CONTESTS

Solo dance contest

Residency / premiere

Solo dance contest

Klub Żak annaunces an OPEN CALL  for the 15th edition of Solo Dance Contest 2026, an international competition for contempoprary dance solo. 

 

The competition will take place during the 18th Gdańsk Dance Festival on September 14–17, 2026. The competition is addressed to all professional dancers from Poland and abroad who are over 18 years of age. Deadline for sending the application is March 22, 2026. We will invite selected solos to the main competition, which will be judged by an international jury consisting of personalities from the world of contemporary dance. The total prize pool is EUR 6,000! During the competition, an audience prize of EUR 500 will be awarded, and the remaining EUR 5,500 will be distributed by the Jury between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. 

 

During this year's edition, the Polish Solo Dance Contest PL qualifiers will also be held for the second time. To participate in the qualifying rounds, which are scheduled for April 18-19, we will select from 10 to 12 solo performances performed by people from Poland, which will be presented to the audience and a group of experts. The pre-selection jury will select at from 5 to 7 solos that will qualify for the main competition. 

 

Please note that according to the competition rules, solo needs to be submitted by the person performing it. Works submitted by the third parties won't be considered in the competition. 


 

Who can apply?

All  professional dancers over 18,  with documented artistic activity and/or a dance studies diploma;

 

We are waiting for solo works that:

- are no shorter than 5 minutes and no longer than 20 minutes,

- premiered after June 1, 2024. 

 

When?

- Beginning of the Call: January 9,2026,

- Deadline for submitting the application: March 22, 2026,

- Polish qualifiers for the competition: April 18-19, 2026,

- Main competition: September 14-17, 2026 (during the main program of the 18th Gdańsk Dance Festival). 

 

What do we offer?

- Three financial prizes with a total value of EUR 5,500, which will be distributed by the Jury,

- Audience Award of EUR 500, 

- invitation to Gdańsk and solo presentation on the Klub ŻAK stage, 

- reimbursement of travel costs up to PLN 400 for people traveling within Poland and up to EUR 180 for people traveling from abroad, 

- accommodation and food during the competition.

 

Participants of of the Polish eliminations are offered: 

- reimbursement of travel costs up to PLN 400 (train, bus), 

- accommodation and food on the day of presentation, 

- remunerations for presentation of the solo in the amount of 450 PLN gross.

 

 

Antonio Javier Aguilera Rodriguez / SDC 2025 / fot. Maciej Moskwa

Attachements

Form

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CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

I declare that before expressing the following consents I have read Klub Żak’s GDPR Information Clause and I hereby give my consent to the processing of my personal data provided by me in the application documents for the Solo Dance Contest organized by Klub Żak - a local municipal cultural institution based in Gdańsk, Grunwaldzka street 197, 80-226 Gdańsk, holding NIP 5830004739, REGON 190510481, entered into the Register of Cultural Institutions run by the City of Gdańsk under number 5/98 (hereinafter: "Klub Żak"). - Administrator of Personal Data, in order to:

* The expression of consent is voluntary, but failure to agree means the impossibility to take part in the project organized by Klub Żak.

** Expressing this consent is also voluntary, but their absence will prevent Klub Żak from contacting you by email or phone.

Regulations of the SOLO DANCE CONTEST 2025

 

§ 1

 

1.  Club ZAK with the headquarter: al. Grunwaldzka 197, 80-266 Gdańsk, NIP (Polish Tax identification number): 5830004739 is the Organiser of the Contest. The subject of the Contest is a short solo from the field of broadly understood contemporary dance.

2.  The Contest takes place within the Gdansk Dance Festival organised by Klub Żak in Gdańsk and aims at supporting and promoting contemporary dance.

3.      The planned schedule of the Contest:

a.    announcement of the Contest: January 9, 2026;

b.    announcement of the Jury by the February 23, 2026;

c.    deadline for applications for the Contest: March 22, 2026;

d.    announcement of the participants invited to take part in the Polish preliminaries to the contest: March 31, 2026;

e.    Polish preliminaries: April 18-19, 2026;

f.     results of the Polish preliminaries: April 19, 2026;

g.    announcement of the final list of the participants of the competition: April 30, 2026;

h.    main competition: September 14-16, 2026;

i.      finals, Jury’s verdict announcement, Audience Award announcement: September 17, 2026.

 

§ 2

Rules of participation in the Contest.

 

1.  Participation in the Contest is possible for:

a.     dancers who are at least 18 years,

b.     dancers of contemporary dance with the documented artistic activity or/and professional dancers with a diploma of dance studies.

  1. The Contest allows application of solos (contemporary dance / contemporary ballet) that fulfil the following requirements:

a.    the solo premiered after the June 1, 2024;

b.    the solo is not shorter than 5 minutes and not longer than 20 minutes;

c.    solos without multimedia projections, changes in stage lighting and stage set (only small elements of set, that will be transported and organised by the dancer, are allowed;

d.    the solo is meant for being shown in public in the technical conditions of the Klub Żak stage (same for every participant width: 9m x depth: 8m, white floor; white backdrop screen; black side curtains).

3.    The participant of the Contest must be insured on one’s own in the field of accident and civil liability insurance.

 

§ 3

The application

 

  1. One dancer can submit a maximum of two solos piece
  2. Place, date and mode of submitting the applications:

a.    date: from January 9, 2026 until of March 22, 2026, 23:59 of the Central European Time (based on the date and time of receiving the application)

b.    form of application: the application should be filled out correctly and submitted through the application form available on the: www.gdanskifestiwaltanca.pl, in Polish or English

c.    the application must be submitted by the dancer who performs the solo, solos submitted by the third party will not be considered in the competition.

3.    Questions in Polish or English concerning the conditions of participation in the Contest may be sent to: gft@klubzak.com.pl.

  1. Obligatory elements of the application:

a.     the short solo piece should be submitted to the Contest in full length without special effects and montage cuts;

b.     properly completed application form;

  1. The Organiser will publish the list of the participants of the Main Competition by 30th April 2026 on the following website: www.gdanskifestiwaltanca.pl

 

§ 4

Polish preliminaries Solo Dance Contest.pl

 

1.    Polish preliminaries for the competition will be As part of the Open Call for the competition, there will be Polish preliminaries, hereinafter referred to as the Preliminaries. Up to 12 dancers from Poland who submitted their solos to the competition which rules are specified in these regulations, will be invited to participate in the Preliminaries. The solos presented during the Eliminations will be assessed by experts in the field of contemporary dance, and the authors of the solos selected during the Eliminations will be invited to participate in the main competition.

2.    Preliminaries will take place at the Klub Żak on April 18-19, 2026.

3.    The list of people qualified to participate in the main competition as part of the Eliminations will be announced by the April 19, 2026.

4.    Participants of the Polish preliminaries will receive renumerations in the amount of 450 PLN gross.

5.    Polish dancers are understood to mean people who have Polish citizenship or have been living in Poland for at least two years at the time of submitting the application to the Competition.

6.    During the Preliminaries, between 4 and 7 solos will be selected and qualified to participate in the main competition.

7.    The Organizer will provide contestants of the Preliminaries living outside of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia:

a.    refund of transport costs based on submitted original train or bus tickets (2nd class) up to PLN 400,

b.    accommodation on the day of the presentation,

c.    food on the day of the presentation of the solo,

d.    The organizer does not refund local transport costs: public transport, car or tax.

8.    The list of people invited to participate in the Polish Preliminaries will be announced by 31st March 2025.

 

§ 5

The Jury and the method of evaluation

 

  1. Solo pieces preselected by the Organiser will be judged by an international Jury appointed by the Organiser. For the Jury the Organiser will select professionals from the world of art, programmers of international dance festivals and contemporary dance experts.
  2. The composition of the Jury will be officially presented on the website www.gdanskifestiwaltanca.pl / www.gdanskdancefest.pl (CONTEST) by the February 23, 2026.
  3. The members of the Jury will appoint among each other a chairman or chairwoman of the Jury.
  4. The Jury will watch the preselected solos and judge them for artistic value, level of dance technique, originality, awareness of the performance space and dramaturgy.
  5. The Jury will select 6 final performances and award I, II and III prizes among them.
  6. The Jury will divide the amount of total 5.500 Euro between the laureates of the I, II and III Prize. The Jury has no right to not award any of the prizes and not to divide the total amount of 5.500 Euro among the winners.
  7. Any of the prizes awarded by the jury cannot be more than 3000 EUR and less than 500 EUR.
  8. The Jury will present the verdict to the Organizer and send the protocol in English.
  9. The jury’s decisions are final and are not subject to any discussion.

 

§ 6

Audience Award

 

  1. Amongst the presented solos the audience will choose the winner of the Audience Award:

a.    each viewer who will buy a ticket for Solo Dance Contest 2026 will receive a voting card (1 ticket = 1 voting card);

b.    a viewers will be able to vote only for one solo, putting the title of the solo and the ticket number on the voting card (1 ticket = 1 vote).

c.    The vote will end before announcing the list of 6 finalists qualified for the final stage of the contest by the Jury.

d.    the votes will be counted by the committee appointed by the director of the Klub.

e.    the announcement of the laureate of the Audience Award will take place together with the announcement of the Jury’s verdict.

  1. The Audience Award is 500 euro total.

 

§ 7

The collection of the prize

 

1.    In the Contest there are to be 3 prizes: I, II and III prizes awarded by the Jury and the Audience Award.

2.    If the prize is awarded to a Polish performer, the prize will be a PLN equivalent of the sum in EUR, estimated in accordance to the average exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland from the day of issuing the verdict of Jury.

3.    The payment of the prize will take place within two weeks from the announcement of the verdict.

4.    The amount of the prize is gross amount and any taxes related to it should be deducted according to the appropriate tax law from the amount of the prize.

 

§ 8

Costs of stay and travel for competition participants

 

1.    These provisions of the Terms and Conditions of § 7 apply only to dancers qualified for the Competition who reside outside Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia.

2.    The Organizer will cover the travel costs of dancers qualified for the Competition according to the following principles:

a.    Polish citizens shall be reimbursed the costs of return trip within Poland, on the basis of submitted original train or bus tickets (2nd class) up to 400 PLN.

b.    Polish citizens residing outside Poland and citizens of other countries will receive reimbursement of the cost of a return trip on the basis of submitted tickets in total amount of maximum 180 euro per person.

c.    The cost of traveling by public transport, taxi and car will not be reimbursed.

3.    The Organizer will provide all participants of the Competition with accommodation in hostel rooms throughout the duration of the Competition, starting from the day preceiding the first day of the contest.

4.    The organizer will provide 2 meals a day to all dancers who qualify for the Competition.   

                                                       

§ 9

Final resolutions

 

  1. The act of submitting the application form is equal to Contest participant’s acceptance of the Contest conditions and Contest Regulations stated here.
  2. The act of submitting the application form is equal to Contest participant’s consent to The Organiser making use of the personal data in order to organize and conduct the Contest. Appropriate statement together with the information right clause can be found in the application form on the Organizer’s website.
  3. Providing personal data is voluntary, but necessary and lack of consent for its processing in accordance with above stated purposes will result in disqualification of the applicant.
  4. The Organizer reserves the right to publish participant’s name, surname, image and general information about the participant as well as the right to place the mentioned above information in advertising and informative materials, such as Organizer’s publications and websites and profiles run by the Organizer.
  5. In all cases not regulated by these Regulations the decisions are made by the director of the Klub Żak.
  6. The Organizer shall not be held responsible for the results of errors in application form made by the applicant.
  7. The Organizer reserves the right to make any amendments in the Regulations during the Contest and takes an obligation to immediately publish the changed Regulations in the places where the Contest Regulations were published before.
  8. The organizer reserves the right to cancel or discontinue the Contest at any time without providing any explanation.

 

§ 10

Information clause

 

1.    The Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026, on the basis of regulations regarding the protection of personal data, states that The Controller in the range of personal data of the Contest Participant received within the range of the Solo Dance Contest 2026 is Klub Żak - municipal cultural institution with its seat in Gdańsk, correspondence address: Grunwaldzka 197 Street, postal code: 80-244 Gdańsk, email contact address: gft@klubzak.gda.pl.

2.    The personal data of the Contest Participant shall be processed by the Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026 in order to execute the Contest, for compliance with a legal obligation to which the Controller is subject and for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Controller accordingly to article no 6 item no 1 points b), c) and f) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of The European Parliament and of The Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

3.    The personal data of the Contest Participant shall be processed by the Organiser during the realization of the Contest. After that period the personal data of the Contest Participant shall be processed by the Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026 solely for archival purposes or in order to determine, investigate or defence of claims by the period required for expiration of tax and civil liability.

4.    The personal data of the Contest Participant shall not be transferred to third country (outside European Economic Area) but they may be disclosed to other recipients empowered to settle accounts and control the activities of the Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026 with the preservation of the binding law regulations, entities financing cultural and educational projects carried out by the Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026, legal service providers, banks, by means of which the payment is made under regulations of the Solo Dance Contest 2026, the hosting company providing email services for the Organiser of the Solo Dance Contest 2026, telecommunication service providers and telecommunications operators providing services for the Controller.

5.    The Contest Participant has the right to request from the Controller access to and rectification or erasure of personal data with reservation of the provisions of the Regulation, including article no 17 of the Regulation, restriction of processing concerning the data subject or to object to processing as well as the right to data portability.

6.    The Contest Participant also has the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority - the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, if it finds that the processing of his/her personal data violates the legal regulation on the protection of personal data, including the provisions of the Regulation.