After more than a decade as one of Northern Europe’s established Oriental dance gatherings, Danish Open Bellydance is not simply bringing its old festival formula back for 2026. It is trying something more focused.
From 22 to 25 October 2026, the Danish event will centre on an Immersion Series: multi-day stage projects in which dancers prepare material in advance, then spend concentrated rehearsal time in Denmark developing technique, formations, expression and performance before appearing in the Saturday-night show. Alongside those projects are a one-day Deep Dive, six Sunday workshops and a large international performance programme.
That makes the 2026 edition interesting for more than its teacher list. It is also a small case study in how belly dance festivals are experimenting with what dancers actually want from an in-person event.
From competition festival to a new chapter
Danish Open Bellydance began in 2012 in Roskilde, near Copenhagen, and moved to Glostrup in 2013. According to the organisers’ own history, it grew into one of Northern Europe’s larger belly dance events, with competitions, workshops, shows, intensives and a bazaar. The pandemic pushed its 2020 edition online, while 2021 marked its ten-year jubilee.
Then came a deliberate change. The organisers describe 2024 as the final edition of the traditional grand Danish Open Bellydance Festival. In 2025, activity shifted toward online workshops. For 2026, sisters and organisers Noura and Merrild are introducing the new Elements concept rather than recreating the previous competition-heavy format.
That distinction matters. The name is familiar, but the structure is new.
Instead of asking dancers to arrive, take several unrelated workshops and perhaps compete or perform, the main Immersion Series asks participants to commit to a process. Choreographic preparation begins before the event through video material and closed online groups. Once dancers meet in Denmark, the emphasis shifts to refinement: spacing, staging, technique, performance quality and the experience of building a show together.
Four stage projects, four elements
The main Immersion Series runs Thursday 22 October through Saturday 24 October and is designed for intermediate-to-advanced dancers. Applicants are asked to submit a performance video, reflecting the fact that these are stage projects rather than drop-in classes.
The concept is organised around four elements.
Earth, directed by Finland’s Laura Zaray, uses Mahraganat and an energetic, attitude-driven approach. Water, also directed by Zaray, explores a contrasting movement quality within the same larger theatrical framework.
Argentine dancer and choreographer Leandro Ferreyra directs Air and Fire. The published description for Air uses classical music with violin, veil fusion, group figures and expressive movement, while Fire provides another distinct performance project within the elemental structure.
Participants who join an immersion with either teacher are not simply learning a routine on site. The organisers describe the process as preparation for a complete dance-show experience, including technical, mental and artistic aspects of performance.
The schedule reflects that intensity. Thursday and Friday contain three-hour rehearsal blocks in the morning and afternoon. Saturday then moves into staging and dress rehearsal before the evening performance.
For dancers who have attended many festival workshops, that format may feel refreshingly different. A two-hour class can deliver combinations, technique or inspiration. Three days spent repeatedly revisiting the same performance material can reveal something else entirely: whether spacing is clean, whether an ensemble breathes together, whether transitions survive outside the studio mirror, and whether a dancer can remain expressive while also serving a larger stage picture.
A Deep Dive without the performance pressure
Not everyone wants to perform. Danish Open has built a separate option around that reality.
On Friday 23 October, Japan/France-based Oriental dance artist Ribo leads a one-day Deep Dive titled “Dancing as One – Group Dynamics, Synchronization and Formations.”
Participants work with choreography shared in advance, but there is no performance requirement. Instead, the intensive focuses on formations, spacing, synchronisation, eye lines, angles and spatial awareness - the details that can make the same choreography look either like several individuals dancing simultaneously or like a genuinely unified ensemble.
It is a useful subject for dancers at almost any level of stage experience. Group work is sometimes treated as the easier alternative to solo performance, when in reality it requires a different kind of attention: peripheral awareness, consistency and the willingness to adjust individual choices for the visual logic of the whole.
The Elements show brings the concept together
The central performance takes place on Saturday 24 October 2026 at Kilden in Brøndby, with doors at 19:00 and the show beginning at 19:30.
Its full title is “Elements – A Bellydance Journey of Love and Connection.” Earth, Air, Water and Fire are joined by a fifth element, Love, danced by Ribo. Marie Møller Jensen is listed as narrator, giving the evening an explicitly theatrical structure rather than presenting it simply as a sequence of unrelated festival numbers.
The published programme includes master teachers, invited soloists, ensembles and immersion participants from across Europe and beyond. Among the announced names are Leandro Ferreyra, Laura Zaray, Ribo, Nadia Saba, Noura, Hanan, Anna Raqs, the Hara Nawaar Dance Company – Oriental Dance Queens, Divas of Layali, AlFayruz and numerous Danish and international performers.
For audiences, that mix may be one of the strongest reasons to attend. The show connects visiting professionals with local and regional dancers while also allowing the immersion participants to present the work they have been developing throughout the event.
Sunday returns to the classic workshop format
After three days dominated by immersion work and performance preparation, Sunday 25 October looks more like a familiar festival workshop day.
All workshops are scheduled at Glostrup Fritidscenter and run for two hours. The first round, from 10:00 to 12:00, includes Laura Zaray’s “Elegance in Action” - already listed as fully booked on the official site - Leandro Ferreyra’s Pop Shaabi / Pop Egyptian Style, and Ribo’s Sassy Drum Solo Choreography.
The second round, from 12:30 to 14:30, offers Zaray’s earthy Baladi workshop, with optional sagat; Ferreyra’s intermediate/advanced Technique and Combos class; and Ribo’s “3D Dancing – Powerful Stage Presence,” which explores spinal use, body structure, depth and dynamic stage presence.
The range is smart. A dancer interested in Egyptian social and popular vocabulary can move toward Baladi or Pop Shaabi, while someone focused on stagecraft can choose elegance, drum-solo performance or three-dimensional movement quality.
Three teachers with very different perspectives
The 2026 faculty is deliberately compact.
Laura Zaray, based in Finland, has worked across Oriental dance, MENAT folklore and fusion for more than two decades. The organiser biography notes her work as a performer, director and team leader, as well as appearances in Egypt with Reda Troupe-related Mahmoud Reda programmes at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Leandro Ferreyra brings a broad choreographic background. The official biography describes more than 20 years of international experience, certification through Amir Thaleb’s school, postgraduate study in choreographic composition at Argentina’s UNA, and work spanning Arabic dance, contemporary dance, ballet, jazz, ballroom, tango and Indian dance.
Ribo, a Japanese Oriental dance artist based in France, works between classical Egyptian technique and influences including ballet, flamenco and Latin dance. She also has history with Danish Open itself: the organisers list her as the 2023 first-place winner in both Freestyle Solo and Tabla Solo.
Rather than assembling a very large roster, the new format gives these teachers substantial time with participants. That may ultimately be the defining feature of the 2026 edition.
Why this format is worth watching
Belly dance festivals have long been built around abundance: more teachers, more workshops, more competitions, more shows. There is obvious value in that model, especially when dancers travel internationally and want access to artists they rarely see at home.
But abundance can also make a weekend fragmented. A dancer may take six excellent classes and still leave with six disconnected sets of notes.
The Danish Open experiment moves in another direction. Its immersion model asks what happens when a festival gives dancers fewer subjects but more time with them - and when learning is connected directly to rehearsal, ensemble awareness and performance.
It will not suit everyone. Dancers who want a broad sampler of teachers may prefer a conventional festival. Those who dislike performance projects can choose the Deep Dive or Sunday workshops instead. But for participants who want to experience the less glamorous work behind a polished stage production, the format has real potential.
And perhaps that is the most interesting part of Danish Open Bellydance 2026: after years of running a successful established festival, its organisers were willing to change the structure rather than simply repeat it.
Practical details
Dates: 22–25 October 2026
Immersion / workshop venue: Glostrup Fritidscenter, Christiansvej 2, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark
Elements show: 24 October 2026, Kilden, Nygårds Plads 31, 2605 Brøndby
Show doors: 19:00
Show start: 19:30
Sunday workshops: 25 October, 10:00–12:00 and 12:30–14:30
The organisers recommend Glostrup Park Hotel and publish a festival booking code, BELLY2026, for a special rate. Availability and current prices should be confirmed directly with the hotel before booking.
Official event links
Official Danish Open Bellydance website: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/
2026 Immersion Series: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/immersions/
2026 workshops: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/workshops-2026/
Elements show: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/elements-show/
2026 schedule: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/time-schedule/
Teachers: https://danishopenbellydance.wordpress.com/teachers/
Editorial record
- Author
- Raqs Atlas team
- Editor
- Milica Lestaric
- Published
- 30 September 2026
Editorially Reviewed — Checked by our editorial team against available sources.
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