The ensemble of the festival hall with its pavilion-like boarding houses and the forecourt is located on the north-western edge of the settlement. In the multi-purpose building in Tessenow (1911/12), modern expressive dance, music improvisation and ear training were taught by the educational institute for rhythmic gymnastics. Mary Wigman and Gret Palucca were among the most famous students of the dance teacher Emile Jaques-Dalcroze. In the short time up to the First World War, the European avant-garde met during the annual festival. B. Henry van de Velde, Oskar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, Stefan Zweig, Upton Sinclair and Franz Kafka. In 1932, Gluck's “Iphigenie in Aulis” was performed here by Fritz Busch, before a police school was set up in 1938. From 1945 to 1992 the Soviet army took possession of the area. During reconstruction work, Russian decorative paintings were preserved in the stairways to the entrance hall. This represents the route of the troops to Germany. The European Center for the Arts has been located here since 2004. It became the domicile of the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company and the theater DEREVO St. Petersburg-Dresden and aims to tie in with the traditions of Hellerau as a refuge for the modern arts.