What's not to miss at Dance Festival München | Tips 21.-25.5

Consider your calendar full with big-city-vibes

May 21, 2025

Hello my dear Multi Muc readers and happy Wednesday everyone!

Remember when I jokingly complained two weeks ago that all exciting cultural things happened in the same week and left us creatively starved the rest of the year? Anyway, I take that back. With the International DANCE Festival München around the corner, we’re blessed with another exciting happening, and I genuinely feel like these publicly–funded events are really stepping it up this year, not just the programming & locations but also the overall branding. It’s giving some serious cosmopolitan energy and I. am. here. for. it.

So, quick round-up what this year’s DANCE München is all about: Over the next 11 days we get 19 productions, 45 performances, and 12 venues. For the first time, places like Haus der Kunst, Volkstheater and Galerie im Lenbachhaus are joining returning partners such as Muffathalle, Gasteig HP8, Schwere Reiter and others.

The new artistic direction brings contemporary dance into unexpected spaces and opens up fresh ways of seeing and experiencing performance. From breakdance and ballroom culture to immersive museum installations, the festival is all about exploring how bodies connect and how shared space can spark new community.

I highly recommend checking out the full program but here are some productions I’d love to see. I won’t copy the descriptions of the performances in here (they’re always linked in the heading) but just share why it sounds interesting to me.

Ligia Lewis: Deader than dead

It obviously sounds a little dark, but since I’m a big proponent of rethinking how we approach the notion of death, I’m really intrigued. I’d also just go for the “soundtrack composed of labored breathing, techno beats, and fourteenth-century choral music”.

Thu 22.5: 7.30pm-8.30pm
Fr 23.5: 7.30pm-8.30pm
Haus der Kunst

Ballet National de Marseille X (LA)HORDE: The Master’s Tools

This one caught my eye because of the non-traditional way of mixing film and live performance and making it more of an exhibition rather than a dance performance. It also takes place in loops and therefore has no fixed start and end times.

Thu 22.05: 8.30pm & 9.30pm
Fri 23.05: 6.30pm & 7.30pm & 8.30pm
Muffatwerk

Davi Pontes & Wallace Ferreira: Repertório N.2 & N.3

Seeing a nude performance is always special, not because of the actual nude bodies but because of the impact it has on an audience. The Brazillian duo explores dance as a means of resistance against the structural and political violence faced by Black and queer people in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and I’d love to see it.

Repertório N.2
Tue 27.05: 9.30pm-10.05pm
Wed 28.05: 9.30pm-10.05pm
Muffatwerk

Repertório N.3
Wed 28.05: 5pm-5.45pm
Thu 29.05: 9pm-9.45pm
Schwere Reiter

La Veronal: TOTENTANZ – Morgen ist die Frage

Ooops, another death-themed dance. Again, this one I’m looking forward seeing because of the multidisciplinary character where installation, video art, and live performance all come together in an immersive performance.

Sat 31.05: 7pm-8pm, 9pm-10pm
Sun 01.06: 7pm-8pm, 9pm-10pm
Muffatwerk

Additionally, there are some one-time events around the festival that I recommend, you’ll find them in the day-by-day overview ↓