Dance Festival Malta 2026 - EFFEA Collaboration Announcement – “Ashes to Ashes”

Dance Festival Malta, organised by Festivals Malta, has been selected by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), to support a new creation by Moveo Dance Company, titled “Ashes to Ashes”, led by choreographer Diane Portelli.

EFFEA Call 4 - Jury Members

EFFEA is a programme initiated by the European Festivals Association (EFA), created to strengthen cultural cooperation across Europe. The fund supports emerging artists and works by connecting them with international festival networks beyond their countries of origin, while prioritising long-term artistic development, research, and audience engagement.

As part of this initiative, Ashes to Ashes will undergo an international research and residency process across three European festivals:

• EnKnap Festival, Ljubljana (Slovenia) – initial creative research

• Abril en Danza, Alicante (Spain) – second research residency

• Mosaica Danza – Interplay Festival, Torino (Italy) – final research phase

  
  

Each residency will include open calls for participation, which will be shared separately on each partner platform.

The first residency workshops in Ljubljana, Slovenia, are set to be held between the 15th to the 19th, of February 2026. The workshops will be led by dancers from Moveo Dance Company and will be open to dancers from Ljubljana or other locations. On the 20th of February, Moveo Dance Company will host an informal sharing during which the material developed during the workshops will be presented, followed by a Q&A session. Everyone who participated in the workshops will be invited for the sharing, along with any other audience members who would like to attend.

This residency will then culminate in a live performance of "Ashes to Ashes" during Dance Festival Malta 2026.

We invite artists and audiences alike to stay connected and follow updates via Dance Festivals Malta's Facebook and Instagram accounts, and Moveo Dance Company's Facebook and Instagram accounts respectively.

Dance Festival Malta will be held between the 23rd and 26th of July 2026. The festival is organised by Festivals Malta and is supported by the Ministry for Culture, Lands and Local Government, and sponsored by Visit Malta, MAPFRE, APS Bank, and Camilleri Preziosi Advocates. Ashes to Ashes is being held in collaboration with En-knap Festival, Arts Council Malta, Mosaicodanza, EFFEA, Otradanza and the Malta International Arts Festival.