UNITED KINGDOM

Billingham Festival is proud to be one of the founding members of CIOFF®International and to have Olga Maloney as its Artistic Director who leads an innovative team. Billingham International Folklore Festival of World Dance (BIFF) has welcomed 20,000 performers from 95 different countries since its foundation in 1965: 2025 will be a very special year as an incredible 60 year anniversary is celebrated. BIFF is a unique multicultural event celebrating World Dance in all its variety and its fusion with other art forms and sport.
During each festival, which now takes place every two years, Billingham transforms into a kaleidoscope of colour, joie de vivre & friendship. Billingham becomes a “meeting place” for world cultures, showcasing the diversity & richness of the world through traditional & contemporary cultures in the forms of dance, music, songs, costumes & crafts. These are incorporated into various performances, parades, exhibitions and workshops. Each festival presents over 300 international performers from around the world.
Billingham Festival is not only about performances and workshops: two weeks prior to, and during the festival, Billingham turns into a unique centre for international creative collaboration between choreographers and performers, informing and sharing their practice, creating new work around the annual festival theme and collaborating on a flagship festival performance.