Dance Umbrella’s 2026 festival programme brings together a wide range of international artists, curators and collaborators exploring dance as a meeting point for cultures, histories and communities across London. For the second year, £10 tickets are available for selected performances, supported by ARC Ratings, to widen access and encourage audiences to explore more of the programme.
Brazilian choreographer Poliana Lima and British flamenco artist Yinka Esi Graves present A Place To Dance (9 & 10 October) at The Place, a participatory in-the-round performance shaped by rhythm, dialogue and shared experience, framed by DJ Oumoukala in an immersive celebration of collective movement. Also at The Place, Arno Schuitemaker’s After After (21 October) brings seven dancers together beneath a single strip of light, using touch, attention and an electronic score to build an intimate yet expansive dancefloor atmosphere.
For family audiences, Theatre-Rites and choreographer Miguel Altunaga present Eshu at the Crossroads, a Yorùbá-inspired adventure following a traveller guided by the trickster spirit Eshu. Touring The Albany (24 October), CASA at Brixton House (25 October) and The Place (27 October), the work is suitable for ages 5+. At Rich Mix, Touch the Floor (24 October), curated by Anthea Lewis (Blulili Projects), explores Black British music cultures through spaces of social gathering, dance and community, bringing together artists, DJs, academics and audiences to reflect on shared cultural histories.
The festival also presents Dance Umbrella Film Series: Sunday Shorts (18 October) at Barbican Cinema. Curated by Omar Rajeh under the title Spaces of Encounter, the programme brings together short films exploring bodies, memory and place, and how movement reveals the social, political and emotional landscapes we inhabit.
Previously announced highlights include Mamela Nyamza’s THE HERD/LESS (8–10 October) at Sadler’s Wells East, an exploration of collective power and control through ritual, repetition and material symbolism, following Nyamza’s 2026 Venice Biennale Silver Lion award. At the Barbican, Dance is Not for Us (16 & 17 October) by Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat offers a deeply personal solo reflecting on loss, Lebanon and the act of dancing through rupture, while not for glory (13 & 14 October) at Cecil Sharp House fuses Highland dance, Irish dance and live piping in a high-energy reclamation of inherited forms.
Artist Encounters: Anatomy of a Story at The Bhavan features Akram Khan in conversation, offering insight into his creative process, storytelling and artistic intention in a space closely connected to South Asian arts and his own practice.
At Somerset House, Curating in Context brings together artists, curators and cultural leaders to examine how dance is programmed across different geographies and whose perspectives shape those decisions. Further panellists are to be announced.
For the 2026 Digital Pass, a curated selection of dance films featuring festival artists is available until 30 November 2026. Highlights include The Odor of Elephants After the Rain by Cie Omar Rajeh & Maqamat, created in response to the 2020 Beirut port explosion; Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories by Miguel Ángel Rosales; The Disappearing Act series by Yinka Esi Graves and Rosales, filmed across Spain, Portugal and Ghana; Outside In by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams with Candoco Dance Company; and 15 años (15 years) by Poliana Lima, reflecting on identity, migration and belonging.
Regarding the 2026 festival progamme announcement, Dance Umbrella’s Artistic Director and Co-CEO Freddie Opoku-Addaie said:
“I continue to be inspired by the generosity, rigour and imagination of artists and their creative teams in building communities and creating work that holds space for our shared humanity, especially at a time when so much around us says otherwise.
This year’s festival invites audiences to experience dance as a meeting place for cultures, histories and communities, while also celebrating the joy of coming together. Alongside witnessing extraordinary performances, many of this year’s works invite you to throw a few shapes on the dance floor too. So yes, bring your dancing shoes and your good vibes – they’re very much wanted on dance floors across your global city’s festival.”
Dance Umbrella Festival 2026 takes place this October across London and online.
Visit Danceumbrella.co.uk for tickets and more information.
