The Guide to Attending Tanzwerkstatt Europa: Munich Dance Festival (2024)
Tanzwerkstatt Europa (meaning “Dance Workshop Europe”) is an annual dance festival every August in Munich, Germany. Organized by JOINT ADVENTURES, it is a training ground for dancers amateur to professional. The Festival offers a selection of unique classes each year, from contemporary and ballet to vogue, heels, and even boxing over the course of two weeks.
I attended Tanzwerkstatt Europa from July 30 - August 9, 2024.
This guide is based on my personal experiences and is in no way intended to discredit, defame, or maliciously criticize the event. Please refer to the organizer’s official website for the latest program updates and festival schedule.
Tanzwerkstatt Europa offers workshops from amateur to professional level over two weeks. It’s a smaller and more locally known dance festival, with most of their participants coming from neighbouring European countries. Nevertheless, the Festival packs an amazing lineup of workshops and public performances. What’s unique is that they use a spider network of local dance schools and artist studios to present their itineraries, instead of centering everything in one location.
This offered me the opportunity to dance in the morning, sightsee for a few hours, and round off each day with another dance session at night. I had such a wonderful time exploring Munich this way.
With this guide, I hope to give you unfiltered, reflective insight into the particular quirks and workings of Tanzwerkstatt Europa, so you can be prepared when you go.
What is dance travel?
Also known as “dance tourism,” dance travel is the dancer’s key to seeing the world while developing their craft.
dance travel — n. a means of travelling the world using dance as a catalyst and/or foremost purpose; activities can include taking workshops, attending festivals, teaching dance, and more.
There are several steps to follow for attending any dance festival abroad or in-nation:
- Do your research. Which festival do you want to attend and when? What is the destination like? Do you need a Visa?
- Get the money, and manage your budget.
- Sign up. Look up their website.
- Apply for grants (optional but highly recommended!).
- Prepare travel essentials like cash exchanges, money debit cards, and travel insurance.
- Pack light. Pack like a dancer.
Your travel documents
Before you even consider going abroad, check that your passport is valid for at least 6 months beyond your trip. Check your government website for any visas or other documents needed for the destination, as well as risk advisories. Renewing your passport and/or applying for visas will all take some time, so factor this into your planning.
The website
Tanzwerkstatt Europa’s website is located at jointadventures.net. JOINT ADVENTURES is the organizing group behind the festival. According to the website,
“Together with the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich, every year since 1991 JOINT ADVENTURES has organized TANZWERKSTATT EUROPA – a workshop for new ideas and aesthetics in contemporary dance and performance and hot spot for choreographers, teachers and professionals – for all people who take great delight in dancing. The audience comes from Munich, Bavaria and the whole world.”
You can also find information about the SEDA Salavisa European Dance Award (a collaboration between seven European cultural institutions) and audition calls for performances in partnership with Tanzwerkstatt Europa.
One great feature they have is the Archive under the “Tanzwerkstatt Europa” category, where you can see all the workshops, teachers, and performances offered from years past (not to be confused with the other Archive section under “Access to Dance”). Unfortunately, the Archive doesn’t include class descriptions, so you may not be able to tell exactly what a particular class was from the title alone.
In terms of accessibility, I found the website a bit jarring to go through. Their three-column masonry layout gets quite confusing when you’re trying to not lose your place while scrolling up and down. There is currently no option to “favourite” a workshop and look at it on a cleaner page.
Nevertheless, it’s still a massive improvement over b12’s website. After a few minutes, you should be able to navigate it sufficiently.
Choosing your workshops
What stands out about Tanzwerkstatt Europa’s programming is their emphasis on all-gender and all-body. The dance festival is catered to everyone from amateur to professional. While the professional-grade classes should be taken only by professional-level artists to ensure safety, there are a multitude of other workshops that anyone can partake in. Examples include beginner boxing, heels dance, tai chi, Feldenkrais, breakdancing for kids, and courses open to wheelchair users.
All workshops are labelled according to their level.
Their programming changes every year, but regular staples include contemporary dance, ballet, some sort of somatic awareness, tai chi or yoga, and repertoire.
After workshops have been announced for the next summer, there will be a login option for you to sign up with. Simply create an account and fill out the form with the workshops you want to take (be careful, since there may be multiple times and dates for the same workshop) and some background information.
If you are a professional, you’ll need to provide a short CV to prove your capability.
Finally, make your payment, and you’re all set.
How professional is “professional?”
A.K.A. What moves do I need to be able to do? — the million dollar question lurking in the back of every dancer’s mind.
Tanzwerkstatt Europa is run by a relatively small team. If you’re registering as a professional, you’ll need to provide a short CV in your application for them to screen.
The website provides some guidance on how to determine your level by number of years. Example: an amateur would have spent zero or very little time dancing, and a professional would have danced for at least five, let’s say.
However, this sort of determining factor is almost always irrelevant, since many things can affect whether or not you’re professional-level. Class frequency, teacher, and performance opportunities can all affect the outcome. When judging for yourself, then, just trust that you know which level you should be in. The more experience you have, the better you can tell what sort of class it will be.
I will say that if you're going for the professional classes, you should at least be able to do shoulder rolls back and forth and upside-down kick-ups (where you lift your feet off the floor momentarily in a transition move with your hands pressing into the floor).
If anything else, I’m sure the Tanzwerkstatt Europa team can adjust your schedule for you if you find that you need a different level.
The admission process
No audition necessary.
Login and create an account once the option is available on the website (a couple months before the festival starts). Fill out the form with your basic information, select your workshops, and provide any professional experience as necessary.
Make your payment. You will receive an email confirming the payment.
A festival organizer will reach out to you later with an official email confirmation. Be sure to check all the listed workshops again, as it’s possible they can mix up workshops with different times (it happened to me).
After registering, you can then see the profiles of everyone else attending the festival. Uploading a profile photo or not is completely up to you, and to be honest, I took a quick look to see where everyone was from and never used this function again.
I later got “digital course cards” to sign in with each day, which were really just posters with my class and studio information for each workshop. I never used them. The class sizes are small, and the front desk attendants had everyone’s names listed. By day two, they practically had everyone memorized.
Performances and opportunities
Tanzwerkstatt Europa also features performances by international choreographers and movement artists. Workshop participants get a special discount for tickets. You can also check out the Festival Pass for reduced prices if you’re seeing a lot.
(I, unfortunately, did not see any performances this time round. I spent each day exploring the city of Munich and was too tired to stay out later.)
There are also opportunities to be in performances. At the end of the festival, a student showcase is presented, with participants showing off what they learned from their workshops.
There was a bit of confusion surrounding this, as it wasn’t until three days before festival end that my ballet teacher even knew about the showcase. At that point, it was too late to put anything together. Other workshop students presented what they learned from repertoire class or the like.
The website also features any open calls for performances in partnership with the festival. For example, in 2024, Felix Ruckert was auditioning members of the public for a site-specific community piece.
Studio locations
Tanzwerkstatt Europa uses a spiderweb of local studios to present their workshops. When I was there, the three locations were:
- Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance
- Tanztendenz München e.V.
- Halle6
Iwanson is a large space with multiple mid-size studios. It features a completely unisex, all-gender change room/shower room/toilet (yes, even the showers are open layout to all). The entire space is very clean and welcoming.
Tanztendenz is a bit hard to find; it’s located several floors up in what seems to be a residential building. Their main studio, though, is HUGE. The floors were white Marley, as seems to be the trend in Munich. It was just gorgeous.
Halle6 is a different vibe. It refers to a wide collection of containers repurposed into artist studios, independent boutiques, and small theatres. It’s the furthest of the three from the city centre, close to Olympiapark.
You might be taking classes all over the city in one day. The schedule accounts for this layover, but it’s still a tight squeeze back-to-back. Instead, I chose to do one workshop in the morning and one in the evening, leaving me ample time to grab lunch and explore the city in-between.
SOLID GROUND
SOLID GROUND is a training program that takes place around the same dates as the festival. It’s a platform for pre-professional dance students nearing graduation to finetune their technique and expand their network.
The SOLID GROUND students must take some of the Tanzwerkstatt Europa workshops as part of their curriculum (fees already included, of course). In fact, I was the only one in the professional contemporary class taught by Virginie Roy not a SOLID GROUND student.
(P.S. If you ever get the chance to go to Virginie Roy’s class, do it. She is AMAZING. I have nothing but praise for her teaching style and lesson plans.)
The participants come from all over the world: Finland, Munich, Hong Kong, etc.
They share the Iwanson studio spaces with Tanzwerkstatt participants. Lunch is served for the students each day. Their other courses include choreography, repertoire, and theory (in the form of guest lectures).
The daily life
Munich is a very calm, quiet city. I found my time extremely comforting and laid-back.
Because there’s no central location to Tanzwerkstatt Europa, you can take advantage of any down time between workshops to really get to know the city. Have a schmalznudel, take a break in the lake (well, river), go swimming at one of their pool facilities.
There are so many tasty food options. And, if you think you need to sit down at a restaurant for good (and pricey) food, I’m here to tell you their grocery stores are equally satisfying. You can build your own salad at the hot and cold bars or buy a prepackaged lunch/dinner from supermarkets like REWE and HIT. Not only do they have options galore, it also costs a lot less than eating out.
The only caveat is that almost everything closes at 8 PM in Munich. I had to bring my groceries to the studio before my last class; otherwise, there was no time.
In classic European fashion, there was also no air conditioning in the studios. I found one powered-on AC at a dm (pharmacy) near Viktualienmarkt.
In the thick of summer, this proved to be a real hazard. With the amount of dancing and body heat of those around you, some participants actually had to sit or step out to revive themselves. It’s that hot.
Plus, a quirky thing about dancing in Germany is that studio windows are not allowed to be opened, lest thy neighbours hear your pounding music during quiet hours – or just in general. So, unless a studio has some sort of permit to play loud sounds or is located far enough away from civilization that it doesn’t matter, expect to be sweaty.
Bring a change of clothes and dry underwear. Remember to hydrate!!!
Managing your budget
Unless you’re part of the 1% who never have to worry about spending money, artists will probably want to have a budgeting system in check before they go to Tanzwerkstatt Europa. The Tripcoin app is a great Apple budgeting tool, and it’s free with no ads! (Thank you, Lonely Planet, for the tip.)
If you’re a Canadian traveller staying for the whole two weeks, I recommend a budget of $3500 CAD. This includes the costs of accommodation, groceries/eating out, workshops, travel, and entertainment.
You can also double up with your itinerary. Because Tanzwerkstatt Europa started exactly a day after b12 Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance Art in Berlin (I think they did it on purpose – they even shared some teachers), I did the whole month of b12 first and simply took the train to Munich the next day. Of course, this cost me a lot more (about $10,500 CAD for both festivals), but at least I didn’t have to pay for another flight.
Whatever your personal budget is, it helps to start saving early — at least half a year in advance. There are several ways you can save on the festival front, including early bird discounts and artist discounts.
Check the website once information has been updated and your emails for ways to save.
For currency exchanges and on-the-go top-ups, I personally use Wise. It’s free and easy to set up an account, and from there you can order both a physical and digital card. If you want a physical card, carve time for it to arrive, since it takes around 18 days. The digital card has all the same functions; you just can’t use it on an ATM.
One way to gain funding and help offset the price of participating is to apply to grants.
Applying to grants
Applying to grants is optional, but I highly recommend it!!! It could mean the difference between paying for everything out of pocket and having (almost) your entire trip funded without a cost to you.
If you’re a dance artist with a sound reason for attending Tanzwerkstatt Europa, it does count as professional development! Many governments and even some smaller foundations offer grants to artists and arts workers to fund workshops, training, apprenticeships, and more.
The Canada Council for the Arts, for example, has an Explore and Create grant to support professional development for artists, up to a maximum of $10,000 CAD. You can only apply to this grant once a year, regardless of the outcome.
It’s very much worth talking to an officer on the phone first if it’s your first time applying. They can offer tips and tricks and additional information that isn’t found on the website. The current grant approval process is based on 3 factors: impact 40%, relevance 40%, and feasibility 20%.
Impact: How does your project affect your artistic community?
Relevance: How is your project necessary to your own artistic practice?
Feasibility: How able are you to undertake this project? (This is why I suggest registering before you submit a grant application, so you have something concrete to put in this section.)
The chances of a successful grant depend on how many other applications there are, how strong your application is, and — to a certain extent — who is on the jury.
Now, my application this time wasn’t successful, despite passing the minimum score required to receive a grant. It all depends on so much. I think it’s worth working with a professional grant writer the first few times to ensure your application is as strong as possible.
With the Explore and Create grant, as long as you submit your application before the actual project starts, you can retroactively apply any expenses to the grant amount received.
Expenses unrelated to your grant are not applicable (e.g. watching a movie for the fun of it).
Accommodation
Where do I live? More importantly, where do I live that’s also not crazy expensive???
Because of the festival’s travelling layout, there’s really no one perfect area to stay in. It just depends on where your selected workshops are taking place and finding a centre point from there.
Below are some ways to find accommodation in Munich:
Camping: Munich is big on camping, and they have some (what I hear) amazing campgrounds lively with travellers from all over the world. You can choose between setting up your own tent or reserving a private or semi-private hut. It’s by far the cheapest way to stay in Munich (around 30 EUR/night), though if you’re not a camping person (like me), this might not be your best bet.
Stay with a friend: If you’re lucky enough to have a friend or relative in Munich, this is the usually the best combination of price, safety, and convenience.
Hostels: Europe is big on hostels, so there’s no shortage of options for extended stays in the city. You may have to do a bit of digging, since some hostels have a 7-night-maximum policy (hostels were intended for short-term stays, after all), but they definitely win for cost efficiency (though still not as cost-efficient as staying with a friend). I stayed at Wombat’s Werksviertel and then moved into an Airbnb the second week due to the 7-nights policy. There’s another Wombat’s in the city centre, but the Werksviertel location is generally cheaper, though further away.
Apartment hotels: Also known as “living hotels,” apartment hotels are another rising commodity throughout Europe. These are basically hotel rooms with more features, like a kitchen and lounge space. One example is The Base, which also classifies itself as a co-living space.
Co-living spaces: A mix between apartment hotels and co-working spaces, co-living is akin to staying in a communal dorm, the emphasis being “communal.” These are usually large apartments split into individual rooms — sometimes with a standalone kitchen in each room — and common spaces shared between 3-6 people on average. Think university dorm vibes but post-graduation, and you’re paying for everything without a student loan. It’s usual to be moving in with strangers in this scenario; most of these people are expats, working an extended business trip, or trying to find work and crashing here until they can get their own anmeldung (an address they can register with authorities). Some co-living apartments offer anmeldung as part of their services, so there are long-term residents as well. Co-living is a pretty great solution… if only they allowed for shorter stays. Most co-living businesses require a minimum of 3-months’ stay, which means this probably won’t be your best bet for Tanzwerkstatt Europa, but it’s good to know if you decide to stay longer.
Airbnb: Some apartment hotels are also listed on Airbnb. If that’s the case, book directly with the hotel because you’ll likely get a better price and easier service if anything needs to be changed. Since most people in Munich live in small apartments, you might have to share the Airbnb with the owner. I’d save this as a last resort if you’re uncomfortable with strangers. On my end, I did find a great deal: 5 nights for around $300 CAD close to two of my studios. It took a bit of digging.
Rental platforms: There are lots of German and European rental platforms you can check out as well, including Wunderflats, WG-Gesucht, Nestpick, and HousingAnywhere. The issue is that if you’re travelling internationally, you likely won’t be able to see any of the apartments in person before you book, and these platforms require a deposit as part of their booking process, which goes against older customs. Usually Germans pay the deposit when they get the key, in person. Now, most of the rooms listed are legitimate, but I’ve personally found Airbnb to offer higher-quality rentals and more flexibility in stay duration. Many rental services like Coming Home require a minimum 3-months’ stay.
Facebook: Truly the last resort. You just never know whether a listing is real or not on Facebook. Unless you can be in Munich to check out the legitimacy of the offering in person, it’s very risky to put a deposit on an apartment without seeing it first or even meeting the agent. Plus, since European tradition is to pay the first and last months of the rent together, you might be asked to pay double the amount you expected. Too much danger of scamming.
Remember, the festival is only two weeks long. Depending on the property, many will not allow stays shorter than one month. Your best bets for accommodation will be camping, hostels/hotels, Airbnb, or staying with a friend.
No matter where you live, try to find a place with a kitchen and a dryer (very important if you’re going to be sweating it up). Even eating out gets tiresome if you have to do it for a month every day. Communal laundry facilities are fine, but be warned it might get expensive real soon.
Living further away from the studios in exchange for safety or a better place isn’t bad; Munich has a very convenient public transportation system. I will say, however, that their transit lines are rather convoluted and often twist and turn, so take care to map out your routes before finalizing accommodation.
Food & groceries
Major grocery stores in Munich include ALDI and Lidl (discount stores), REWE and HIT (medium to premium prices), and a host of organic food chains like Denns Biomarkt.
Don’t be scared of “discount.” These grocery stores offer a nice selection of organic fruits, vegetables, and meats. In fact, they helped vitalize the organic health movement in Europe.
For food recommendations, check out:
Booking travel
It pays (and saves) to book your travel early. This goes for both rail and plane travel.
Depending on what other events are happening at the same time, you could be looking at an inflated rate. When I went, EURO 2024 had just finished in Berlin, and both Taylor Swift and Adele had just held concerts in Munich. If that wasn’t enough, the Paris Olympics was happening next door!
The general consensus is you should find a middle-ground booking window to purchase tickets. Not too early, not too late. Skyscanner has a great alert function that lets you know whenever prices for your selected routes drop or rise, and you can decide when to bite the bullet from there.
For rail travel, sites like Trainline and Rail Europe are good ticketing services for international passengers. If you’re comfortable with European rail systems, you can always buy direct from the carriers as well.
Travel medical insurance
If you take nothing else from this article, at least heed my advice here.
You’re going to be dancing all day, every day, hardcore, full-out. There’s no reason not to get travel medical insurance. If you’re a serious dancer (and even if you’re not!), your body is your most valuable resource. Take care of it.
Use preventative measures. Wear those knee pads, stick that KT tape. Safety > fashion, anytime.
And if you do anticipate or fear for an injury, then have a backup plan in case. Make sure your insurance includes repatriation services. Have someone you can call in case you need a translator or helping hand while there. Know the locations of the biggest hospitals in the area.
You don’t want to be stuck in a situation like I was in Munich: The German Ambulance Debacle That Cost Me 820 EUR.
Trust me, people do get injured at Tanzwerkstatt Europa and even outside of it! It goes beyond black-and-blue bruises.
Travel medical insurance, travel medical insurance, travel medical insurance.
Pack like a dancer
Pack light, and pack like a dancer. Try to keep everything to one carry-on; you’d be surprised how little you need. I used the BÉIS carry-on roller, so I had a (slightly) bigger packing capacity.
Consider bringing items like:
- KT tape
- knee pads
- first aid kit, muscle cream, and any prescriptions or OTC medications you need
- stretch band
- small massage roller
- manicure kit
- bobby pins, extra hairbands, and clothing pins
- makeup (if you’re performing)
Bring some wacky clothing options as well — colourful socks, alternative designs, anything that could pass for a costume if need be.
Conclusion
I LOVED my time at Tanzwerkstatt Europa. The class sizes were small, the environment felt calm, and I learned so much from some amazing teachers I had. It felt like everything had time to breathe.
Locals told me that Munich doesn’t have a big dance scene, and perhaps that’s true. But of the dancing I saw and experienced, they certainly have an affinity for inviting super high quality teachers.
The teachers/choreographers change from year to year, so there’s lots of opportunity to go back for more.
If you’re a dancer who likes to really focus and are open to new philosophies, Tanzwerkstatt Europa is a festival for you.
All photos by Lonely Girl, Lonely World unless otherwise stated. I am not affiliated with any of the services mentioned; these are my honest recommendations and experiences as a dance artist who has attended the festival.
Related reading:
https://lonelypirouette.com/blog/3-essential-things-munich-visiting-first-time/
