Side Step Festival, first held in 1996, has grown over the years from a small biennial event to an internationally renowned contemporary dance festival. The festival presents the latest trends and central artists in European contemporary dance.

The 2023 festival is the 20th Side Step. The anniversary year marks a great leap for the festival: some of the works of the programme will be seen on the stages of the newly opened Tanssin talo / Dance House Helsinki.

The programme continues to focus on bringing artists from different backgrounds, whose works both carry the culture of their own generation and update the conceptual thinking on both large and small stages. With the new stages of the Dance House Helsinki, the festival has the opportunity to present these current works to even larger audiences.

With the Big Pulse Visiting Artist programme invited artists has an opportunity to  visit festival in Helsinki, stimulate artistic development, creative exchange and valuable networking.