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Festival PÅ TVÆRS 2024
Every Body Counts, Every Body Tells a Story

took place April 12–14, 2024, at Dansekapellet in Copenhagen NV and at Cinemateket

A three-day festival celebrating diversity, where people with and without disabilities could experience professional art created by and featuring people with disabilities. The festival was open to both professionals and all interested groups, but was especially aimed at people with disabilities who are not typically represented on stages throughout Denmark.

Testimonials

Dear Association for Integrated Dance and Festival PÅ TVÆRS 2026, In 2024, Dansekapellet partnered with Festival PÅ TVÆRS. We were inspired by the festival’s artistic quality and the association’s focus on inclusivity, and we were delighted to welcome your expertise, artists, and audience to our venue. We wish to further develop this partnership and fully believe in the importance of Festival PÅ TVÆRS. We are inspired by your commitment to supporting and curating dance and performance created by and for a diverse group of people, both with and without various physical abilities. We also value your cultural-policy influence in the area of inclusivity and your contributions to organizational knowledge-sharing to ensure more inclusive production processes. We look forward to a fruitful and constructive collaboration in 2026. I wish you all the best for the future and hope that you will secure support for your future projects and performances at Dansekapellet and elsewhere, both in Denmark and abroad.
Artistic Director, Dansekapellet
As a brand-new festival, featuring a brand-new performance team and other interdisciplinary artists and activities, this festival is certainly worthwhile because: First, this year’s attendance of 500 people is incredibly impressive for a brand-new festival that no one has heard of. Second, PR and analysis of the festival’s target groups and audience require a long-term effort. This also requires ample time and money, which ideally should be budgeted for as a full-time position. Third, it is just as important—if not more so—that so many people without disabilities are taking an interest in and supporting a festival featuring people and artists with disabilities. The fact that the festival has managed to build that bridge, despite its recent inception, is a huge success. Now, outreach to people and audiences with disabilities must continue to grow over time through the festival.
Co-founder of IDE & FIMD
This past spring, I attended FIMD’s Festival PÅ TVÆRS at Dansekapellet. I experienced an inspiring festival with deeply meaningful cultural performances created by the talented and hardworking people from the FIMD association, who are working to establish integrated dance as an art form in Denmark. A mission that serves to remind us all of the importance of openness and shared responsibility when it comes to integrating all types of people into cultural expression—and that this has its own unique value and aesthetic. It’s wonderful that they’ve now also managed to put together a festival with such a diverse program and major names on the lineup. I look forward to seeing it again.
Business Developer and Former Board Member of FIMD
I found PÅ TVÆRS to be an inspiring and innovative festival. I have never before encountered events that so thoughtfully and persistently bring different body types into the spotlight. I’m grateful for—and see great value in—the fact that the festival challenged body norms and gave me, as a wheelchair user, the feeling of having a beautiful body. Beyond the aesthetic aspect, I also felt a sense of community with the other participating guests. When it comes to the body, disability, and art, my sense and experience is that the overarching theme is loneliness. It’s not often that there’s a space to share bodies or movements that are typically considered undesirable, but there was one here. It’s liberating.
Guest and participant in FIMD activities
The festival was a fantastic opportunity for a broad community of people to come together around the theme and the artistic practice of FIMD: local residents from the neighborhood, artists interested in the association’s work and the theme, as well as guests from outside the area and international guests. It was an experience that bridged communities, generations, and aesthetic perspectives, which I believe is extremely valuable. When I think of other festivals aimed at the same kind of people, it feels like preaching to the choir. This festival was very diverse in terms of who attended (guests, artists, audience, etc.). For me, that’s truly of great value… and in terms of age, we had very young children—in the free dance class held outdoors, very young children and older adults took part. And it didn’t feel forced, thanks to the atmosphere you created throughout the festival. The experience of participating was very welcoming. I felt very welcome to take part in everything… to watch, to dance, to join on stage if I wanted to. It was very warm. There weren’t any clear boundaries between the audience and the stage; instead, they were very gently blurred, which was lovely.
Dancer and Producer

See what was on the program:

 

FRIDAY, April 12, at Dansekapellet

Theater Hall:
2:00 p.m. Opening remarks by Mia Nyegaard, Mayor of Culture and Leisure
2:15–3:45 p.m. Panel Discussion – ACCESSIBILITY IN THE DANISH ARTS SCENE
4:30–5:30 p.m. Sign Dance – Workshop with Nicky and Unmute Dance Company
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM mis(s)presence by Paulina Rewucka
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Concert with Emilie Conway

 

The Farm:
At 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. Walking performance, “Where Do We Go from Here?”

 

Foyer:
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Live artwork with Kristian Sverdrup

 

Lounge:
Exhibition – A Textile Dialogue – an exhibition by sisters Camilla and Charlotte Østergaard

 

SATURDAY, April 13, at Dansekapellet

 

Theater Hall:
9:30–10:30 a.m. Integrated Yoga
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Children’s Concert with the Nullernix Trio
1:00–2:15 p.m. Panel Discussion – DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS
4:30–5:00 p.m. Warm Down – Workshop with Kathryn Ricketts
6:00 PM – 6:45 PM Concert with Wild & Gentle
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM DJ Michael, POETRY by Nikolaj Grenbo, PARTY

 

The Farm:
At 12:00 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m. Walking performance, “Where Do We Go from Here?”
At 6:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. Guided tour with Paul Hartvigson

 

Foyer:
1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Live artwork with Kristian Sverdrup

 

Lounge:
Exhibition – A Textile Dialogue – an exhibition by sisters Camilla and Charlotte Østergaard

 

SUNDAY, April 14, at the Cinemateket

 

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The PÅ TVÆRS Festival presents a film program consisting of 6 short films

Gallery Festival PÅ TVÆRS 2024

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The festival’s starting point

The festival is developed and organized by FIMD (Foreningen for Integreret Moderne Dans i Danmark), which in its pioneering work supports the development of integrated dance in Denmark, focusing on dance for and with people with different bodies, conditions and functions. The association’s activities are developed in partnership with artists, teachers and institutions that have disabilities close to their hearts or that work with people with functional variations. We initiate activities locally, nationally and internationally.

At the festival, we invite several artistic genres to show the audience a broader cross-section of an already narrow field and to create debate across genres. It all unfolds in a varied program of artistic works, workshops and debates.

 

Accessibility as a core value

The festival is committed to becoming 100% accessible to everyone—regardless of functional variation. We aim to integrate accessibility at every level: from physical layout and transportation to communication and program content. The festival is continuously developed in dialogue with users and experts to ensure that the experience is inclusive in practice—not just in intention. You can find detailed information about accessibility at Dansekapellethere.

 

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