MOVE Fest Ostrava 2025: Resonance That Moves the City

MOVE Fest Ostrava will once again transform the Moravian-Silesian metropolis into a centre of movement, dance, contemporary circus, and performance art from September 21 to 28. The 2025 edition is shaped by the theme of resonance - a word familiar from physics and music, capturing precisely the dynamics of the human body, motion, and shared emotion.

Resonance emerges when the frequencies of two bodies align; in the same way, every artistic encounter generates a unique energy - one that moves through space, through the audience, and through our own bodies.

In the 12th edition of the festival, we have selected works that resonate — with human desires and doubts, with our lived experiences, and with the values of European society. From the gentle humor and playful imagination of the Norwegian music-and-dance performance Rock Me Baby (for audiences from 0 to 100 years), to a stop on the premiere tour of the adventurous family production Wild Geese, to the shared passion for football and dance in the cult performance A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football, and finally to the emerging artists featured in the curated evening Fresh Dance or the outdoor project Lion’s Den UNLIMITED. The festival offers a spectrum of experiences in which every audience member can find something that resonates with them.

Rock Me Baby

With Rock Me Baby (Øystein Elle & Karstein Solli), a Norwegian dance crew returns to Ostrava - one that boldly breaks stereotypes, opens space for playfulness and sensitivity, and delights audiences of all ages, from the youngest children to their parents. The opening night of the festival will conclude with the premiere screening of the film Zenit, presented in the presence of its director. The film offers a dystopian narrative in which bodies and gestures take the place of dialogue, creating tension, dramatic arcs, and visual poetry that resonates with themes of freedom, power, and human ambition.

On Wednesday, Wild Geese will take flight in Ostrava for the very first time - a new co-production between MOVE Ostrava and FysioART. This multi-genre movement performance explores the power of community, freedom, and cooperation, weaving together movement, acrobatics, and live music by Vladivojna La Chia into an emotionally resonant experience for the whole family.

A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football

Thursday at the festival will be dedicated to the traditional curated evening Fresh Dance, which offers young Czech and Slovak dancers from art schools a space for self-expression, for articulating their fears, fascinations, and the joy of movement. This year, for the first time, the event will take place outdoors in the Farská Garden, which will come to life with the pulsating energy resonating with the imagination, creativity, and openness of emerging talent.

The festival also welcomes the return of Norway’s Jo Strømgren Kompani with the cult performance A Dance Tribute to the Art of Football, where dance and football resonate through shared rhythm, energy, and the sheer joy of movement. Ostrava audiences know the work of this Norwegian choreographer (and his company) from the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre and from previous editions of MOVE Fest (including The Loft and Coco Chanel).

Serve and Protect

On Friday, the festival program steps out into the streets - this time with the Czech–Norwegian collective Direct Action Theatre and their truly original project Serve and Protect. Have you ever heard of artivism? No? Then this is the moment to experience it.

Join us on Friday, September 26 — at 12:30 on Prokeš Square or at 16:30 on Masaryk Square. A series of public interventions performed by the ensemble — including Thalia Award–winning performer Nela Kornetová alongside local participants selected through an open call - will transform the public space of Ostrava into an interactive stage where social themes collide with visual and physical action, resonating with the perceptions of everyone who encounters them.

The evening continues in an experimental tone with the young Prague ensemble Dočasná Company, which brings an unconventional fusion of dance and live music. In their performance Out of Control, musical instruments resonate directly with movement, and improvisation creates an ever-shifting harmony - one that the audience at BrickHouse will surely tune into with ease.

On Saturday, the program opens with the second participatory performance of this year’s festival: Lion’s Den UNLIMITED by Sabina Bočková and Johana Pocková. This time, however, the work will be performed by nearly thirty (!) dance students and movement artists, who will rehearse this extended site-specific version of the original duet directly during the festival (as part of the student symposium Arrivals). Lion’s Den will unfold twice in a unique location where the old meets the new - between Trojhalí and the newly built Organica - inviting both students and the public to collectively experiment with movement, the idea of a shared body, and themes of media manipulation and social responsibility.

Lonesome Cowboy

At 17:15, immediately after the first performance of Lion’s Den UNLIMITED, audiences will have the chance to become part of the festival atmosphere without needing to step on stage or have any previous dance experience. Together - to a set of pulsing DJ beats - we’ll set off on a group bike ride along the Ostravice river, moving from one performance to the next: from Trojhalí to Dolní Vítkovice, from Lion’s Den to Lonesome Cowboy. This solo by Tomáš Janypka offers a personal and introspective look at loneliness, humor, and the fragile humanity we all carry - a resonance that will undoubtedly land with every viewer. The atmosphere will be deepened even further by the unconventional setting of the National Agricultural Museum, a space that feels tailor-made for a 21st-century movement-driven self-bromance.

And of course, the night ends the only way a Saturday at MOVE Fest should: with the MOVE Party — this year powered by the folk-fusion band Fekete Seretlek, plus excellent drinks at Dock’s bar.

PNEU

On Sunday, MOVE Fest closes on an open-air, community-driven note. We begin with the picnic-performative project How to Watch a Moving Body (Neskorý zber / Compagnie E7KA), which invites audiences and performers to share a common space on Černá louka - a space where bodies, movement and energy resonate without hierarchy, and every participant becomes part of a collective choreography and a shared picnic. (Bring snacks and blankets.)

We’ll stay on Černá louka for the final event of the festival, where audiences can look forward to Viktor Černický’s physically demanding performance PNEU. Four bodies and hundreds of kilograms of tires create a living architecture in which chaos transforms into structure — where each form resonates with the energy of human bodies and the surrounding space.

In addition to the main program, visitors can enjoy movement workshops, the student symposium, and post-show discussions with artists and performers - a festival favourite.

We invite everyone to join MOVE Fest Ostrava 2025 and let your mind, body, and emotions resonate. Discover how dance, music, film, and performance connect individuals and communities - how energy moves between performers and audiences - and how even the smallest gesture can create a powerful resonance.

Choose your performances at www.movefest.cz and set your own ticket price. Here, we follow the Pay What You Can model - from five offered pricing levels, you simply choose the one that suits both your love of dance and your financial situation.

MOVE Fest Ostrava 2025 is a celebration of resonance - movement-based, musical, visual, and deeply human - offering new experiences, new perspectives, and new opportunities for discovery every single day.