Oz Arts Nashville Reveals Lineup For 14th Season

Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville will host a diverse line-up of international and local artists in its 14th Season of innovative performances, focusing on visionaries who are creating and imagining the future of contemporary culture. The widely acclaimed artists in the 2026/27 line-up include legends like influential Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaker and lauded Argentinian director Mariano Pensotti alongside cutting-edge creatives like Japanese dance-theater collective KEDAGORO, New York-based theater-maker Dahlak Brathwaite, and Nashville's own exemplary dance company New Dialect. Together, the nine presentations create an unforgettable season ranging from emotionally incisive dance and beautiful stagecraft to in-your-face experimental performance and exciting artistic collaborations.

Triptyche

The powerful season kicks off October 23-24 with the U.S. Premiere of French choreographer Leïla Ka's deeply moving Triptyche, a program that offers three unique portraits of womanhood from the rising dance world star. Combining explosive physicality with contemporary and Hip-hop forms, Ka's stunning choreography will be on display in a group work, duet, and solo, providing a perfect showcase of why Le Monde calls her France's 'most in-demand young choreographer.'

The Age is Yours, My Liege!

In mid-November, the wild and brilliant Japanese dance-theater collective KEDAGORO takes over OZ's Creative Warehouse with their singular production The Age is Yours, My Liege! (A Tale of Proto-Japan). Led by acclaimed Japanese director and choreographer Reisa Shimojima, a group of fearless performers lead audiences through a visually outrageous fairytale centering around the origins of the emperor's rule in Japan, including the use of a giant hamster wheel and pastel-colored princess gowns. (November 14-15)

Try/Step/Trip

Early December offers the opportunity to witness New York-based theater-maker Dahlak Brathwaite's exhilarating and deeply personal expression of resilience, Try/Step/Trip, a memorable theatrical experience that blends step-dance, spoken word, and original music. Drawing on his own experience navigating the criminal justice system, Brathwaite directly confronts the stereotypes too often projected on Black men in America. (December 4-5)

The Longest Night

Returning to the OZ Arts stage for the first time in seven years, The Longest Night offers an alternative holiday celebration inspired by the Winter Solstice with performances December 18-19. Combining the talents of Portara Ensemble and acclaimed poet Ciona Rouse with legendary saxophonist Jeff Coffin and local dance collective Di Mossa, the lively event brings together some of Music City's most celebrated artists for an inclusive and family-friendly event centering joy, community, and collective celebration.

Cuervo

OZ Arts launches 2027 with French-Chilean multimedia theater artists (and brothers) Cosme and Óscar Castro, who blend visual storytelling, documentary, and personal testimony into a moving exploration of memory and the enduring power of art in their heartfelt piece Cuervo. The two join forces utilizing hand-made animation and live multimedia techniques to visualize the story of their father's experience using theater to survive imprisonment in a concentration camp during Chile's military dictatorship. (January 29 & 30)

DECLARATION

March brings the World Premiere of a new collaboration from two of Nashville's most iconic artists, choreographer Banning Bouldin and poet Ciona Rouse. Under the banner of Bouldin's popular dance collective New Dialect, the two join forces for DECLARATION, a powerful new dance-theater work that investigates the power of the American Declaration of Independence and reimagines it as a living document. The timely collaboration will feature some of the city's finest dance artists, creating an unmissable event for dance-lovers and performance fans throughout Middle Tennessee. (March 18-20)

The Four Seasons

One of the most notable events of the spring season arrives April 9 & 10 with the US premiere of a collaboration between highly influential Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Moroccan dance artist Radouan Mriziga, who combine forces on a breathtaking reimagination of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. In this monumental new piece, four extraordinary dancers from de Keersmaeker's legendary company Rosas trace intricate geometric patterns that echo the rhythms of the natural world while questioning humanity's changing relationship to it. The presentation is the premiere of the acclaimed collaboration in The Americas and marks de Keersmaeker's first presentation in Tennessee.

La Obra (The Play)

The final international visiting artist in OZ's 2026/27 Season is acclaimed Argentinian director and filmmaker Mariano Pensotti, widely considered one of the most influential voices in contemporary theater. His latest work La Obra (The Play) takes place on a continuously revolving stage bursting with cinematic images and scenes that evoke the past and present, fantasy and reality, through ingenious theatrical magic. Pensotti unravels the extraordinary story of Simon Frank, a Polish Jewish survivor who recreates the places of his past in a small Argentine town - drawing the entire community into a living work of theater. La Obra will have performances at OZ Arts Nashville on April 30 & May 1, fresh from its U.S. premiere in New York.

Brave New Works Lab

Adventurous local artists close out the season with the sixth annual Brave New Works Lab, featuring multiple new short works by artists in Middle Tennessee, with performances May 20-22. The influential 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 20 new projects across the first five years. A selection of projects for the 2026 Lab will be chosen from an open call for proposals, happening now through October 1.

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