Julidans, the international festival for contemporary dance in Amsterdam is the perfect coming together of dancers and choreographers of the highest calibre, enticing audiences with phenomenal spectacles for two whole weeks!

Cutting-edge dance performances at Julidans

The wildly popular dance festival Julidans takes place every July in Amsterdam, with dozens of cutting-edge performances that constantly explore and push boundaries. There are even many world premieres among the myriad of shows.

Highlights of Julidans 2019

The Julidans main programme shows outspoken performances by great masters, enfants terribles, the next generation choreographers of contemporary dance and the great innovators of the moment. Here are some of the highlights:

[July 2-3] Story, story die. – Alan Lucien Øyen / winterguests

Julidans kicks off with Story, story die. by the Norwegian super talent Alan Lucien Øyen. Together with exceptional dancers, Øyen examines the relationship between lies and love in a world where likes and hearts are conditional, depending on beauty and success. 

[July 3] Kind – Peeping Tom

In KIND, together with a fixed group of acrobatic performers, Peeping Tom create dark dream worlds on stage where the rules of logic do not apply. Literally delusional: set pieces that lead their own life and swallow characters, people who appear and disappear. 

 [July 5] BROTHER – Marco da Silva Ferreira

The Portuguese choreography talent (winner of the Portuguese edition of So You Think You Can Dance) Marco da Silva Ferreira brings a mix of urban dance with age-old ritual dances. BROTHER is an explosion of energy.

[July 6 & 7] The Quiet – Jefta van Dinther

The fascinating, hypnotic performances of Jefta van Dinther have been crowd magnets at Julidans for years. Julidans is a co-producer of The Quiet, Van Dinther's new show about and with multiple generations of women.

[July 7-8] Submission – Adi Boutrous

Male and female stereotypes undermined in a powerful performance full of energy. Adi Boutrous' Submission questions the culturally determined role patterns in two beautifully danced duets, a "male" and a "female". 

[July 8] ON THE CUSP – Ian Kaler / Cullberg

Virtuoso dance performance with the energy of urban dance and rock. ON THE CUSP is a large-scale performance, with fourteen dancers, about the desire to belong to the group, driven by energetic electrical rock.

[July 9-10] #minaret – Omar Rajeh

Dancing with a drone in powerful protest against the destruction of Aleppo, #minaret is a powerful indictment of war violence, with dance, live video, Syrian music and an ominous drone by the most famous choreographer of the Arabic world. 

[July 10-11] CUTLASS SPRING – Dana Michel

Inimitable Canadian talent recovers her lost sexuality in CUTLASS SPRING. In 2014 Dana Michel received the ImPulsTanz Award for "extraordinary artistic achievements" from the prestigious Viennese festival of the same name. 

[July 11-12]  Body of Work – Daniel Linehan

Dances from the past continue to live in the body of the dancer in Body of Work. Like an archaeologist, choreographer / dancer Daniel Linehan digs into the performances that he has created over the past 15 years and lets their traces speak. 

[July 12-14] Session – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Colin Dunne

Session is the dream ending of Julidans 2019, in which an icon of Irish dance and the most requested choreographer of today are on stage together. Riverdance meets contemporary dance in a moving dialogue between two dance grandmasters and two masterful musicians. 

[July 13] Ion – Christos Papadopoulos

Ion is a hypnotising performance about the essence of life. Papadopoulos writes poetry in enchanting meditations about our place as human beings in the big picture. A French reviewer called Papadopoulos "an essential new face in the dance world." 

[July 13] Conversations Out Of Place – Ivana Müller

"What is the connection between getting lost in the forest and deleting all human data? The answer is given in Ivana Müller's brilliant show", wrote the newspaper, Libération. Conversations Out of Place is about the relationship between humans and nature. 

Beyond the main Julidans programme

Outside of the main programme, there will be other amazing projects to admire during the festival.

Julidans NEXT in the Melkweg is the platform for the next generation of choreographers. Julidans EXTENDED: At the Park is completely free and takes place in Vondelpark on July 5, July 6 and July 12. Two of the highlights of the festival outside the theatre are Julidans Extended: Off Venue & Hors-Champ in Erasmus Park. Both are free entry! Off Venue can be visited as a “bike tour”, so you can see five performances in one afternoon.

Julidans locations

Julidans locations include many of the most famous performance venues in Amsterdam: Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Theater Bellevue, Melkweg Upstairs, Vondelpark Open-air Theatre, Podium Mozaïek, Bijlmer Parktheater, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Erasmus Park, De Hallen, Museum Het Schip, Pontsteiger and Van Oldebarneveldtplein.

Buy your Julidans tickets

Make sure to buy your Julidans tickets in advance before it's too late! Go to the Julidans programme and tickets page to reserve your tickets.