CircusDanceFestival – Re-Inventing Circus: Between Heritage and Renewal

The CircusDanceFestival Cologne, initiated in 2020 by Overhead Project, is the first international festival to focus on the hybrid artform that is part circus part dance. The Cologne-based Overhead Project was founded in 2008 by Florian Patschovsky and Tim Behren and represents works on the border between contemporary circus and dance.

To mark the inclusion of circus in Germany's intangible cultural heritage this year and its recognition as an independent form of performing arts, the Cologne CircusDanceFestival organised this year's edition under the theme "Re-Inventing Circus", which dealt with questions of heritage and renewal. A special focus of the programme was on ageing bodies and the contemporary revival of the figure of the clown. Round table talks with important representatives of contemporary circus focussed on "Innovation, heritage and change in all forms of circus".

In addition, the Archive Lab and the CircusDance CreationLab project, a collaboration between the festival, the Center for Contemporary Dance at the Cologne University of Music and Dance / ZZT and a professional European circus school, were presented as part of the festival.

Alongside visiting the events attached to the CircusDanceFestival in Cologne, there were meetings with the festival’s initiators and artistic director as well as with other relevant institutions, artists and companies from the field of new circus and circus dance in North Rhine-Westphalia.