In 1998, in Polverigi, Italy, during a meeting of the IETM International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts, an informal group of artists and arts professionals from the Mediterranean region, founded what two years later (2000)  became DBM Danse Bassin Méditerranée, an international non-profit association (AISBL) under Belgian law.

Between 2000 and 2015, DBM has developed various international programs that have fostered the development of contemporary performing arts in the Mediterranean region. 

During this period, DBM  has co-produced over 125 creations by artists from South Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, supporting as well the realization of various international festivals, training and research programs  in the region.

Above all, DBM has organized a vital series of international professional meetings that have highly contributed to fostering the exchange and dialogue between hundreds of performing arts professionals - artists, curators, producers and scholars - from the region and beyond. Those meeting took place in: 

After fifteen years of existence, DBM has realized that the network has fulfilled its mission: many artists from the region started to create and tour their work internationally, there was a boom of festivals, venues, artists, networks, training programs, and residencies spaces in many Mediterranean countries. A diverse and vibrant community that was unexisting and hard to imagine in the first years of DBM. In 2015, following a decision of the DBM membership, DBM was dissolved as an association

DBM is deeply thankful to all the institutions that have supported the network since 2000.