Kuyum Dance Platform 2025
6-Day Dance Festival at Uferstudio from 16th to 21st September 2025
KUYUM TANZPLATTFORM is a six-day dance festival dedicated to exhibiting and promoting neo-African choreographies and Artists of African descent from Germany and abroad, as well as artists of non-African descent who incorporate neo-African dance practices into their work.
What is neo-African dance? It is a form of contemporary dance that draws on techniques, aesthetic principles, and choreographic elements found in the movement language of dancers of African descent and integrates them into their choreographies.
This year’s fifth edition of the festival focuses on the theme of ‘Afro-Somatics’. Traditionally, the somatic approach in dance is associated with white bodies due to its history. However, African and neo-African dance have always engaged with somatics elements. If we define somatics (from the Greek soma, meaning body) in dance as an emotional and conscious process that brings inner life to the surface and translates body memories into movements, it becomes clear that somatics is an inherent element of contemporary African dance. This year, the festival will highlight these ‘Afro-somatic’ dance elements, and perspectives and further develop the conventional definition of Afro-somatics from an Afrocentric perspective.
KUYUM TANZPLATTFORM aims to provide the invited artists with a safe space to present neo-African dance performances free from attributions and clichés to a broad audience. Additionally, the festival offers a space for networking, where artistic approaches can be exchanged and collaborations established. KUYUM TANZPLATTFORM positions itself as a catalyst for a new perception of African dance forms in the diaspora. The festival will take place at the Uferstudios, where, in addition to the performances, the audience is invited to participate in workshops. One of these workshops and shows will be aimed at young people, with barrier-free access. Most of the workshops will also be led by the artists performing at the festival. Additionally, there will be a conference on neo-African dance and Afro-somatics, titled ‘Re-exploring Dance & Healing’, coordinated and moderated by Nora Amin.
Everyone is cordially invited to participate in the KUYUM TANZPLATTFORM 2025 program.
