Les Hivernales d'Avignon

2025 Edition — Dance at the Heart of the Provençal Winter

The 2025 edition of Les Hivernales d'Avignon took place in February 2025, as usual, offering the Avignon public a winter and intimate counterpoint to the major summer festival in July. Organized by the National Choreographic Development Centre (CDCN) of Avignon, this edition brought together several artists and companies from the national and international choreographic scene in the city's partner venues.

A Pluralistic Program

True to the spirit of Les Hivernales, the 2025 program covered a wide spectrum of contemporary choreographic practices: from intimate solos to larger group pieces, from narrative forms to conceptual proposals, the festival offered a varied and stimulating panorama of what dance can be today. The diversity of aesthetics — from neoclassical to experimental performance, from creative hip-hop to forms from other world cultures — is one of the distinctive marks of Les Hivernales.

Several performances presented at Les Hivernales 2025 were the result of creation residencies at the CDCN d'Avignon, demonstrating the work of supporting creation carried out throughout the year by the structure. These local and national premieres are one of the essential added values of the festival, allowing Avignon to be a year-round choreographic creation city and not just during the month of July.

Mediation and Encounters

As in previous editions, Les Hivernales 2025 placed a significant emphasis on cultural mediation. School performances, dance workshops for various audiences, post-show encounters, and public rehearsals helped to forge lively connections between the resident artists and the inhabitants of Avignon and the Vaucluse. These participatory initiatives are at the heart of the CDCN's public service mission.

A Dancing Winter in the City of Popes

The unique aspect of Les Hivernales is to offer a demanding and popular festival in an atmosphere necessarily more intimate than that of the major summer gathering. In February, Avignon belongs to its inhabitants. The cold of the Provençal nights, the quiet streets of the medieval city, the performance venues warmed by the presence of the dancers: this unique atmosphere gives Les Hivernales a singular charm that builds a loyal audience of enthusiasts and attracts new spectators every year.