NagiB Contemporary Dance Festival

Private spaces, NagiB Festival, 2009

Launched in 2005 in Maribor, NagiB Contemporary Dance Festival (until 2010 known as Experimental Movement Festival) invites emerging talents from the field of contemporary dance and performance from Slovenia and abroad to present their work. Priority is given to projects which involve research and offer different perspectives to the question of contemporary embodiment. Accordingly, the festival chose the name NagiB (tilt, motive) to highlight the necessity of alternative visions to established conceptions of embodiment. Projects taking place beyond the traditional theatre space are welcomed since the festival's aim is to transgress not only regional and national borders, but also physical and spiritual ones.

The festival's programme also includes practical and theoretical workshops which reflect on contemporary dance and performing arts in general as well as discussions with the artists presented at the festival. The festival takes place at Pekarna Cultural Centre, the Small Stage of Slovene National Theatre Maribor, the Maribor Puppet Theatre, and at various other public places in the city of Maribor.

In the period 2005–2008, the festival was organised by Pekarna Cultural Centre. Since 2009, the festival is organised by Plesna izba Maribor, though Pekarna Cultural Centre still hosts a number of performances presented at the festival.

Recent programme

Recent editions of Festival NagiB have presented works by emerging international authors, such as Yasmine Hugonnet, Maria Jerez, Ioana Popovici, Pere Faura, Silke Z., Radharani Pernarčič, Adva Zakai, Jolika Suderman and Alma Söderberg, Keren Levi, Hugo Dehaes as well as performances of renowned authors, such as Katie Duck, Sebastijan Horvat, Snježana Premuš, Katrina Brown. Thus far, the programme has included performances from Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Germany, Spain, and Slovenia. Besides presenting international performances to the Slovene public, the festival also encourages the exchange of artistic experiences and knowledge through offering workshops by international artists and pedagogues. In 2006 the programme featured an improvisation workshop by Katie Duck and Mary Oliver from Magpie Music and Dance Company and a contact composition workshop given by Rebecca Murgi. In 2007 the festival hosted a workshop on the dramaturgy of movement given by Igor Dobričić (Serbia, the Netherlands) and in 2008 a dramaturgy workshop by the theoretician and dramaturge Bojana Kunst and a dance workshop by Maja Delak. In 2009 a practical workshop investigating the principles of improvisation and composition, Pandora's Box, was given by the Spanish dancer Aimar Pérez Galí.