LEAP DANCE FESTIVAL 2026 Is Now Open Across Liverpool

Leap Dance Festival is underway with hundreds of people enjoying an opening weekend of performances and events including a special afternoon of dance in Sefton Park.

The acclaimed annual festival is now taking place at theatres, cultural venues and in public spaces across Liverpool and beyond until Saturday 9 May 2026.

Tickets for all events are on sale via www.leapfestival.co.uk

Crowds converged on Sefton Park Palm House yesterday for a sun-drenched, celebratory family-friendly afternoon of dance performances along with free taster sessions inside and outside the historic glasshouse.

Among those taking part were Luma Creations, Movema, Fallen Angels, Capoeira for All, Chaos Arts' CIC Bootle and LGBTQ+ groups, Casa de Hathor, Natalie Dignam Dance School, 50 Moves, Growing Old Disgracefully and Men! Dancing!

The festival opened on Friday evening with the dynamic Cathy Waller Company bringing its new touring work You & Us to the Capstone Theatre, followed on Saturday with a Youth Dance Showcase involving dozens of talented young people who enjoyed specialist dance workshops and performances at the City of Liverpool College's Arts Centre. Leap continues tomorrow, 28 April with the Schools Dance Platform at Liverpool Lighthouse in Anfield.

Dance fans can expect performances from some of the UK's most exciting contemporary dance companies, a programme of work from talented dancers from across the Liverpool City Region and a series of special festival commissions presented in partnership with Culture Liverpool during the festival:

LIVERPOOL DANCE PRIZE

Emerging artists from across the North West will share work at the Unity Theatre on Thursday, 30 April as part of this year's Liverpool Dance Prize. The prize is part of Leap's commitment to developing upcoming talent and the ambition to make Liverpool a regional hub for dance. Recipients of the 2026 bursaries are Joseph Thomas Adamson; Zara Phillips and Natassa Argyropoulou; Hui-Hsin Lu; Aimee Gerrard, and Laura Macy.

QUEER MOVES

The festival remains at the Unity Theatre on Friday, 1 May with Queer Moves which promises an electrifying bill of new commissions (thanks to Culture Liverpool) alongside new work from Jake Evans and House of Suarez. Amber Buttery and Owen Gillott's Sequence of Joy combines live performance, community participation and film to celebrate queer identity through the lens of ballroom dance, and a physical theatre piece explores the impact of narcissistic abuse and objectification created by Rowena Gander working with director Izzie Major.

A further special festival commission comes from dance educator Dawn Holgate who has been working with the Dancing Queens, a community group of Global Majority women based at Toxteth's Caribbean Centre, integrating dance, live song and embodied storytelling to explore radical Black joy, resilience and collective care, alongside powerful narratives of womanhood.

TOUSSAINT TO MOVE: WINDOWS OF DISPLACEMENT / DAWN HOLGATE

Holgate's piece will open an evening at the Unity Theatre on Saturday, 2 May which will also feature Toussaint to Move performing Windows of Displacement.

DANCING IN THE STREETS

Then there will be Dancing in the Streets at Liverpool ONE on Bank Holiday Monday, 4 May with the chance to enjoy free outdoor performances and workshops from the region's leading dance artists.

PHOENIX DANCE THEATRE: INTERPLAY

The acclaimed Phoenix Dance Theatre presents Interplay at Liverpool Playhouse on Friday, 8 May. The powerful mixed bill explores themes of duality and the fusion of distinct artistic voices.

SHAKESPEARE NORTH TAKEOVER / LEAP 2026'S BIG BURLESQUE CABARET

Knowsley audiences can expect to take part in a day of dance activity at Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot on Saturday, 9 May, including free dance workshops and life drawing classes, as well as pop up film screenings, including new work by local artist Tom Shennan, and a film exploring Parkinson's, from English National Ballet. There will also be experimental new performances in The Studio and Leap's Big Burlesque Cabaret in The Cockpit Theatre to close Leap 2026 with the ultimate party.

Leap Dance Festival is organised and presented by Chaos Arts CIC and is Liverpool City Region's leading dance event, showcasing the work of local artists, community groups and young people as well as bringing some of the most exciting and groundbreaking work from national and international dance organisations to the city.

The festival also coincides with the International Day of Dance which this year takes place on Wednesday, 29 April.

Leap Dance Festival Director Paul Doyle said today: “We've had an amazing start to Leap 2026, with Dancing at the Palm House attracting audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Community events like this have a massive impact on everyone who comes along and I think the positivity, celebration and energy in the space revitalised us all!

“I'm really proud of our programme, which is showcasing some of the most innovative and electrifying contemporary dance companies, dancers and choreographers here in the Liverpool City Region. There's so much more to see, including our new commissions thanks to Culture Liverpool, which will be premiered at events over the next 12 days - and another opportunity to get involved announced later this week.”

For more details on Leap visit www.leapfestival.co.uk

Follow Leap Dance Festival on social media channels:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeapDanceFest/
Instagram: @leapdancefestival
TikTok: @leapdancefestival

LEAP 2026 LISTINGS

SCHOOLS DANCE PLATFORM

Date: Tuesday 28 April 2026
Time: 7pm
Venue: Liverpool Lighthouse, Oakfield Road, L4 0UF
Tickets: £10/£8

LIVERPOOL DANCE PRIZE

Date: Thursday 30 April 2026
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Unity Theatre
Tickets: £15/£12

QUEER MOVES

Date: Friday 1 May 2026
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Unity Theatre
Tickets: £15/£12

TOUSSAINT TO MOVE: WINDOWS OF DISPLACEMENT / DAWN HOLGATE

Date: Saturday 2 May 2026
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Unity Theatre
Tickets: £15/£12

DANCING IN THE STREETS

Date: Monday 4 May 2026
Time: 12noon - 4pm
Venue: Liverpool ONE
Tickets: Free

PHOENIX DANCE THEATRE: INTERPLAY

Date: Friday 8 May 2026
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Liverpool Playhouse
Tickets: £11-£16

SHAKESPEARE NORTH TAKEOVER

Date: Saturday 9 May 2026
Time: 12noon – 6pm
Venue: Shakespeare North Playhouse, Prescot, L34 3AB
Tickets: £8/£5

LEAP 2026'S BIG BURLESQUE CABARET