Dancing City 2025

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) London’s leading and longest established FREE festival of outdoor performance returns to Royal Borough of Greenwich, Newham and the Thamesmead from Friday 22 August to Saturday 6 September. To celebrate 30 years of the award-winning annual festival, 30 companies from across the world will present new work inspired by the theme Above and Beyond.

The hugely popular “festival within the festival” Dancing City returns this year on 6 September from 1-6pm featuring an exciting new partnership with New York’s iconic Fire Island Dance Festival which will see a stellar line-up of international LGBTQIA+ dance artists perform at GDIF. Including UK debuts from Emmy award-winning Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh, legendary NYC ballroom house mother Courtney Balenciaga and Swedish acclaimed choreographer Pontus Lindberg.

This year’s alfresco dance take-over will showcase a host of amazing outdoor spaces across Stratford – popping up in the Town Centre, and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.  Dancing City will feature three London premieres from groundbreaking disabled artists and companies, with Australia’s learning disabled Restless Dance, the Royal Ballet’s first wheelchair user Joe Powell-Main and Stopgap Dance all presenting London premieres.

Emerging Newham-based talent is celebrated in the free programme developed in partnership with East London Dance including new work by Levan Peart, Yoruba Tales Collective and UEL Dance Collective.

The line-up revealed joins previously announced free theatre, circus and dance events in Thamesmead, Woolwich, Greenwich and Greenwich Peninsula, with 30 companies coming together in London to celebrate GDIF’s 30^th Birthday. 

Shazia Hussain, CEO of LLDC, the organisation behind Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, said: “We are thrilled to host Dancing City as part of GDIF’s 30th anniversary celebrations, activating our public spaces with a vibrant, free programme of dance from around the world. This year’s line-up champions inclusivity - celebrating disabled artists, LGBTQIA+ voices and emerging local talent. It reflects the Park’s ongoing mission to be a welcoming, inspiring place where everyone can connect through culture. Together with our East Bank partners, this bold and joyful celebration of creativity highlights the power of collaboration. We can’t wait to welcome audiences and see the Park come alive with dance.”

The full programme for Dancing City 2025

Venue details