History
The first ever Context. Diana Vishneva Festival took place in Moscow, December 4-6, 2013. International choreographers and dance companies, as well as young Russian choreographers were brought together at the Gogol Center and Winzavod. By Diana Vishneva's invitation, as well as the festival’s international program curator, dancer and choreographer Samuel Wuerstеn, many dance companies made their way to Russia: Introdans and Korzo Producties from the Netherlands, the Richard Alston Dance Company from Great Britain, Suzanne Dellar Dance and Performing Centre from Israel. The shows were presented by the artistic director of Gauthier Dance (Germany), Eric Gauthier, as well as Barak Marshall and Richard Alston.
Productions by world-renowned maitres were curated together for a Gala Evening; Diana Vishneva appeared before the viewer in a duet with Marcelo Gomes. They performed Vertigo by Mauro Bigonzetti and Nuages by Jiří Kylián, with whom she worked for the first time.
Marina Akelkina, Vladimir Varnava, and Konstantin Keykhel all took part in the young choreographers’ competition. Marcelo Gomes, who had already begun experimenting with choreography, also displayed his choreographic work. The first Context Festival lasted three days and also included classes on Gaga technique – Gaga/people, for everyone and Gaga/dancers, for those with a dance background, lectures, a public talk given by Diana Vishneva and choreographer Alla Sigalova, and a film program, which opened with a film by Wim Wenders titled Pina.
The results of a three-day-long workshop for beginning choreographers was two internships: the winner of the first review, Vladimir Varnava, with Caroline Carlson, and Konstantin Keykhel, at the Rotterdam Dance Academy.
