Intimate and urgent, of the zeitgeist and imbued with tradition, Dublin Dance Festival (DDF) 2026 presents a citywide programme of unforgettable performances, premieres and participatory events from April 30th to May 16th.
This year’s programme will feature Irish and international artists across Dublin stages, as well as club nights, screenings and free outdoor events offering accessible, joyous moments where communities can come together.
Opening the festival at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre is the world’s foremost gender-skewing comic ballet company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, with their 50th Anniversary Tour. “The Trocks” will pirouette their way through beloved classics, delighting audiences with sell-out performances that combine dazzling pointe work, outrageous humour and pure theatrical joy, described by The Guardian as “the funniest night you’ll ever have at the ballet”.
At the Abbey Theatre, Emma Martin presents the world premiere of Soft God, commissioned by Dublin Dance Festival and the Abbey Theatre – a jagged ceremony featuring eight dancers, that swerves between the mythic and the ridiculous, the carnivalesque and the everyday, between virtuosity and failure.
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Also at the Abbey Theatre, Greek choreographer Christos Papadopoulos will present My Fierce Ignorant Step, created after he received the Rose International Dance Prize. Performed by 10 dancers, this powerful piece connects intricate movement with a vibrant soundscape to illuminate the sheer euphoria of being alive.
The Samuel Beckett Theatre will be home to two world premieres from some of Ireland’s most exciting dance artists.
In STORM 1.0 from award-winning dance innovators Junk Ensemble, two dancers and a tuba player navigate a shifting, unsteady world from inside a building that can no longer protect them. Wind pushes through every seam, plastic takes on new life and objects refuse to stay put. As the storm refuses to pass, STORM 1.0 becomes an uncompromising meditation on how to continue together in a world that refuses to be repaired.
Following sold-out performances of Impasse at the festival in 2024, Mufutau Yusuf brings the world premiere of The Fifth Sun, a new work presented by Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company, in which he responds to the grief and dismay stirred by our planetary crisis. Inspired by the tradition of Irish keening, The Fifth Sun is both a eulogy and a renewal. It offers a space to witness, share and reshape loss, inviting audiences to ask: what kind of ancestors do we choose to become?
Project Arts Centre will be the venue for two stunning, intimate works from Brazil and Italy.
Puff from Alice Ripoll and Hiltinho Fantástico is a magnetic solo exploring disguise as a way of carrying traditions and ancestral knowledge that pulses with the rhythm of Passinho, samba and capoeira.
Also a solo, Italian choreographer Silvia Gribaudi takes to the stage all by herself in Suspended Chorus, revealing the limits and potential of her more than 50 year’s old body with humour and vulnerability.
For one night only at The Pavilion Theatre, Ciseach: An Embodied Manifesto from Catherine Young Dance seeks to rekindle our broken relationship with the land in a contemporary incantation weaving dance, rhythm, live music and voice.
At The Ark, Maiden Voyage Dance will be presenting Moonlight Dream, a magical, sensory-rich adventure to the moon for little ones aged three to six, and their grown-ups, inspired by cosy bedtime stories and soft lullabies.
Away from the stages and on to the streets and spaces of Dublin, this year’s festival is celebrating dance with a welcoming, diverse programme where we can come together to move, play and learn.
Bewley’s iconic Grafton Street building will be home to two Saturday-night club takeovers, as Dublin Dance Festival teams up with Bewley’s for the first time. With influences from electronica to global sounds, and trad to vogueing, DDF Lates brings artists from different scenes together in a wild collision of music, dance and live performance. Dublin Modular opens on May 9th with TRACES, blending live electronics, DJs and contemporary dance, rooted in queer club culture. Closing the festival on May 16th, award-winning DJ Onai steps in with FREQUENCY, leading a handpicked line-up of powerhouse DJs, B-boys and guest dancers spanning vogueing, hip hop, freestyle and beyond.
DDF are also partnering with RSCI for the first time, co-presenting a series of events at Humanarium, a new space to explore health and wellbeing at the heart of RCSI’s new building on St Stephen’s Green. These participative events have been developed in response to Humanarium’s inaugural exhibition, Heart: more than a beat, inviting people to explore heart health through movement and embodied awareness. Taking place on Saturday, May 2nd, and Saturday, May 9th, this daytime programme will offer four accessible and uplifting events for all levels, from a high-energy dance session to slower practices that promote calm and connection, including a collective, mindful walk; a playful workshop for parents and babies; and somatic workshops, led by artists Hélène Cathala, Laura Murphy, Katherine O’Malley and Mary Nunan.
Audiences will also be able to enjoy free outdoor performances and screenings with The Dance of La Zurda by LaCerda (at Wolfe Tone Park and on South King Street), inspired by dance marathons and Latin American rhythms, and celebrating the enduring desire to dance through life, no matter what. In Search of the Tragic Spirits, a short film by Choy Ka Fai, exploring shamanic dance culture in Asia as a form of resistance, will be presented at Living Canvas at Imma, Europe’s largest digital art screen. Presented by Dublin Dance Festival and Imma, the film will screen throughout the festival and extend until May 20th.
The programme also includes professional masterclasses, a VR workshop for teenagers and artist talks with choreographers presenting work at the festival.
Explore it all and find out more at dublindancefestival.ie
