OZ Arts Reveals Winter/Spring Line-up, Featuring Artists From Spain, Japan, South Africa and More

OZ Arts Nashville will continue its season of presentations by artists from around the world with 7 highly visual performance engagements by artists from Spain, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. The technology-forward line-up includes the return of popular artists like Tokyo-based multimedia wizard and choreographer Hiroaki Umeda and Chicago's beloved analog-influenced theater company Manual Cinema, but also kicks off by introducing audiences to two fresh faces: Barcelona's Agrupación Señor Serrano brings their clever and thought-provoking live performed film Birdie on January 30 & 31, while rising dance star Ogemdi Ude and her team of 6 fierce dancers present her astonishing new work MAJOR, which marries majorette dance and contemporary forms, from February 12-14, just one month after a sold-out New York premiere.

Barcelona's legendary visual theater and multimedia collective Agrupación Señor Serrano kicks off OZ's Winter/Spring line-up January 30 & 31with their "thrilling and thought-provoking" production, Birdie. With large-scale projections magnifying the video shot live on stage, the intellectually vibrant work merges Alfred Hitchcock's legendary film The Birds, the game of golf, and 2,000 tiny toy animals to dive into the nature of both animal and human migration. Birdie is guaranteed to stimulate timely conversations, and comes to Nashville as the final stop on a U.S. tour that includes engagements at New York's prestigious Lincoln Center and the West Coast's Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA.

One of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch," rising dance star Ogemdi Ude brings her tender and fierce homage to Black femininity, MAJOR, to OZ Arts from February 12-14. The Georgia native created this bold new work inspired by majorette culture, set to the groove of the Southern-born dance form while merging it with contemporary styles. The production also invites a local drumline and majorette squad to join in for joyful finale that will not soon be forgotten. MAJOR arrives in Nashville after a world premiere last summer at the Kampnagel International Festival in Germany and a sold-out U.S. premiere at New York Live Arts in January.

In late March, virtuosic, Tokyo-based multimedia designer and choreographer Hiroaki Umeda returns to OZ Arts for the first time since his sensational Southeastern debut in 2019. His high-velocity performance style merges multiple video projections with inventive sound design and dance to create an unexpected thrill ride. Audiences are invited to experience a new solo performance by Umeda in his signature style, in addition to a more introspective group work set on 5 femme Hip-hop dancers from Japanese collective Somatic Field Project.

Also making her return visit to Nashville is post-modern, Australian cabaret legend Meow Meow, who will bewitch audiences at OZ Arts for one-night-only on April 11. The deliciously deranged diva and disruptor "drags cabaret kicking and screaming into the 21st century" (Time Out New York) with her hilarious and highly intoxicating stage presence, performing a blend of bawdy tunes, scintillating covers, and political songs from the Weimar Republic.

The final international project in OZ's 2025/26 Season is a cross-continental collaboration between South Africa's Impilo Mapantsula and Switzerland-based choreographer Jeremy Nedd which explores the high-octane speed of the Pantsula dance form juxtaposed with the transcendent moments of Pentecostal "praise breaks." The Ecstatic features fast-paced footwork and trance-like moments of calm, making its U.S. Premiere at OZ Arts on May 1 & 2.

Local artists will take center stage again at the fifth annual Brave New Works Lab, featuring multiple short-form creations by artists in Middle Tennessee with performances May 14-16. The game-changing laboratory for adventurous local artists has already served as a crucial incubator for some of the most exciting new work happening in the region, showcasing 16 new projects across the first four years. A selection of new works for the 2026 Lab will be announced later in the spring, chosen from dozens of applications submitted last fall.

The 2025/26 Season closes with the latest magical production from beloved Chicago-based company Manual Cinema. In The 4th Witch, stunning projection techniques and live music combine to tell the story of a young girl living through war who is adopted by the three witches from Macbeth. Remembered from their amazing multimedia re-invention of Frankenstein at OZ Arts in 2019, Manual Cinema returns to Nashville from June 4-6 with this highly-anticipated new production that features the company's deeply resonant visual storytelling and ingenious mix of old and new technologies.

"Artists continue to lead the way in helping us reimagine the most pressing issues of our time, allowing us to see new visions of the future - and we are thrilled to feature this line-up of culturally impactful creators at OZ Arts in 2026," said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. "These tumultuous times remind us of the power of our shared humanity, and we invite Nashville to come to OZ to engage in the global dialogue sparked by these brilliant, innovative artists."