Anna Mülter assumes general management for a new dance festival in Hanover

From January 2024, Hannover is to have a new annual dance festival. The concept for this was jointly presented by the state capital of Hanover, the Stiftung Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony Foundation) and the state of Lower Saxony at Schauspiel Hannover on September 12. The new festival will be docked onto the structure of the Theaterformen festival, where it will be responsible for content and organization. Anna Mülter, artistic director of the Theaterformen festival, will assume the general direction – the call for a dance curator for the new dance festival will be published soon. Both festivals are and will remain artistically independent.

The new festival will take place annually and will be shifted to January in order to take advantage of structural and personnel synergies and thus create a sustainable model of festival organization. For the first time in 2024, the venues of the Staatstheater Hannover will then be available for a concentrated program.

The concept was developed in intensive discussions between the participating sponsors with the aim of opening up a new perspective for dance in Hanover and to leverage synergy potential through the close connection to already existing festival structures. The festival is to be given a distinctive and innovative artistic profile. To this end, the focus is to be placed on new and young international positions. A development opportunity that has hardly been used so far lies in a stronger link with the local and regional scene. The new festival will thus become more of an active player in shaping the structures and ideas for and of dance in Hanover and Lower Saxony.

Anna Mülter will use the coming period to enter into dialogue with the Hanoverian dance scene. Regarding the artistic reorientation of the festival for dance, she says: "The new conception of the festival gives us the chance to strengthen dance in Lower Saxony and to create encounters between outstanding international choreographers and local audiences and artists. We want to bring a young generation of choreographers to Hanover who are exploring exciting new paths. Christiane Winter's passionate and persistent commitment to dance in the city has created an important foundation on which we want to build. Especially in these difficult times, I am delighted about the commitment of the state capital of Hanover, the Lower Saxony Foundation and the state of Lower Saxony to this art form and about the trust placed in me. Hanover continues to be placed on the international map of dance!"

The complete press release of the City of Hanover can be found here in German language.