About LBF XXVI

Jubilee – XXV Łódź Ballet Meetings – has taken place three years ago - in 2019. Next – XXVI – according to over 50 years of tradition -  should have taken place a year ago. Unfortunately due to worldwide pandemic situation it couldn’t… But this year, in 2022 – we are inviting our audience for the Autumn edition of XXVI Łódź Ballet Meetings.

     To create the new is to take another risk of trying, to keep moving forward, to participate in the progress of the world. The risk of trying, the experiment is inseparably linked with all kinds of creativity. An experiment in art is intellectual and formal.
 
Using these words, Janina Jarzynówna-Sobczak – the legendary choreographer and reformer of the Polish ballet of the twentieth century - as if accidentally - outlined the main artistic idea of the festival, a biennial that would prove its validity for the next half century.
 
Already, in the second edition it became obvious that with the visit of the famous 20th Century Ballet by Maurice Béjart – Meetings will become the only forum in Europe that will allow to confront the traditional ballet with a new look at choreography, dance techniques and ballet performance in general. And so it is to this day.  Ballet groups not only presented a wide range of repertoire, but also and perhaps above all, gave us – the audience – a chance to participate in something extremely important and valuable: in a review of what in the world choreography at a given moment was not only fashionable and innovative, but also set trends and directions for the future.
 
So far, the 25 editions of the festival have featured almost all the most important ballet groups from around the world, including Polish ones, which presented on Lodz Grand Theatre’s stage, everything that is the most beautiful, valuable and fascinating for admirers of Ballet Art, in choreography, ballet and dance theatre.
 
Now, each group looking at the list of those who performed in Lodz (and it is extremely long and includes the most outstanding groups, legendary choreographers and stars of world ballet) - is honoured to be able to confront their work with Polish audience at the Łódź Ballet Meetings.
 
We are very proud of it, as well as the fact that You have been with us for over 50 years, and that Łódź has earned the honourable name of the world capital of dance, in which crowds of fans of this art gather from all over Poland and beyond.
 
Our task is to do everything to not only ambitiously continue this tradition, but also to develop it in the broadest possible artistic scope. It is possible only with Your help - the next generation of ballet admirers!