Dance Umbrella is unfurling once more.
For those who haven’t been keeping a keen finger on the pulse of the international contemporary dance festival scene over the last few years, Dance Umbrella is an international contemporary dance festival. It actually started way back in 1978, and since then it’s had over a million punters soaking up bleeding-edge choreography performed by hundreds of dancers from dozens of countries. It’s a genuinely well-run operation, and their standards are extremely high.
This year’s festival takes place throughout almost the entire month of October (9th-31st) in venues across the capital. Still to come are performances of Diana Niepce’s ground-breaking solo piece The Other Side of Dance, created as she recovers from a spinal cord injury. Then there’s the dynamic Radioactive Practice, which draws inspiration from synchronised swimming, martial arts and everything in between; the feminist Fairy Tales all the way from Czechia; and the neon-soaked duet between siblings Adam Seid Tahir and Amina Seid Tahir.
And that’s just the in-person stuff. Thanks to the pandemic, the festival has also developed a fairly sophisticated digital programme too, including both filmed performances and streamed discussions, and is entirely pay what you can.
All told, it’s a very well choreographed event.
NOTE: Dance Umbrella 2024 runs from 9th-31st October in venues across London. You can book tickets on the Dance Umbrella website.
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