Dances, Musics and Voices of the World

ℹ️ This page preserves the memory of a festival that has now been discontinued. No edition is planned for 2026.

History of the festival

Created in 1978, the World Dances, Music and Voices Festival transformed Felletin, a small town in Creuse, into an « open door to the world » every early August for over four decades. Organized by the association « Les Portes du Monde » and affiliated with CIOFF (International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Traditional Arts), it welcomed around ten folk ensembles from all corners of the globe each year.

For a week, the town center vibrated to the rhythm of street parades, indoor shows, concerts, the festival village, dance initiation workshops, and entertainment. The 42nd edition, in 2019, for example, brought together groups from Laos, Uganda, Dagestan, Serbia, the Dominican Republic, the island of Rhodes (Greece), Sardinia, North Macedonia, and Lebanon, alongside Creuse. At its peak, the event could attract up to 30,000 spectators.

The festival's discontinuation

After the 2019 edition, the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the health crisis. In April 2022, the association « Les Portes du Monde » announced that there would no longer be a major festival: a lack of volunteers (an aging team), a budget of around 120,000 euros difficult to raise, unavailability of the high school traditionally used to accommodate groups, and erosion of the folklore audience. Since then, no edition of the festival has been renewed.