25 years of Aerowaves
The 25th anniversary celebrations of Aerowaves kicked off in Ljubljana in June 2021, where we organised the Summer Recollection festival, and culminated in Elefsina with Spring Forward in 2022.
In between, we published a collection of articles by Springback writers that offered insights into the network’s history whilst celebrating our legacy and current artists, and empowered a new generation of dance presenters at Startup Forum. We also launched the Springback Ringside VR initiative and presented an exhibition in Ljubljana and Elefsina.
Last but not least, we released Enya Belak’s documentary ‘Aerowaves at 25’, premiered at Spring Forward in Elefsina on 1 May, which will now be presented at San Vincenti festival on 23 July 2022. On the occasion of the release of the trailer we are wrapping up this very special year for Aerowaves, a pioneering network of dance professionals who have been discovering the most promising new work by emerging European dance artists since 1996.
Throughout the documentary, we learn about the founders of the platform and the activities Aerowaves devised to connect dance enthusiasts around the globe. Besides diving into the past, Belak also explores the present and wonders about the network’s next steps into the future.
Amongst others, the film features founding director John Ashford, Administrative director Anna Arthur; board member Betsy Gregory; Aerowaves artists Patricia Arpeggi, Viktor Černický or Christos Papadopoulos; dance writers Sanjoy Roy and Donald Hutera; and Aerowaves partners like Frosso Trousa and Yvona Kreuzmannová.
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Midsummer celebration in Ljubljana in June 2021
The celebrations of Aerowaves’ 25 years kicked off with a flash festival in Ljubljana from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 June 2021. A very significant place for Aerowaves since we celebrated the first Spring Forward festival there in 2011. The centre of the event was again with our partners EN-KNAP Productions at Španski Borci Cultural Centre with five other venues, indoors and out.
Find out moreAerowaves 25 years commissioned articles
Aerowaves at 25, edited by Róisín O’Brien, is a series of commissioned pieces that reflect on, and consider where the organisation might go next.
Rather than revisit the past, we marked the moment with a specially printed publication featuring new texts by contemporary Springback writers, intercut with snapshots from history.
Spring Forward 2022 in Elefsina
Hosted by 2023 ELEUSIS European Capital of Culture and our partner DAN.C.CE UNITIVA, Spring Forward took place in Elefsina (Greece) from Thursday 28 April to Sunday 1 May 2022.
We presented 25 performances in 5 venues over 4 days which culminated the celebrations of Aerowaves 25th anniversary. Alongside the European based companies, the Spring Forward programme included Asian artists and organisations as part of our Exchange initiative, and former Aerowaves artist Jesús Rubio Gamo presented ‘Gran Bolero’. We premiered ‘Aerowaves at 25’, a documentary directed by Enya Belak, welcomed 333 dance professionals from 48 countries and 3000 local spectators from Elefsina. The new directors of the platform were announced: Elisabetta Bisaro and Roberto Casarotto will lead Aerowaves into the next phase of life when founder John Ashford steps down, after 25 years in September 2022.