Londoners Invited To Compete In 8-hour Dance Battle in Little Simz' Festival

Dance enthusiasts everywhere are being invited to bring their skills, style and energy to London's Southbank Centre, as part of an open dance battle for a festival, curated by rapper and actress Little Simz.

As part of the events programme for Meltdown festival in June 2025 – now in its 30th year – the 8-hour dance battle is open to people of all ages and experience. Taking part through preliminary, qualifier and final rounds, participants can battle it out on the Southbank Centre's riverside dancefloor to take home the title of the Bodied: Dance Battle winner.

This open-participation dance battle, inspired by the participatory nature of London youth clubs where Simz had her first dance classes as a teen, has been curated with Simz' own award-winning choreographer Kloé Dean to develop each of themed battle rounds. With guest dancers and live DJs there throughout, budding dance enthusiasts and experts alike are being encouraged to come as they are and give their very best entry to the competition.

Each year, Meltdown – the UK's longest-running artist-curated festival – invites a celebrated artist to curate a lineup of events, giving them free rein to imagine a festival of their dreams and make full use of the Southbank Centre's 11-acre site. The importance of young voices and celebrating young talent has been a key component to this year's edition of the festival, under the curation of Little Simz, its youngest artist curator to date. The Southbank Centre-produced festival has previously been curated by artists such as David Bowie, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, Jarvis Cocker and Nile Rodgers.

Of the participatory events in this year's Meltdown festival, the Southbank Centre's Public Programme Producer, Deborah Bankole, said: “At the heart of Meltdown's free public programme is a celebration of how music, literature, visual art, performance intersect to create innovative experiences that tell new stories for audiences. The free events reflect this spirit, bringing fresh perspectives on presenting work in new ways into the heart of the Southbank Centre.”

Commenting on her curatorship of the upcoming 11-day-long festival, Little Simz said: “I'm super excited to be the 2025 Meltdown festival curator! My team and I are preparing eleven days of art, music, workshops and more. So many incredible artists have curated this festival so it's a true honour to be a part of it. Thank you to the Southbank Centre for having me. Meltdown 2025 the Simz way is going to be epic. I'll see you there.”

Alongside Little Simz and Kloé Dean's curation of this open dance competition, the festival offers 11 days of gigs, club nights and free events such as open-air sound systems and free writing workshops, as a love letter to community, collaboration and creativity.