Clapping, stepping, snapping, vocalizing- is the oldest music on our planet and it’s brand new.
See Music,
Hear Dance
Since 2008, the International Body Music Festival has been highlighting traditional and contemporary Body Music groups who exemplify the range of artistic and sonic expression possible with only the instrument we all share. Body music - clapping, stepping, snapping, vocalizing- is the oldest music on our planet and it’s brand new. At the intersection of composition and choreography, it is “Music you can see, Dance you can hear”.
The IBMF has become the epicenter of the art of Body Music through its educational, social and performance work, creating primary communities of artists, students and audiences with a dynamic presence, in many parts of the world. The events of the festival represent the dynamic of the meeting of different cultures while maintaining their distinct identity and present international and local traditional and contemporary performance groups.
The IBMF team
The festival's heartbeat
Founded by Keith Terry and Evie Ladin and produced through Crosspulse, IBMF grew out of decades of Keith's touring, performing, and teaching body music around the world. It has built an ever-expanding network of contemporary and traditional artists, tracing its roots back to 1978. The festival became reality in 2008 through Keith’s Guggenheim Fellowship, which ignited his long-held dream to create the world’s first festival devoted entirely to body music: the art of rhythm, movement, and human connection via body percussion, choreography and vocalization.
In 2024, the festival’s leadership and production were passed on to PLAYGROUND for the arts, our Athens-based cultural organisation, in association with Crosspulse. This transition marked both a generational and geographical evolution, from the United States to Europe, ensuring that the festival could continue to thrive in a global context. The strong artistic, personal, and collaborative ties between Crosspulse and PLAYGROUND continue to sustain the festival’s heartbeat.
