History

On July 10, 1983, an expectant audience packed the auditorium at the Sociedade Harmonia Lyra, a building almost one hundred years old in the center of Joinville, and stage to many cultural and artistic spectacles. And that was the beginning of the Joinville Dance Festival. This humble start was further affected by the dreadful floods, which swept through the state of Santa Catarina in 1983 and 1984.
The number of schools enrolled in that first Festival event surprised even the organizers. There were 40 schools, and around 600 dance students. The Festival lasted for 5 days, and the public filled the Harmonia Lyra to watch the classical, modern, jazz and folkdance spectacles. The original idea of providing a meeting place for an interchange during the days of the Festival turned into a regional event, with interaction between the schools and dance groups going well beyond initial projections. And this was only the very first event. In 1984, with the holding of the II Dance Festival, all expectations were exceeded. This time the city was host to around a thousand dance students, representing 62 schools, requiring a bigger venue for the presentations - the gymnasium Ivan Rodrigues - and the length of the event was increased to 7 days.

It was this year that the Dance Festival began to have an impact outside Santa Catarina - mainly due to the presentation of "O Grande Circo Místico", by the Fundação Teatro Guaíra, from Curitiba. From then onwards, the event kept on growing, both in numbers as well as in the technical and artistic evolution of its participants.

The growth in Festival participants also meant a growth in the amount of work for the event organizers. Support from the private sector was vital if the event was to grow and mature. The final step for making the Festival international was taken in 1995, with presentations from the Bolshoi Theater Ballet from Moscow (Russia), on the pre-opening and opening nights, as well as from the Stuttgart Ballet (Germany). This time the event was extended to 13 days.

Beginning in 1997, competition nights at the Festival saw performances by guest dancers and groups. During this year, the event also received a new home: the Centreventos Cau Hansen - a multi-use arena housing the entire management structure and serving as the stage for the Festival's competition performances and special attractions.

In 1999, the creation of the Dance Festival Institute led to a new phase in the history of the event, which in the following year gained yet another attraction, the Half Point Festival. This also made its debut at the Sociedade Harmonia Lyra, birthplace of the Joinville Dance Festival, with a total of 19 groups and around 300 participants, including dance students, judges, choreographers and school and group directors.
In 2001, this juvenile event was also given a new home, Juarez Machado Theater, inside the Centreventos, the venue also serving as the headquarters for conducting the first Modern Dance Exhibition, a non-competitive event, focusing on professional dance companies.

Around 77 thousand dance students and professionals have participated in the event since it was founded 20 years ago. Over 1 million and 150 thousand people have watched the spectacles. Today, the Joinville Dance Festival involves 4 thousand participants and is the biggest competition for dance students in Latin America, recognized not only for its magnitude but also for its organization and technical quality.

Special Guests who have participated in the Festival

In its 20 years of existence, the Joinville Dance Festival has had the privilege of welcoming nationally and internationally renowned dancers and dance companies as special guests, they include:
Alícia Alonso and the Ballet Nacional from Cuba
Balé da Cidade de São Paulo (SP)
Paris Opera Ballet (France)
Ballet de Câmara Ballarcis (Chile)
Balé do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Ballet Du Capitole de Toulouse (France)
Balé Folclórico da Bahia (BA)
Ballet Lolita (France)
Ballet Sesiminas - Cristina Helena, (MG)
Ballet Teatro Guaíra (PR)
Bolshoi Theater Ballet (Russia)
Cena 11 (SC)
Cia de Dança da Fundação Gulbenkian (Portugal)
Cia. de Dança Deborah Colker (RJ)
Cia. de Dança de Minas Gerais (MG)
Compañia de Danza Andaluza (Spain)
Dança de Rua do Brasil (SP)
Moscow Modern Dance School (Russia)
Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil (Joinville/SC)
Fernando Bujones and Jeniffer Gelland (USA)
Ginga Cia. de Dança, (MS)
Grupo Cisne Negro (SP)
Grupo Corpo (BH)
Jânia Batista from the Bejárt Ballet (Switzerland)
Marcia Haydée and the Stuttgart Ballet (Germany)
Raça Cia. de Dança (SP)
Thiago Soares and Roberta Marquez from the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (RJ)