Cultural Compass: Brussels Jazz Festival, dance reimagined and Queer Arts Festival

Every Sunday, Belga English picks its favourite events from the cultural agenda. This week: Flagey brings the eleventh edition of Brussels Jazz Festival, three major orchestral works are transformed into dance and Bruges views art through the lens of gender.

The Brussels Jazz Festival, 15-24 January, Flagey

The Brussels Jazz Festival marks the eleventh edition of this much-anticipated winter event. Known for its boundary-pushing programming, the festival blends established names with rising European and international talent, creating a vibrant snapshot of where jazz and its related forms are today. This year’s edition places Wajdi Riahi centre stage as artist-in-residence, unveiling three new projects that reflect his adventurous approach to jazz performance and composition.

Across ten days and more than 25 concerts, audiences can expect a rich mix of styles, ranging from orchestral jazz experiments to intimate solo sets. A highlight is the “Jazz Meets Symphonic” collaboration on the opening night, featuring Danish guitarist Jakob Bro alongside the Brussels Philharmonic and the Vlaams Radiokoor. Their performance A Trail of Sonic Sparks promises to blur the lines between jazz, classical and ambient music, offering a sweeping soundscape that’s both contemplative and exhilarating.

Another standout artist is Helena Casella, the belgo-Brazilian vocalist whose warm, expressive tone and imaginative interpretations have been earning attention across Europe. At the festival she presents music from her acclaimed album Pit Of Impressions, a set that blends jazz phrasing with subtle world influences and lyrical depth.

Brussels Jazz Festival returns in January to soothe the winter blues

The Brussels Jazz Festival is back at Flagey from 15 to 24 January, promising an exciting mix of Belgian and international jazz talent...

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Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s Rites, 17 January - 5 February, Antwerp and Ghent

Rites is a bold triptych of dance and music that reimagines three towering orchestral works as ritualised movement. Audiences in Antwerp and Ghent will be able to experience an evening that juxtaposes hypnotic repetition, contemplative stillness and visceral energy on stage.

At the heart of the programme is La Valse, re-interpreted by Algerian-French choreographer Nacera Belaza. Known for work that evokes the unseen and intangible, Belaza strips Ravel’s swirling score back to a profound inner dialogue. As she explains, her aim is to “invoke something of the invisible and unsaid that traverses us all,” treating dance not as spectacle but as shared ritual.

The evening opens with Bolero X, a contemporary take on Ravel’s famed rhythm, choreographed by Shahar Binyamini. With an expanded ensemble drawn from Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and its affiliated schools, Bolero X amplifies the score’s pulse into a collective force.

Closing the triptych is Le Sacre du printemps in the iconic Pina Bausch staging. Under the guidance of Barbara Kaufmann, a former dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s dancers explore the primal power and human complexity of Stravinsky’s score. Kaufmann notes that, in Bausch’s choreography, “movement itself tells you what you must feel,” underlining the piece’s enduring impact half a century on.

Rites promises a compelling blend of tradition and innovation, resulting in a thought-provoking journey through sound, body and ritual.

PRISMA Queer Arts Festival 2026, 16, 17, 18 January, Bruges

This January, PRISMA Queer Arts Festival 2026 transforms Bruges into a vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ creativity, identity and community. The festival invites everyone to “reclaim your space” through art, performance, workshops, film and discussion, all anchored in queer voices and experiences that challenge the constraints of gender binaries.

The weekend offers a rich and varied programme across venues in the city. On Saturday 17 January, the Groeningemuseum hosts a queer instaprondleiding (drop-in tour), where visitors can explore art works with queer themes woven throughout the collection. This guided tour, developed with historian Dr Jonas Roelens, encourages a fresh lens on artistic representations of gender and desire, past and present.

Also part of PRISMA is the compelling lecture, “M/V/X: Genderdiversiteit is van alle tijden” (gender diversity is timeless), which reframes the understanding of gender across history. It highlights figures and stories that defy simple male/female categories, aiming to demonstrate that gender diversity has always existed and has been woven into human lives and cultures.

Beyond tours and talks, PRISMA will offer upcycling workshops, drag introductions and Happy New Queer, a lively evening of performance, music and dance showcasing emerging and established queer talent.

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​​​(MOH)

_{#FlandersNewsService | © OPERA BALLET VLAANDEREN}

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