an enriched program and greater involvement of the younger generation. Art school students* are invited to take part in the selection of films and in various educational projects, fostering an artistic dialogue between their different points of view. In its commitment to showcasing the diversity and richness of dance creation on screen, MOV’IN Cannes mobilizes prestigious dance film festivals and institutions, creating a genuine space for international professional exchanges **.

Another important marker is the Festival’s commitment to artists and creation, with the unprecedented presentation to the public and professionals of 5 new productions:

• Mickaël Le Mer benefits from a creative residency in Cannes to present Enso, in which the performersperformers aspire to capture the essence of the circle’s symbolic form with a dizzying, chiselled hip-hop dance to Ravel’s famous Bolero;
• Eugénie Andrin, in her latest piece, On n’est pas toutes des Cendrillons, has fun diverting the use of classical pointe;
• Lorena Nogal, celebrated in 2024 as the best interpreter in Spain, is commissioned to create a series of solo performances, The Protagonist, performed a few steps away from the audience, in the halls of theaters;
• No Matter by compagnie Hervé Koubi, created in collaboration with the Busan International Dance Festival
• Louis Luis by companhia Paulo Ribeiro, a musical and choreographic journey that affirms the saving power of dance, with the support of the Orchestre National de Cannes.

The Festival promotes the younger generation with the programming of Maldonne, an international success by choreographer Leïla Ka paying homage to women, and joins forces with the Italian competition “Prospettiva Danza Teatro” (Padua), to present the new faces of young international choreographic creation. The Festival is also an ideal opportunity for choreographers, dancers, company directors, programmers and festival directors to cross-fertilize their experiences and exchange ideas at round-table discussions on the following themes:

• La danse en grande forme, addressing the artistic and economic challenges of producing choreographic works involving large numbers of performers on stage.
• A moving image for a moving body, examining how audiovisual technologies are transforming the perception and dissemination of dance.

The Festival de Danse Cannes – Côte d’Azur has always been committed to providing access to choreographic culture for as many people as possible, especially young people. For this new edition 2025 :

• School performances ofIsicathulo by Simonne Rizzo, featuring the percussive dance of stepping, Le Roi et l’Oiseau by Emilie Lalande, based on Paul Grimault’s film, and Mais au fait, pourquoi? by Anton Lachky and Eléonore Valère, who aim to make the next generation aware of the dangers of totalitarian regimes.
• Touring shows for nurseries and schools with Le petit B, created by Marion Muzac for toddlers aged froms 1 year old and Mickaël Le Mer’s Enso, a solo show specially designed for middle schools, high schools and university campuses.
• A strong link with training and young professional dancers The Festival collaborates with the Pôle National Supérieur de Danse Rosella Hightower and invites young dancers from the Cannes Jeune Ballet to perform a series of in situ performances at the Malmaison art center in Cannes, under the direction of Lorena Nogal, in conjunction with Jean-Michel Othoniel’s Poussière d’étoiles exhibition.
• Workshops and master classes to encourage dance practice Festival-goers of all levels can share unique moments with the dancers and choreographers invited to the Festival.

Since 2019, the Festival de Danse has been the region’s first and only cultural event to take on an unprecedented dimension, uniting all the cultural players in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes for the first time: Anthéa (Antibes), Forum Jacques Prévert (Carros), Scène 55 (Mougins), Théâtre de Grasse, Théâtres en Dracénie (Draguignan), Théâtre La Licorne (Cannes), Théâtre Le Forum – Estérel Côte d’Azur (Fréjus) and Théâtre National de Nice. This collaborative dynamic has made it possible to build a common project on the scale of the Côte d’Azur, reinforcing its identity and cultural visibility.

The Festival de Danse Cannes – Côte d’Azur France 2025 promises to be an exceptional event. The move to an annual rhythm will strengthen the momentum, with dance more than ever at the heart of cultural life, between tradition and modernity, local, national and international roots.

* These are students at BTS Audiovisuel Cannes Carnot, ESRA Côte d’Azur, PNSD Rosella Hightower, Villa Arson, Licence Arts du spectacle – EUR CREATES. They are joined this year by students from CNMSD Paris.

** Center National de la Danse, Paris – Cinedans Festival, Amsterdam – Cinédanse, Montreal – Dança em Foco, Rio de Janeiro – Inshadow Festival, Lisbon – Light Moves Festival, Limerick Light Moves Festival, Limerick Ireland – Physical Cinema Festival, Reykjavik – POOL Movement Art Film Festival, Berlin – San Francisco Dance Film Festival – Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv