Dear audience,

Dance often begins to multiply through co-existence — both in groups and in solos. Movement never represents itself alone: it is embedded in contexts; it can be infectious or challenging. With the motto “A Body of Many — Moving Democracy” Tanzfestival Rhein-Main 2026 asks what it means when many bodies become one, without ceasing be many. Because this is where its artistry lies: not in merging but interacting. Not in unison, but in polyphony.

This question is arising with increasing urgency. While radical political forces are endorsing unification, exclusion and the notion of a supposedly pure, homogenous body, dance shows the opposite: society is not created through conformity but by tolerating and fashioning difference. Whether they are large ensemble pieces or solos, the pieces in this year’s festival are maintained by dynamics that wrestle with each other, support each other, contradict each other and yet find a form together.

A body of the many, one body among many cannot be divided without hurting itself. That is the political power of this image — and what we are inviting you to take a precise look at in this year’s festival.

Alexandra Hennig, Bruno Heynderickx, Beata Stankevič, Anna Wagner and the Tanzfestival Rhein-Main team