- Dancing City, the free programme of outdoor dance as part of GDIF will take place across London.
- In a new partnership with New York’s Fire Island Dance Festival, GDIF will present this programme of LGBTQIA+led dance, including UK debuts from Emmy award-winning Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh, legendary NYC ballroom house mother Courtney Balenciaga and Swedish acclaimed choreographer Pontus Lindberg
- A triple bill of work by disabled-led companies comes to Dancing City 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 withEast London Dance including new work byLevan Peart, Yoruba Tales Collective and UEL Dance Collective.
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 ofthe 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. Fire Island Dance Festival was established in 1995 as a fundraising event for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA) and has become a celebrated annual outdoor festival showcasing world-class emerging and established dance.
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, along with a huge variety of work from exceptional homegrown and international artists.
Denise Roberts Hurlin, Founding Director of Dancers Responding to AIDS and Fire Island Dance Festival said:“As we celebrate 30 years of both GDIF and Fire Island Dance Festival, our shared commitment to bold artistry and meaningful change resonates across the atlantic. This partnership reflects the power of dance to unite and uplift. Together, we embrace LGBTQIA+ voices and stories that must be seen and heard. This milestone reminds us why we began – and why we keep going.”
To see the full programme visit: https://festival.org/dancing-city-2025/