The aim of the festival is to promote contemporary dance and discover fresh talents. Not to push for competitiveness, but rather to foster creativity of young dance creators.

The 16th International Festival of Young Dance Creators OPUS 1 – short dance piece 2025 (Slovenian National Theatre Celje, 19th April 2025) is open to dancers born between 2001 and 2009, who can apply with:

  • A solo dance piece which is both conceived and choreographed by the performing dancer
  • A duet, which is both conceived and choreographed by the performing dancers – shared authorship

Dancers who apply must reside outside of Slovenia. Dancers residing in Slovenia must reach the international OPUS 1 festival through national competition.

Age groups and lengths of short dance pieces:

Group M (born between 2006 and 2009) – maximum 4 minutes
Group L (born between 2001 and 2005) – maximum 7 minutes

THEME:

  1. THE SPACE 
  2. WHATEVER

(More about the theme here )

The jury will be composed from three renowned international dance experts. In previous years, jury members included Susan Quinn (SEAD), Matej Kejžar, Martin Sonderkamp, Milan Tomášik (Les SlovaKs), Eduardo Torroja,

Ryuzo Fukuhara, Roberto Olivan, Boštjan Antončič (Rosas), Aleksandra Janeva Imfeld, Ofra Idel (MASH), Davide Sportelli, Jurij Konjar, Magdalena Reiter, Jiana Qu, Adam Man…

This year’s jury will be announced as soon as it is confirmed!

 The prizes will be awarded for:

  • The Best short dance piece- dance performance and choreography (group M: EUR 400, group L: EUR 1.000)
  • The Best idea (group M: EUR 200, group L: EUR 500)
  • The Best dancer (group M: EUR 200, group L: EUR 500)

Apart from these awards, performers will also vie for the following:

  • Dance studio Intakt and JSKD will select a young dance artist (only from group L), who will get a grant for producing a new dance project, which will be premiered at the OPUS 1 2026 and have a postproduction at the festival Platform of contemporary dance (artistic direction by Mojca Kasjak) in Maribor
  • A young jury will select one short dance piece and award its performer with participation at dance classes and workshops at The International Summer Dance School 2025 in Ljubljana
  • Matjaz Farič, artistic director of the International Contemporary Dance Festival Front@, will select dance pieces, which will be featured at the 20th edition of the Front@ festival, August 2025.

The deadline for applications is March 11, 2025. The application must be submitted online until 11th March 2025, 12.00 PM CET and is only complete if it includes a link to the dance piece which shall be presented at the competition. Only complete applications, submitted before the deadline, shall be considered.

Application form:

https://forms.gle/W3uVi1v3Y9s49Ewc9

There is no entrance fee. A curatorship will select young dance performers on the basis of the received videos to participate in the festival. The successful dancers will receive an invitation by 19th March 2025 at the latest. They must confirm their appearance by 1st April 2025. If they do not confirm their participation in time, the invitation will become invalid.

General information and contacts:

Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD)

Štefanova 5, PO Box 1699, 1000 Ljubljana
Nina Meško
Tel.: 00 386 (0)1 24 10 522
Fax: 00 386 (0)1 24 10 510
E-mail: nina.mesko@jskd.si

If you have any questions concerning your application, please send an e-mail to nina.mesko@jskd.si

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