The Guide to Attending Tanzwerkstatt Europa: Munich Dance Festival

05 April 2025

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:

1. Do your research. Which festival do you want to attend and when? What is the destination like? Do you need a Visa?
2. Get the money, and manage your budget.
3. Sign up. Look up their website.
4. Apply for grants (optional but highly recommended!).
5. Prepare travel essentials like cash exchanges, money debit cards, and travel insurance.
6. 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.