Dance Umbrella Cancels 2020 Festival

Today Dance Umbrella, London's annual celebration of contemporary dance and performance, announces the cancellation of the October 2020 festival.

Artistic Director & Chief Executive Emma Gladstone said: "We have taken the decision to cancel the 2020 Dance Umbrella. It is clear that we cannot deliver the festival for audiences, artists, venue partners or funders at the level or scale originally imagined due to the current situation concerning COVID-19.

We wish to give huge thanks to all the UK and international creatives, the fifteen partner venues, producers, colleagues and funders, alongside the DU team and Trustees, who have been working so hard on preparing to deliver the festival this October. It is the first time in our 42-year history that we have had to cancel, and we hope it is the last.

By making this decision now, we are able to offer some cancellation fees and honour all our commissions, which make up 50% of the planned programme for this year. This is to try, in some small way, to support those creators who are going through such testing times. Their imagination, courage and tenacity is the source of the vibrant inspiration we seek to share with Londoners each year.

We thank everyone for their continuing belief in the festival, and confirm our determination to share great choreography and performance from around the world in our new futures."

This cancellation includes all talks, workshops, parties, Visiting Artists programmes, Studio Sessions, debates and film screenings that were scheduled to take place 9 - 25 October.

More details to follow for future events, digital and otherwise, in due course.