When body, mind and space resonate in one rhythm

This year, from September 21 to 28, MOVE Fest Ostrava will once again transform the Moravian-Silesian metropolis into a center of movement, dance, new circus and performance art. In 2025, the festival is carried out in the spirit of resonance - words that we know from physics and music, and which accurately describe the dynamics of the human body, movement and shared emotions. Resonance is created when the frequencies of two bodies are aligned, similarly, a unique energy is created on every art scene, which spreads through the space, the audience and our own bodies.

For the 12th year of the festival, we have selected works that resonate – with human desires and doubts, with our experiences and the values of European society. From the subtle humor and playful imagination in the Norwegian music and dance performance for everyone from 0 to 100 years old Rock Me Baby, through the premiere tour stop of the adventurous family performance Wild Geese (Divoké husy), the passion for football and dance in the cult production A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football, to young creators who will shine in the composed evening Fresh Dance or the outdoor project Jáma lvová UNLIMITED. The festival thus offers a spectrum of experiences in which every viewer can find something that resonates with them.

With Rock Me Baby (Øystein Elle & Karstein Solli) is a Norwegian dance crew returning to Ostrava, boldly breaking stereotypes, opening up space for playfulness and sensitivity, and entertaining all generations from the youngest children to parents. The first festival evening will close with the premiere screening of the film Zenit in the presence of the director. This will bring a dystopian story in which bodies and gestures take the place of dialogues, creating tension, drama, and visual poetry that resonates with themes of freedom, power, and human ambition.

On Wednesday, Wild Geese (Divoké husy) - a new co-production project by MOVE Ostrava & FysioArt - will take off for the first time in Ostrava . This multi-genre movement performance explores the power of community, freedom and cooperation, and combines movement, acrobatics and live music by Vladivojna La Chia in an emotionally resonant family spectacle.

The festival Thursday will be dedicated to the traditional Fresh Dance evening , which offers young Czech and Slovak dancers from art schools a space for self-realization and expression of their own fears, fascinations and joy of movement. This year, for the first time, it will be held outdoors in the Parish Garden, which, thanks to MOVE Fest, will come to life with a pulsating energy resonating with the imagination, creativity and openness of young talents.

Among the festival returns is also the work of the Norwegian Jo Strømgren Kompani with the cult production A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football, where dance and football resonate with a common rhythm, energy and joy of movement. Ostrava audiences are familiar with the work of this Norwegian choreographer (and his company) both from the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre and from previous years of MOVE Fest (The Loft, Coco Chanel ).

On Friday we will take to the streets with a program, specifically with the Czech-Norwegian collective Direct Action Theatre and its truly original project Help and Protect (Pomáhat a chránit). Have you ever heard of “artivism”? No? Come and see it on Friday, September 26th at Prokešovo náměstí at 12:30 or Masarykovo náměstí at 4:30. A series of public interventions by performers including Thalia award winner Nela Kornetová (and local participants selected through an open call) will transform Ostrava's public space into an interactive stage where social themes and visual and physical actions will collide with the audience and resonate with their perception of reality.

He will stay on the wave of experimentation on Friday evening with the young Prague ensemble Dočasná Company, which combines music and dance in an unconventional way. In the production Out of Control, musical instruments resonate with dance movements and improvisation creates a constantly changing harmony, which will surely be easy for the Ostrava audience to tune in to.

Saturday's program will begin with the second participatory performance of this year, namely Jáma lvová UNLIMITED by Sabina Bočková and Johana Pocková. It will feature almost three dozen (!) students of movement disciplines and other dancers who will rehearse this site-specific expanded version of the original duet directly during the festival (and as part of the student symposium Embarking). During two unique reruns, Jáma lvová will be opened to students and the public so that they can experiment together with movement, the collective body, and the themes of media manipulation and social responsibility at the place where the old meets the new, between Trojhalí and the newly built Organica.

At 5:15 PM after the first performance of Jáma lvová UNLIMITED, the audience will have a unique opportunity to participate in the festival program without having to go on stage and have any physical talent. Together, to the rhythm of the DJ's pounding beats, we will go on a bike ride along Ostravice from performance to performance, from Trojhalí to Dolní Vítkovice, from Jáma lvová to Lonesome Cowboy . This solo by Tomáš Janypka brings a personal and introspective look at loneliness, humor and humanity, which will surely resonate with every viewer. All the more so because the atmosphere will be enhanced by the unconventional spaces of the National Agricultural Museum, as if made for the physical self-bromance of the 21st century. The conclusion of Saturday's festival evening will of course be the MOVE Party, which this year, in addition to excellent drinks at the Dock bar, will be provided by the folk-fusion band Fekete Seretlek.

On Sunday, we will end MOVE Fest with an open-air community wave. First, with the picnic-performative project How to Watch a Moving Body (Neskorý zber / Compagnie E7KA), which will connect viewers with performers in a shared space at Černá louka, where body, movement and energy resonate without hierarchy and each participant becomes part of the common choreography and a common picnic. (Bring snacks and blankets.) And we will remain at Černá louka for the very end of the festival, during which viewers can look forward to not only the physically demanding performance by Viktor Černický PNEU. Four bodies and hundreds of kilograms of tires will create a living architecture in which chaos turns into structure and each form resonates with the energy of the human body and space.

In addition to the main program mentioned above, visitors can expect movement workshops, a student symposium and, for most performances, a popular debate with creators and performers. We invite everyone, Come to MOVE Fest Ostrava 2025 and let your mind, body and emotions resonate! You will discover how dance, music, film and performance connect individuals and communities, how energy is transferred between performers and audience, and how even a seemingly small gesture or movement can cause a great resonance. Choose a performance and its price at www.movefest.cz , because we offer a “Pay What You Can” system - from the five ticket levels offered, you choose the one that your love of dance and financial situation allows you. MOVE Fest Ostrava 2025 is a celebration of resonance - movement, music, visual and human, and offers new experiences, new perspectives and opportunities for discovery every day.