The up-and-coming Nuovo Balletto di Toscana will open the 24th Budapest Dance Festival on 27 April. The Florentine dance company will bring to Budapest 'Bayadére - The Kingdom of Shadows' by one of the best choreographers in Italian dance, Michele Di Stefano, which will be performed for two nights for Hungarian audiences.

One of the special features of the rich festival programme will be Acosta Danza, founded by Carlos Acosta, who grew from a Cuban street urchin to become one of the most prominent artists of his generation. Made up of exceptionally talented Cuban dancers, the company will visit Hungary for the first time, to bring an authentic Caribbean feel to the Dance Theatre stage with their show entitled Cuban Eclectico.

Finnish dance virtuoso Susanna Leinonen's choreography will conclude the international line-up: in Nasty, a bold and harrowing performance, the dancers portray the relentless expectations placed on women and the female body. Following the performances of these foreign companies, there will be a meet-and-greet with the creators in the Lobby of the Dance Theatre.

Of course, there can be no festival without the best of Hungarian dance and the greatest celebration of dance.

On International Dance Day, 29 April, the Association of Hungarian Dance Artists and the National Dance Theatre will present a joint gala performance. In addition to staging the work of the choreographer named -Best Choreographer of the Season -, the programme aims to celebrate the entire dance profession. Awards are given to graduating students, emerging and established performers, dance teachers and renowned artists.

One of the festival's special features is that each of the national dance companies will perform premieres, so the organizers encourage audiences not to miss any of the evenings at the Millenáris Park and celebrate the art of dance with the National Dance Theatre's programmes.

The Badora Dance Company is preparing an exciting show for 30 April, presenting a dance drama based on the play Bánk Bán (Bánk the Palatine). Dóra Barta's choreography focuses on the tragedy of a woman, with Melinda as the protagonist, instead of the usual perspective.

Szeged Contemporary Dance Company has come up with a bold concept - their ballet thriller Black Swan is set within the walls of a psychiatric hospital, where we follow the disintegration of the personality of Swan Lake's Odette. The dark, mysterious story is staged by the company's artistic director, Kossuth Prize winner Tamás Juronics.

Inversedance - Zoltán Fodor Company presents a piece with a strange atmosphere on 7 May, based on Lois Lowry's novel 'The Giver', set in a society which at first appears to be utopian, where everything seems to be going perfectly well. But it's an illusion - it's really a utopia only for people deprived of knowledge.

This year?s festival will celebrate both dance and music. Accompanied by a live orchestra and a singer, Forte Company and Dador Project Orchestra's Concordia, a dance piece set to works by classical composers from the Baroque period, unravels grotesque and lyrical dualities, combining dance, live music and prose to form an organic whole.

On the last day, the Budapest Dance Festival will close with the performance BABEL by the Eva Duda Dance Company. With its expressive imagery and spectacular moments, the production creates an eclectic world, but underneath the 'Babel of confusion' there is a longing for harmony.  

Also, in the Small Hall of the National Dance Theatre, one premiere will be followed by another. On 3 May, Ferenc Fehér, Katalin Lőrinc and Zoltán Pál from Planet 142 will evoke the carefree times of old, while on 8 May, Noémi Kulcsár Tellabor's production entitled A Doll's House, based on Henrik Ibsen's world-famous play, will make its debut.

Ten years ago, in 2014, the National Dance Theatre initiated the first complex dance theatre educational performance, Horda2.

The successful production was followed by two other educational dance theatre productions, namely Based on a True Story (Igaz történet alapján; 2016); Under Their Feet (Talpuk alatt) (2018).

On the occasion of the anniversary, the interactive performance 'Under Their Feet', which was part of the programme of the Budapest Dance Festival, is, unusually, intended for an adult audience.

More information, tickets: tancfesztival.hu