Dance Umbrella announces second event for the 2025 festival

Dance Umbrella is delighted to announce the second event for the 2025 festival. Change Tempo, which makes its debut at Barbican, is a double bill that introduces London audiences to two distinctive artists set to make their mark, while challenging expectations of dance. This year’s dynamic pairing of artists are known for pushing the boundaries of their forms to unpick cultural narratives and expose hidden tensions.

In Siren Dance, Stockholm-based Australian artist and Cullberg dancer Lilian Steiner plays with seduction, illusion and shifting truths. A siren beckons – her invitation laced with both desire and deception. As the dance unfolds, it morphs and adapts, slipping between honesty and artifice, drawing the audience into its magnetic pull. Siren Dance is a mesmerising exploration of power, transformation and the fine line between authenticity and disguise.

Spanish flamenco dancer and actor María del Mar Suárez/La Chachi’s Random Taranto turns the everyday into something extraordinary. Two women, Suárez and singer Lola Delores, share a moment – eating sunflower seeds, exchanging glances – until flamenco erupts, raw and electric. Stripped back to voice and movement, this take on the Taranto form pulses with improvisation, irreverence and unexpected humour. The result is a strikingly intimate yet playful reimagining of tradition, where dance and song intertwine in unpredictable ways.

Lilian Steiner is an Australian choreographer, dancer and performer based in Stockholm who has been with the Cullberg since 2023. Her work explores the body’s intelligence in dance, visual arts and experimental sound. She has created numerous choreographic works presented in Australia and Europe. As a performer, she has worked with Lucy Guerin Inc, Phillip Adams’ BalletLab, Melanie Lane, and others. Lilian has collaborated with architect Matthew Bird, sound artist Anna Homler and composer JLIN. She has received multiple awards, including three Green Room Awards and a Helpmann Award for best dancer.

María del Mar Suárez/La Chachi reinvents flamenco, following outsiders like Israel Galván and Rocío Molina. An actress and dancer from Málaga, she trained in flamenco with La Lupi and has explored physical theatre, dramaturgy, and contemporary dance, blending them into her unique style since 2008. Her acclaimed works include La gramática de los mamíferos (2017), La Espera, Los inescalables Alpes, buscando a Currito (Godot Dance Award 2022), and Lâs Alegrías (2025). Supported by major venues like Teatros del Canal and Teatro Central, she continues to push flamenco’s boundaries.

Lola Delores, born in 1983 in Puente Genil, Córdoba, has lived in Málaga since 1988. Raised with a passion for flamenco, she is also self-taught in soul, pop, R&B, and rock styles. As a backing vocalist, she toured nationally and internationally with artists like La Mala Rodríguez (2007–2010). She later studied acting at Málaga’s ESAD and has performed in a range of theatre productions. Currently, she explores new musical projects and collaborates with María Del Mar Suárez/La Chachi and Luz Arcas’ La Phàrmaco. She has featured in productions like Los Inescalables Alpes, buscando a Currito, Taranto Aleatorio, and Lâs Alegrías, now touring.

Early research and the premiere of Siren Dance was supported by Deltebre Dansa & B.Motion (Operaestate Veneto, Bassano del Grappa), Dancehouse Melbourne, Besen Foundation and Lucy Guerin Inc.

Look out for further Dance Umbrella 2025 Festival announcements.