DanceLive 2026
DanceLive Festival Returns 15th-19th October 2026!
This year marks a special 20th Anniversary festival with
a selection of thought-provoking dance works in inspiring, iconic venues across the city.
This year’s festival includes works of fun and frolics for young children, immersive and exquisite movement, and extraordinary, memorable performances that will resonate with both reason and emotion.
We cannot wait to share DanceLive 2026 with all of you!
See you at the Festival,
Dawn Hartley, 2026 DanceLive Festival Manager
Festival Programme 2026
Thursday, 15 October
Solitude without Loneliness
Malcolm Sutherland
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 18:30-19:30
Age Restriction: 12+
In this evocative performance, bodies and characters collapse, separate, and reform in a constant search for meaning, attachment, and understanding. Voices extend from these bodies as they navigate busy streets, seeking comfort in their unique landscapes. This exhausting yet familiar quest for connection unfolds through moments of humour, intimacy, and longing. From karaoke bars to restaurants, this contemporary dance work combines text, movement and situational absurdity. Solitude without Loneliness invites empathy through the cyclical endurance of the performers, reminding us of the universal desire for union with one another and with ourselves, and of the fragile ways we continually reach towards others.
Instagram: @malcolm.i.sutherland
This production was created with support from: Creative Scotland, Dance Base, The Work Room, Scottish Dance Theatre, MacRobert Arts Centre, Dumfries & Galloway Dance, The Space, Monument Dance Centre, Curious Seed, & Citymoves
The Things We Carry (excerpt)
Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası & EIRA
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 20:00-21:05
This special sharing from Istanbul's Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası and Portuguese choreographer Francisco Camacho/EIRA, will be shown as part of a double-bill with Malcolm Sutherland's Solitude without Loneliness.
The Things We Carry emerged from a dialogue between two artistic practices rooted in Istanbul and Lisbon, harbour cities shaped by exchange, migration and layered identities. Performed by two dancers and a musician, the work unfolds through a continuum of actions that evoke travel, nomadism, the creation of conditions for survival, and the maintenance of familiar ways of living.
Are the things we carry the things we need? Are they the things that allow us to survive? Or are they things that allow us to perpetuate a model of life we already know without questioning it? Do we repeat inconsequential gestures without recognizing their arbitrariness, or because, without them, we would allow the void to creep in? Are we fully in charge of our own laboratory of life, or are our actions merely ways of postponing a confrontation with an interpellation that could call all our experience into question?
Through these questions, this dance invites audiences to reflect on habit, movement, memory, and the ways we confront—or postpone—the possibility of living otherwise.
This production was created with support from: Portuguese Republic Ministry of Culture Directorate General of Arts, Camões Institute and Embassy of Portugal in Turkey, and brought to Aberdeen with support from The British Council and Creative Scotland's Expanded Festivals Fund.
Friday, 16 October
Festival Artist Studio Class
Malcolm Sutherland
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 10:30-12:00
Age Restriction: 16+
The class places a particular focus on finding the initiation point of movements in order to achieve a better understanding of body coordination. Through the use of some improvisational tasks combined with set exercises, together we will create an awareness of body and space which will culminate in a heightened sense of movement sensitivity. The style of the class is a blend of ideas sourced through Malcolm's 15 years of professional experience in the industry. At the end we will learn a short phrase from Solitude without Loneliness which is performing at the festival.
Instagram: @malcolm.i.sutherland
Balfour Reparations
Farah Saleh
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 18:00-20:00
Age Restriction: 12 yrs +
Access: BSL Interpreted
Balfour Reparations (2026-2046) is a compelling performance lecture by Palestinian dancer, choreographer and scholar, Farah Saleh, that invites you to explore and confront the United Kingdom’s colonial legacy in Palestine.
Through a blend of history, fiction, and fantasy, Saleh examines the role of Arthur James Balfour—former UK Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, and influential academic figure—in shaping policies that denied Palestinian political rights. Using elements of Critical Fabulation and Afrofuturism, this thought-provoking work brings archival materials—videos, photos, and documents—into dialogue with imagined futures.
Join us in 2046, as a member of the Reparations Committee, reflecting on a fictive apology letter issued by the UK government in 2026, promising reparations to the Palestinian people. What does accountability look like? What might justice mean?
Step into the future and be part of the conversation.
Instagram: @farahsalehdance / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farahsalehdance
Supported by IASH, Culture&, Made in Scotland, Scottish Government, Creative Scotland.
Includes audience participation invitation and post-show panel discussion. The performance and discussion will be BSL Interpreted.
Alien Aquatic
Dudendance Theatre
Venue: Bon Accord Baths
Dates & Times:
16 October @ 20:30-21:05 & 17 October @ 19:00-19:35
Age Restriction: All ages, but not suitable for babies or small toddlers
Plastic waste is having a devastating effect in the sea.
Dudendance imagines a new Alien Species emerge when plastics mutate into living beings.
Originally an outdoor performance for beaches the costumes combine organic forms with artificial materials –costumes that suggest sea creatures transform into trash. This specially adapted version combines film, performance from a live choir and film to create an other-worldly immersive experience. Guest artists include Fabiana Galante (Argentina), singing trio Tripple and Fiona Soe Paing (NE Scotland), members of Con Anima Choir (Aberdeen) and dancers from Germany and Scotland.
This production was created with support from: Creative Scotland's Multi-Year Fund.
Saturday, 17th October
Festival Artist Studio Class
Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası
(Barefoot Dance Company)
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 10:30-12:00
Age Restriction: 16+
This improvisation class will be guided by Mihran Tomasyan and Leyla Postalcıoğlu, accompanied by the live music of Berke Özcan. They will share their personal interests in improvisation, while inviting participants, through structured improvisation, into a playful research of movement, rhythm, space, and the connections between sound and movement. In the final part of the class, there will also be a movement score from The Things We Carry, offering participants an opportunity to experience and explore material from their latest work through a collective dance practice.
Yangled
Vince Virr
Venue: Sculpture Court, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Time: 11:00 & 14:30
Age: This show is perfect for Families with Children.
Vince Virr Dance Company returns to DanceLive with their newest site-specific dance piece. Following a successful tour of Pop! & Then What? You will not want to miss Yangled performed at Aberdeen Art Gallery.
The Odyssey
Presence Projects
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 17:00-18:00
Age Restriction: 18+
The Odyssey is a new dance-theatre work directed by Fleur Darkin, drawing on Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey to explore questions of home, identity and endurance in a contemporary world. Mythological narrative intersects with present-day experience, tracing a journey through displacement, transient artistic life and the search for belonging.
Choreographed in collaboration with two of Europe’s leading dance artists, The Odyssey is presented at DanceLive as a first glimpse into a full-length production premiering in May 2027.
Intimate and playful in its relationship to the audience, the work explores the necessity of return, to place, body and self, and what it means to confront what has been left behind.
Supported by Tramway’s Residency Programme,
Creative Scotland, St Andrew’s University
Grace
White & Givan
Venue: Aberdeen Art Gallery
Time: 20:00-20:35
Performed by award-winning dancers and choreographers Errol White and Davina Givan, Grace is a powerful new duet exploring the delicate interplay of strength and vulnerability, protection and transformation. Inspired by Paula Rego’s haunting portrait Angel, the work unfolds like wings in motion, sheltering, revealing and guiding us through life’s shifting terrain.
Rooted in the Latin word for charm, goodness and generosity, grace carries echoes of divine favour while speaking to something far more universal. We imagine angels as guardians whose wings unfurl to console, protect and accompany us through moments of uncertainty. Whether rooted in faith or simply in our shared imagination, angels remain enduring symbols of hope, compassion and unseen presence.
Drawing on this shared human fascination with the unseen, Grace reflects on how we evolve through change, endure hardship and emerge with quiet resilience. In uncertain times, when life feels fragile, we often search beyond ourselves for meaning, comfort and connection. Ultimately suggests that grace is not something bestowed upon a chosen few—it resides within each of us, regardless of faith, background or circumstance.
Combining White & Givan's distinctive physical language, Grace is an intimate and moving performance exploring hope, transformation and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
This production was created with support from Creative Scotland
Sunday, 18th October
Festival Artist Studio Class
White & Givan
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 10:30-12:00
Age Restriction: 16+
The workshop will begin with a contemporary company class, focusing on skeletal alignment, articulate placement, and core stability. Participants will move with fluidity, precision, power, and strength, developing a grounded understanding of the body’s physicality in performance.
Following the class, dancers will explore the creative process behind Grace, a new work inspired by Paula Rego’s painting Angel, which evokes strength and vulnerability. Led by White & Givan, the session uses guided improvisation and creative movement tasks to investigate themes of resilience, memory, and transformation. Participants will gain insight into the choreographic process while discovering their own physical and expressive responses to the work.
Suitable for dancers, students, and anyone interested in expanding their creative practice.
May Fly/ May Not
May Fly Theatre
Venue: Learning Space, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Time: 14:30-15:30
Age: This show is perfect for Families with Small Children.
‘May Fly/May Not’ is a work in progress show for early years children and their families which tells the inspiring story of Lilian Bland, the first woman in the world to design, build and fly her own airplane. The show features dancer/collaborator Laura Booth as Lilian Bland and Sarah Ord (Creative Producer) playing "May Not".
The show combines movement, storytelling, and ends with an interactive workshop inviting families to play and be creative together.
Sensorial Symphonies
Elisabeth Schilling & Company
Venue: Cowdray Hall
Time: 19:00-20:00
What if we could feel the world as plants do?
In Sensorial Symphonies, Associate Artist of Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Elisabeth Schilling embarks on a radical experiment, reshaping our perception of existence itself. Set against the backdrop of Sergei Rachmaninov’s iconic Piano Concerto No. 2—reimagined and interwoven with a contemporary score by Pascal Schumacher and the organic sounds of The Plant Philharmonic—this creation is as ambitious in scope as it is intricate in execution.
Sensorial Symphonies invites the audience into an immersive, multi-sensory journey, where plants are not mere decorative metaphors but active protagonists, taking centre stage with their elaborate, interconnected systems. The choreography honours the wisdom of plant life, its symbiotic relationships, resilience, and boundless adaptability, asking us to reconsider our place in a shared ecological web.
The piece transcends human-centric narratives, celebrating plants as both subjects and collaborators. Through touch, scent, design, sound and movement, it encourages us to not only see but also feel vegetal life, challenging Aristotle’s legacy relegating plants to the lowest rung of being. This is a politics of perception, a push to elevate the status of the natural world in our collective consciousness.
In Elisabeth Schilling’s hands, dance becomes nature’s exuberant music – an inquiry, a transformation, a way of perceiving the world anew. This is not just a profound performance; it is an act of reclamation.
Commissioned by – Theatre de la Ville de Luxembourg
Co-produced by – Elisabeth Schilling & Company & United Instruments of Lucilin
Supported by SACEM Luxembourg, Minister de la Culture Luxembourg, TROIS C-L | Maison pour la danse
Monday, 19th October
Dancing from Stillness into Motion-Festival Artist Workshop
Sharon Took-Zozaya with live accompaniment by Quee MacArthur
Venue: Seminar Room, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Time: 14:15 - 15:15pm
Age Restriction: Intergenerational – 9yrs up through older adults
Sharon leads this creative dance and physical theatre workshop, with themes from her latest project Everything That’s Still Is Preparing to Move. Using improvisation and images of Hopeman's rock formations, she will facilitate an exploration into how attitudes toward time and timing affect our choices while dancing and in life.
No previous dance background is necessary – just an openness to move within a supportive group. There will be options to dance seated or with another support if needed. Please wear loose clothing you can move in easily.
Email citymoves@citymoves.org.uk to learn more about getting involved.
Everything That’s Still Is About To Move
Sharon Took-Zozaya
Venue: Sculpture Court at 15:30 – 15:45 Excerpts of new choreography
Seminar Room 15:45 – 16:30 Film, excerpts and chat with Sharon Took-Zozaya, Director
Everything That’s Still is Preparing to Move is a sharing of a dance, physical theatre and video work-in-progress that follows place-based research and development on the Moray Coast and at Citymoves. This work is inspired by architectural qualities of sandstone formations at Hopeman and enlivened by exploring a variety of attitudes toward time and timing. Live performance in the Remembrance Hall will be followed by video and discussion upstairs in the Seminar Room. Sound is by Quee MacArthur and video is by Lorenz Gramann. Dancers include Alex Mulcahy, Laura Booth, Sara Schena and Sharon Took-Zozaya. Creation of this piece was supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Fund and Citymoves, with in-kind support from Dance North and The Work Room.
Thrice
Al Seed Productions
Venue: The Anatomy Rooms
Time: 19:00-20:00
Age Restriction:
Access: BSL Interpreted
Macbeth is dead. Who will now heal the land?
The world at the conclusion of Macbeth is one steeped in fear; where truth and delusion blur, and tyranny thrives. This is where Thrice begins.
Both a response to Shakespeare’s play and to our present moment, Thrice places nine women – three trios – in the aftermath of the story. They remain after the bloodshed, asking what it might mean to live on in the shadow of ruin.
Thrice unfolds as a visual and sonic journey of movement, dance, text, and original music. Text from Macbeth – words once spoken by soldiers and tyrants – are absorbed and transformed by the figures who haunt the play’s edges: the witches. In doing so, Thrice seeks to challenge the legacy of persecution attached to the word ‘witch’, asking us to listen differently, and to imagine new forms of care and dignity.
“Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine.”
https://www.instagram.com/alseedproductions/ (@alseedproductions)
Supported by Creative Scotland and Tramway. Al Seed Productions is also a PiPA partner (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts).
Created by Al Seed (storyboarding & direction), with Judith Milligan and choreographer Lina Limosani. It's a movement-led, choral piece rather than a conventional narrative play - poetic and atmospheric, so we tend to lead with image and feeling over plot.
