Schrit_tmacher justdance! opens in Aachen with

AWARD FOR RICK TAKVORIAN

At the opening performance of the Schrit_tmacher Festival in Aachen on Friday, March 14, 2025, Deputy Mayor Jordy Clemens presented Rick Takvorian with the Heerlen Silver Medal of Honor during the opening ceremony.

After the warm welcoming speeches by Elena Tsavara, the new artistic director of the Aachen City Theater, and the Mayor of Aachen, whose birthday was spontaneously celebrated by the audience, the Deputy Mayor and Cultural Councilor of the City of Heerlen had the right words for his award:

„Rick receives this municipal award for his exceptional commitment to the cross-border festival Schrit_tmacher, of which he is also the founder.

Rick is an Armenian-American dance critic. He founded a dance installation in Aachen in 1995. At the time, he could only dream of where his initiative would lead. For the first time, contemporary dance worked well in the museum, and gradually he expanded the initiative to Schrit_tmacher. In 2010, the festival took on a cross-border character through the collaboration between Rick and Bas Schoonderwoerd, then director of the Theater Parkstad Limburg. They wanted to focus on contemporary dance in the border region between the Netherlands and Germany. This led to a rapid expansion of the festival, including Belgium. Schrit_tmacher is the first (and so far only!) festival to take place simultaneously in three countries, with audiences willing to travel beyond their borders to see performances. That’s something special that we should appreciate.“

The audience and speakers at the opening event deservedly celebrated Rick Takvorian for his outstanding achievements in building this unique festival, which, now in its thirtieth edition, has become an annual dance highlight in the three-country European Rhine-Meuse region.

The importance attached to this festival by politicians in the partner countries is also demonstrated by the participation of the then Dutch Prime Minister Rutte at the twenty-fifth anniversary in Heerlen. The Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia was conspicuously absent from this celebratory edition – this is both regrettable and incomprehensible.

For Rick Takvorian, who explicitly thanked the audience and placed them at the center of the festival, this edition will be his last as artistic director. Thus, every single one of the upcoming performances, up until the final performance on April 13, will be a farewell tour that will duly celebrate the founder and director of this festival. Well deserved!