The festival euro-scene Leipzig was founded in 1991 and takes place each November. It brings experimental theatre and innovative dance throughout Europe to Leipzig and belongs to the cultural highlights of the city. The euro-scene Leipzig is the only festival of contemporary European theatre and modern dance in the five new German states and belongs to the most-important festivals of its kind in Europe.
The euro-scene Leipzig shows the latest trends in the European dance and theatre scene and presents on average 12 guest plays with altogether about 25 presentations from 10 countries in about 8 different venues. These include the theatre stages of Schauspiel and Oper as well as the free scene and unusual, newly discovered places. The duration of the festival is 6 days (Tuesday to Sunday). Matthias Renner founded the festival in 1991 and directed it until his death in 1993. Ann-Elisabeth Wolff was co-director from the beginning and took over the festival direction, artistic direction and management in 1993, which she held until 2020. Christian Watty has been the director of euro-scene Leipzig since 2021.
In addition to the audience from Leipzig, more and more spectators come from the environs, from other German cities and from abroad. Furthermore, the festival constitutes a fixed meeting place for national and international colleagues.
Important criteria for selection include: high degree of professionalism, international quality, innovation, extremely individual and artistic handwriting, courage for aesthetic experimentation. The euro-scene Leipzig tracks down new trends and supports time-related and social topics; it is the hub between eastern and western Europe and it crosses genre boundaries. Above all, productions should be moving, exciting and stirring, they should provide food for thought and discussion.
Thereby the festival programme is composed of »big names« – directors and choreographers who have »made it« on the international theatre and dance scene – as well as young companies waiting to be discovered and promoted. The euro-scene Leipzig presented plays by Romeo Castellucci, Alvis Hermanis, Alain Platel and Krzysztof Warlikowski, for example, at a time when they - now known throughout Europe as directors - had never performed in Germany in the mid-1990s. Own artistic forces living in this city are selectively included into the international events. The competition »Das beste deutsche Tanzsolo« (»Best German dance solo«) in the conception of the important Flemish choreographer Alain Platel, Ghent/Belgium, has developed to one of the festival highlights. This competition has been held annually since 1997 and biennially from 2003 to 2019 on the legendary 7 metre diameter round table.
For many years now, the euro-scene Leipzig has chosen a motto or theme in order to concentrate guest performances and avoid becoming an »all-sorts« shop. Examples of titles include: »Herbstzeitlose« (»Autumn crocus«, 2012), »Schwarze Milch« (»Black milk«, 2013) and »Transit« (2014). In 2015 euro-scene Leipzig went without a motto because of its anniversary. Instead the festival took place under the title »25 years – a celebration«. Then »Doch bin ich nirgend, ach! zu Haus« (»But nowhere am I – alas! – at home«) followed in 2016; the motto was based on the title of a play by Nikolaus Habjan, Vienna, who was presented in a showcase. In 2017 the motto was »Ausgrabungen« (»Excavations«), 2018 »Bühnen – Klang – Welten« (»Stage – Sound – Worlds«), 2019 »Parallelwelten« (»Parallel worlds«) and 2020 »Alles nicht wahr« (»It simply ain’t so«). The festival is completed by a fringe programme of talks, workshops and films.
The euro-scene Leipzig is organised by the Sächsischer Verein zur Förderung des kulturellen Austauschs nationaler und internationaler Tanz- und Theatergruppen e. V. (Saxon Association for the promotion of cultural exchange between national and international dance and theatre groups). The team consists of three permanent staff members (Managing and Artistic Director, Management Assistant/Coordination and Administrative Management) and several temporary, paid employees (technical direction, press relations, advertising, graphic design).
The festival is financed by the City of Leipzig and the Cultural Foundation oft he Free State of Saxony. In addition some guest performances are supported by foundations and cultural representatives like embassies. The detailed sponsors, supporters and partners of the respective festival year can always be found in the programme booklets. Cultural partners are MDR Kultur and ARTE.
The 30th anniversary festival was to take place from 3 - 8 November 2020 in conjunction with the farewell to Ann-Elisabeth Wolff. Due to an order by the German government to ban all events from 2 November due to the rising number of Covid-19 infections, the festival unfortunately had to be cancelled completely shortly before the start. The tribute to 30 years of euro-scene Leipzig and the official farewell to Ann-Elisabeth Wolff after her 30 years of festival work was made up for by Burkhard Jung, Lord Mayor of the City of Leipzig, on 20 September 2021 at Schauspielhaus Leipzig. In this context, the guest performance »F. Zawrel - erbbiologisch und sozial minderwertig« (»F. Zawrel - genetically and socially inferior«) by Nikolaus Habjan from Vienna, which was cancelled in 2020, also took place on 20 and 21 September 2021.
The national and international contacts are exceptionally manifold. Since 1992 the festival has been member of the IETM (International network for contemporary performing arts), head office in Brussels, as the most important network for free theatre in Europe with about 450 members and renders important public relations and representation for the City of Leipzig, the Free State of Saxony and the new German states.
Further on, the euro-scene Leipzig is an active member of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), Paris – Center of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin.
Since 2002, the euro-scene Leipzig has been one of the current eleven co-producers of the Tanzplattform Deutschland (Dance Platform Germany) – together with institutions in Berlin, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart – as the most important festival of innovative dance in Germany. The Tanzplattform Deutschland is an event of international significance and is organised every two years in another city.
Due to the high reputation of the euro-scene Leipzig, the Sächsischer Verein zur Förderung des kulturellen Austauschs nationaler und internationaler Tanz- und Theatergruppen e. V. (Saxon Association for the promotion of cultural exchange between national and international dance and theatre groups) was assigned the organisation and staging of the Tanzplattform Deutschland in 2002. Under the project direction of Ann-Elisabeth Wolff and co-direction of Michael Freundt, a colleague who had been with the euro-scene Leipzig for many years, it was the first time that a dance platform was held in the new German states. More than 350 organisers and journalists from all over the world as well as 35 representatives of the Goethe Institutes came to Leipzig from 6. – 10.02.2002, and experienced 24 choreographies in about 45 performances.
In 1995 an artistic advisory council was founded consisting of internationally known experts for contemporary theatre. The members have an advisory capacity in the programme planning and represent the festival on an international level. The members changed every three to four years. Prominent colleagues included Nele Hertling (Director Hebbel Theatre, Berlin), Sigrid Gareis (Director Tanzquartier Wien), Carena Schlewitt (Director Kaserne Basel), Tilmann Broszat (Artistic Director SPIEL.ART Festival, Munich), Markus Luchsinger (Artistic Director spielzeiteuropa / Berliner Festspiele) and Prof. Jason Beechey (Rector Palucca Hochschule für Tanz, Dresden).
Ann-Elisabeth Wolff
Co-Director 1991—1993
Managing Director and Artistic Director 1993—2020
Leipzig, 03.05.2024