Dresden hosts the Dance Platform Germany

Dresden will become the most important stage for modern dance in Germany next week. For Tanzplattform Deutschland, a jury has scrutinized around 550 productions and selected 13 of them. The festival has been providing an overview of developments and trends in contemporary dance every two years since 1994 and takes place in different cities. Dresden last hosted the festival in 2012. The Saxon Ministry of Culture supports the platform with a total of 209,000 euros.

"We are proud that this most important forum for contemporary dance is once again being held in the 'dance city of Dresden' after 14 years and are happy to support the festival as a clear commitment to this special art form," emphasized Saxony's Minister of Culture Barbara Klepsch (CDU). Modern dance is an intangible cultural heritage and is inextricably linked to Saxony in Germany. She recalled names such as Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Mary Wigman and Gret Palucca.

Dance scene on the move

"Over the past two years, we have seen the dance scene undergo challenging and far-reaching changes. We have seen how dance and dance spaces have also been affected by the crises of this world and how stages have been plunged into dark moods," the jury had already stated when announcing the festival in November 2025.

"At a time when discourse spaces are becoming increasingly narrow and words often divide rather than connect, it is all the more important that dance as a universal language brings people into contact with each other and keeps the corridors of exploration wide and open," the festival quoted Wolfram Weimer, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, who supports the festival.

Multiple venues at host Dresden

The festival will be hosted by the European Center for the Arts at the Festspielhaus Hellerau from Wednesday to Sunday. Other venues include the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Staatsoperette, the Theater Junge Generation, the Societaetstheater and the Villa Wigman. An accompanying program (Platform Plus) complements the festival, which is implemented in cooperation with partner institutions from all over Germany.