Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF) was founded in 1992 by several dance figures affiliated with Institut Kesenian Jakarta (IKJ) and is now under the auspices of Yayasan Loka Tari Nusantara (YLTN).
Committed to being a biennial event, the festival serves as both a laboratory and a platform for presenting works by Indonesian and international choreographers, while fostering interaction, artistic production, and knowledge exchange within the contemporary dance ecosystem in Indonesia and beyond.
As it enters its fourth decade, IDF has become one of the oldest contemporary dance festivals in the world. Across 17 editions, the festival has presented around 300 performances, featured nearly 200 Indonesian choreographers, and brought together more than 500 dance and interdisciplinary artists.
Throughout the year, IDF continues to build and nurture local and international networks, creating opportunities for collaboration, co-programming, and artistic exchange. This work also includes developing international touring opportunities for Indonesian works and strengthening relationships among artists, curators, producers, and arts institutions to sustain artistic practices and expand the reach of Indonesian dance.
Since 2022, IDF has championed regeneration to push innovations in festival-making. It includes a digital performance program that widens audience reach and enables critical discourse on digital culture dynamics. IDF wishes to become a sustainable festival and bring a more contextual perspective on contemporary dance to Indonesia.
This year, IDF is scheduled for 29 October-1 November 2026, taking up Underlying Drift as its theme. It is an open invitation to collectively navigate the unknown through contemporary dance.
The festival programs have been arranged to map, discuss, and understand the dynamics of change in dance practice and choreographic discourse, strengthen dance networks across Indonesian regions while connecting it with the network and dynamics of global dance practice that has been connected to IDF. Programs include: Bentang, Kampana, Workshops and Masterclasses, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Dance Talks.
Yayasan Loka Tari Nusantara (YLTN) is a foundation established in 2019 to oversee and support the activities of the Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF). The foundation was established to ensure the continuity of IDF, both through its biennial festival and its ongoing education and training initiatives, which aim to broaden access and opportunities for dance practitioners across Indonesia.
The foundation also actively develops research and archival practices related to contemporary dance in Indonesia. Three of IDF’s founders—Maria Darmaningsih, Melina Suryadewi, and Nungki Kusumastuti—are involved with the foundation as members of its Supervisory Board, Board of Trustees, and Management Board, alongside other prominent figures committed to the development of Indonesia’s arts and cultural sector.