Summer 2024 Performing Arts Festivals in France
LA MAISON DE THE, Meng Jinhui (c) Christophe Raynaud de Lage
From long-running and world-renowned festivals, such as the Festival d’Avignon, and multidisciplinary performances featured at the Festival de Marseille to new and innovative programs like the Festival Latitudes Contemporaines in Lille and dance at Montpellier Danse, a range of artists are coming to France to perform this summer and fall.
Find out more about upcoming performances below!
- Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis
May 13 – June 15
Rencontres Chorégraphiques aims to present a new generation of contemporary choreographers and place this project at the heart of communities in Seine-Saint-Denis, generating dialogues around the contemporary art scene.
- June Events – L’Atelier de Paris
May 22 – June 8
L’Atelier de Paris showcases the latest in French and international choreographic creation with the JUNE EVENTS festival.
- ManiFeste 2024
May 30 – June 22
ManiFeste 2024 opens its stage to musical creation, electronics, and dance, celebrating speed and joy. IRCAM’s festival and academy highlight a taste for montage, tracking shots, and close-ups, and explore the harmony and discrepancies between moving images and moving music.
- Biennale de la scène marionnettique émergente – Le Mouffetard, Centre National de la Marionnette
June 3 – 8
This festival showcases emerging puppetry talents, who use marionettes as a tool for their creation. The event brings together a range of artistic expressions in puppetry, offering a glimpse into
the creativity of the artists involved.
- Jogging 2024 – Carreau du Temple
June 26 – 30
For its fourth edition, Carreau du Temple’s Jogging festival will continue exploring the intersections between contemporary art and sports. Supported by a multidisciplinary artistic program, the festival will host shows that question and twist sporting codes, inclusive and para-sporting sports classes, contemporary art installations, participative workshops, and a photo exhibition. This edition will intertwine creativity, surpassing oneself, and inclusivity for everyone. The complete program will be available in June 2024.
- Festival Paris l’Été (Paris Summer Festival)
July 3 – 16
The Paris Summer Festival features major artistic and cultural events throughout Paris and its region. Theater, dance, circus, and music performances and plastic installations take over many well-known and unusual places in the capital, most often in the open air and outside traditional performance venues.
- Printemps des Comédiens Montpellierains
May 30 – June 21, Montpellier
This major cultural event in Montpellier offers performances where all forms of expression – music, dance, theater, visual arts, circus – merge and interact. Each year, it welcomes great masters from international stages, as well as emerging artists and major European theatre schools, positioning itself as one of the most important places for creation, production, and training for both audiences and artists in Montpellier.
- Festival La Maison Uzès Danse
June 5 – 9, Uzès
The Festival La Maison Danse Uzès is a vibrant artistic event located in Uzès, France, celebrating dance in all its forms. Each year, it attracts renowned dancers and choreographers to showcase performances that span a variety of dance styles. The festival offers workshops, live performances, and interactive sessions, making it a hub for dance enthusiasts.
- Festival de Marseille
June 14 – July 16, Marseille
The Festival de Marseille 2024 showcases a vibrant mix of dance, theater, concerts, cinema, and talks across various venues in Marseille. It features both local and international artists, focusing on fostering a creative dialogue that bridges Marseille with the global arts scene. The festival aims to be inclusive, targeting young and diverse audiences and integrating the local community into its programs.
- Montpellier Danse
June 22 – July 6, Montpellier
The city of Montpellier hosts many festivals during the year, but Montpellier Danse is THE festival in this city of winding medieval passages and centuries-old buildings in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, a two-hour drive from the border with Spain. This year, director Jean-Paul Montanari has announced a radical change as performers, choreographers, and photographers will come from all around the five continents and to present their work.
- Festival d’Avignon
June 29 – July 21, Avignon
The 78th edition of the Festival d’Avignon will start in the end of June, once again as one of the world’s most important contemporary performing arts events. This year, director Tiago Rodrigues has announced that the focus will be on the Spanish language with many performers coming from Spain and Latin America. Alongside very qualitative French-speaking performances, the Festival d’Avignon will definitely be an event to attend in France this summer!
- Festival d’été de Châteauvallon
June 29 – July 23, Châteauvallon
Held at the Théâtre de la Liberté, the festival features a diverse program that includes dance, theater, music, and circus performances. This edition will showcase renowned and emerging artists from both national and international scenes. The performances will take place outdoors, allowing attendees to enjoy the exceptional natural surroundings of Châteauvallon.
- Festival international de danse de La Tour d’Aigues
July 4 – 7, La Tour d’Aigues
The 2024 Festival International de Danse de la Tour d’Aigues will spotlight both established and emerging dance talents from around the world. Set in the amazing scenic surroundings of La Tour d’Aigues, the festival promises a rich mix of traditional and contemporary performances.
- Vaisons-Danse
July 10 – 24, Vaisons-la-Romaine
For Vaison-Danses 2024, the festival director has exciting plans, emphasizing a blend of innovation and youthful vibrancy in the choreographic world. The festival aims to fill the ancient theatre with international and diverse dance performances, alongside unique offerings like a grand dance and opera gala featuring the “Italians of the Paris Opera” and contemporary pieces that narrate the history of dance through exceptional choreography and performances.
- Festival de Théâtre de Rue d’Aurillac
August 14 – 17, Aurillac
This festival is an iconic cultural event in Aurillac, France, dedicated to showcasing street theatre in its most dynamic and diverse forms. Each year, the festival draws performers and theatre groups from around the globe to present a wide array of live street performances. It features not only established troupes but also offers a platform for emerging talents and innovative experimental works.
- Actoral
September 8 – October 14, Marseille
With a multidisciplinary program that blends theater, dance, visual arts, performance, music, cinema, and literature, Actoral showcases the diversity and vitality of contemporary creation. Every autumn, for three weeks, over two hundred French and international artists come to Marseille to perform.
- Extension Sauvage
June 15 – 23, Combourg
EXTENSION SAUVAGE is a nomadic project combining a festival and an educational program of contemporary dance in relation to the landscape and the living world. Located in the Brittany region in the Ille-et-Vilaine département, it travels between the communities of Bretagne Romantique and Couesnon Marches de Bretagne. Designed specifically for a rural area, throughout the year it offers a wide range of dance experiences for schoolchildren, amateurs, adults, and children, as well as for professionals.
- (UNDER)GROUND
June 17 – 22, Rennes
Breakin’, hip hop, whacking, locking, electro, and house dance: a show lineup that highlights the strength and diversity of marginal dances. This year’s (UNDER)Ground Dance Festival in Rennes invites audiences to explore and celebrate the vibrant world of street dance through performances and workshops.
- Fest’Arts
August 8 – 10, Libourne
For each edition, a range of dance, circus, theatre, and musical performances grace the streets of Libourne. While the primary aim is to showcase local cultural projects, the program also includes shows by European and international companies. These include the extraordinary and controversial projects of Générik Vapeur, Opéra Pagaï and Deabru Beltzak.
- Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole (FAB)
September 28 – October 13, Bordeaux
Created in 2016 , the FAB is a multidisciplinary festival defending contemporary writing in all its forms of expression – performance, dance, theatre, music, visual arts, giving pride of place to hybrid and unclassifiable approaches.
- Latitudes Contemporaines
June 7 – 28 | Lille
Since its inception, Latitudes Contemporaines has offered a broadly gender-balanced program. This year, in view of the continuing under-representation of women and gender minorities on stage, Latitudes Contemporaines has decided to reverse the trend. This year, there are choreographers, dancers, acrobats, performers, actors, and gymnasts coming from Belgium, Afghanistan, Hungary, France, Spain, Palestine, Ivory Coast, South Africa…
- Temps d’M
September 16 – 24 | Charleville-Mézières
Temps d’M is the inter-festival event of the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mézières, France. This special event bridges the biennial gap of the main festival, keeping the spirit of puppetry alive throughout the year. It offers various puppetry performances, workshops, and interactive sessions to maintain engagement with local and international audiences.
- Les Nuits de Fourvière
May 30 – July 25 | Lyon
This summer’s Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon offers a deep dive into performing arts, with a special focus on dance, theatre, and circus, echoing the spirit of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Alongside the core theatre and dance performances, the event will feature an eclectic selection of music and cinema, ensuring a comprehensive cultural experience. The festival aims to surprise and delight audiences, blending beloved performances with new discoveries, and connecting diverse artistic expressions.
- Camping (Centre National de la Danse)
June 17 – 21 | Lyon
Camping is a festival and an international platform for workshops and performances, a unique experience offering encounters with artists from the international choreographic scene while open to other artistic fields. Camping is an artistic space where all the poetic experiences of dance, theater, and performing and visual arts can find expression. It is aimed at everyone involved in dance and the arts, be it students, teachers, performers, choreographers, or researchers, while also welcoming a wide audience of amateurs and spectators. More than 30 workshops are scheduled for 700 campers, including 300 students from some thirty art schools around the world, along with around fifteen performances.
- Chalon dans la Rue
July 10 – 13 | Chalon-sur-Saône
Chalon dans la rue festival is an essential reference for creation in public spaces, a festive and intense moment of shared culture. Every year for more than 30 years, 130 to 150 French and international companies take over Chalon-sur-Saône and turn the city into a monumental urban stage.