NaKnap 2026

NaKnap 2026. Festival of Short Dance Form. 
Dance on Stage, on Screen and in Virtual Reality. 
Second Edition.

En–Knap presents the second edition of NaKnap, a festival dedicated to short dance forms that brings together three worlds of contemporary dance: stage, film and virtual reality. Once again, the festival explores what happens when these distinct media meet within a short, playful and intense format—when the power of cinematic art intersects with the experience of live dance and emerging technologies.

Film screenings, live performances and VR installations are woven into a single temporal flow, allowing audiences to experience movement as a continuous continuum—from the physical stage to digital space. This transmedial structure challenges established festival formats and redefines the ways audiences gather, experience dance and engage in dialogue about it.

Over three days, the 2026 programme brings together 8 stage performances, 23 dance films, and 7 VR experiences by artists from 25 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Every work will be presented in Slovenia for the first time.

30 September – 2 October 2026
Španski Borci Cultural Centre, Ljubljana

For the second consecutive year, Ljubljana’s Španski Borci will become a meeting point for dance, film and new media. We invite audiences to experience dance from Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom,
from China and Taiwan, 
from Ukraine and Russia 
from Lebanon and Israel
from Iran and the United States,
besides Slovenia. 

Live performances programme includes Francesca Santamaria, Inka Romani and Nik Rajšek (Aerowaves Twenty26), Rebecca Margolick and Charles Brecard (from Canada), Heung Won Lee and Ching-Ying Chien (from South Korea and Taiwan) and latest work of Andrea Costanzo Martini (Italy). 

The 2026 edition further strengthens the festival's commitment to regional artistic mobility. In collaboration with Festival Tranzit – Krila (Rijeka), Platforma sodobnega plesa (Maribor) and Zagreb Dance Center, selected artists—Ching-Ying Chien, Rebecca Margolick and Charles Brecard—will continue their presentations and workshops beyond Ljubljana through a regional tour.

VR and film programme is developed in close collaboration and partnership with European Moovy Festival (Germany), COORPI – Coordinamento Danza Piemonte (Italy), and supported by festivals and institutions dedicated to stage dance, dance film, dance and technology: Aerowaves and Moving Balkans networks, festivals Teatri Riflessi (Italy), Dance on Screen (Switzerland), Cinedans Amsterdam (Netherlands). In selecting these films, we were drawn to works that challenge conventional notions of dance and reveal movement as a choreographic force in unexpected places.

As the third festival day draws to a close, we will introduce a new festival segment: Late Night Movies. Through a curated selection of bold, playful and provocative dance films, the programme explores intimacy and desire, presenting dance on screen in one of its most daring and seductive forms. This year’s selection highlights a remarkable artistic voice: Lithuanian filmmaker Greta Griniūtė.

This year’s edition will be hosted by Greta Pieropan, whose work focuses on dance dramaturgy and the dialogue between body and language. Audiences will be invited to engage with short experimental formats of artist talks, encounter diverse contemporary dance scenes, and explore broader questions surrounding short-form choreography and dance across media.

The first edition showed us that the exploration of short artistic forms resonates across generations, while speaking particularly strongly to younger audiences, for whom the screen has increasingly become a primary space of experience and connection. 

Through this unique hybrid festival format, we aim to nurture audiences’ curiosity, attention, and sensitivity towards the art of dance by presenting short works across different media.