Image credit: redManhattan photography
The Place, London’s leading centre for dance performance and creation, is delighted to launch its autumn 2025 season, with highlights including seed commissions coming to fruition, new work from associate artists Frauke Requardt and Anders Duckworth, international artists from Taiwan and the Bundjulung/Ngāpuhi Territories, and a much-anticipated new family show by Protein Dance.
"This autumn sees shows arrive in our theatre which have been in the works over many years: Anatomy of Survival started life in a lab for choreographers and writers, run by The Place, Encounter Productions and the Royal Court in 2018; Anders Duckworth first came to us with the idea for Little M five years ago, and we've been wanting to bring Tjimur Dance Theatre to the UK since our Artistic Director saw their work in a village in Taiwan three years ago. These projects are testament to the care and patience it takes to make bold artistic and curatorial ideas a reality. We're no less excited to welcome regular favourites back to the theatre, including BOP Jazz and National Dance Company Wales, and we're delighted that Protein are returning with our Festive Show this year, The Magic Flute, which is sure to be a feast of dance and music." - Christina Elliott, Head of Programming and Producing
Highlights of the autumn 2025 season include:
- Jazz Arts ReWIRED Convention 2025, a unique evening celebrating the rich cultural diversity and creativity of UK jazz dance artists and creative (20 SEP)
- National Dance Company Wales makes it annual visit to The Place with a triple-bill of bold new works by Faye Tan, Marcos Morau and Osian Meilir (17 OCT)
- A much-anticipated new family show, The Magic Flute by Protein Dance (17 – 24 DEC)
- Tjimur Dance Theatre makes its UK debut as Taiwan’s first full-time contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring and expressing the identity of the indigenous Paiwan people (21 & 22 OCT)
- Anatomy of Survival, a collaboration between choreographer Frauke Requardt and playwright Vivienne Franzmann, paired together in an experimental collaboration between The Royal Court, Encounter Productions and The Place (23 & 24 SEP)
Programme of work this autumn at The Place
Autumn starts at The Place as every year with Choreodrome: making progress (previously known as Touch Wood), a scratch night of short works-in-progress that have been developed through The Place’s Choreodrome residency during the summer. Eight artists will share beautiful, bold and bonkers experiments across two evenings in our intimate studio theatre, both ending with a facilitated feedback session with the choreographers and performers. The artists sharing their work are Chris Matthews, Oluwatosin Omotosho, Max Revell and Darcy Wallace (9 SEP) and Bea Bidault, Gary Clarke, Shanelle 'Tali' Fergus and Christopher Reyes (10 SEP).
The Place commissions new dance and works alongside artists from the very start of an idea to bringing their vision to life, and this autumn season sees many of these ideas come to fruition. Previous Choreodrome artists whose promising ideas developed through our seed-commission are now presenting their fully formed works in our theatre. Ella Tighe reveals the high-speed, full-throttle world of competitive disco freestyle with Disco Queen. Exploring working-class stories, the judgement placed on women and the embedded hierarchies within dance, Ella Tighe revisits her days in a hidden world of high kicks, splits, spins, and gravity defying moves, where fake tan, rhinestones, and raw ambition rule. (17 SEP)
Another Choreodrome commission, Half Light by Holly Thomas tells the story of a mother and her son, love, protection, and the difficult art of letting go. Part biographical, part fiction, Half Light draws upon Holly Thomas’ lived experience of visual impairment and parenting, to unmask a multi-generational story about the courage it takes to send your child into a world that may not always understand. Designed to be experienced without the need for separate Audio Description, Half Light is performed in the softly-lit round, where dance and storytelling merge with textural, multi-located sound design. Every performance is preceded by a Touch Tour. (28 OCT)
The final Choreodrome commission in this season is HOMECOMING by choreographer and stage director Georgia Tegou and visual artist Kristina Pulejkova, blending storytelling, dynamic choreography, and cutting-edge technology to trace the journey of a woman searching for her lost sense of self - a ghost, trapped in an otherworldly limbo, searching desperately to reclaim its body. The work draws from the evocative imagery of Louise Bourgeois, whose Femme Maison series explores the entanglement of female identity with space, containment, and fragmentation, and Caravaggio’s striking chiaroscuro technique, where light and shadow carve out moments of revelation and emotional intensity. Shaped by these aesthetic influences, its world unfolds like a series of moving paintings.
The live performance is accompanied by HOMECOMING: Immersive Installation, a multisensory experience inviting people to step into the role of a ghost, unlocking the story through their own movement. Guided by The Watcher, an eternal being who aids those who have slipped through the cracks, participants can piece together fragmented memories, uncovering the path out of oblivion. (31 OCT – 1 NOV)
Commissioned by The Place, Anatomy of Survival is a collaboration between choreographer Frauke Requardt and playwright Vivienne Franzmann who were paired together in an experimental collaboration between The Royal Court, Encounter Productions and The Place. Using the everyday example of a public altercation in a coffee shop, the show examines through dance, music, text, science, psychology – and lots of mess – the fragility of our shared social reality, and how easily things fall apart. (23 & 24 SEP)
The Place also commissioned Work Place Artist Anders Duckworth to create a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid for ages 9+. Little M and their friend Punk the Puffer Fish find a suitcase filled with mysterious treasures, leading them to wonder about the ‘world above’. With their questions met by silence under the sea, they embark on an epic adventure intro the wondrous worlds above the waves and deep down below. Fantastical puppetry, magical transformations and spectacular dance all combine to tell this extraordinary coming-of-age story for anyone who feels like they’re swimming against the tide. (24 & 25 OCT)
For this year’s festive family show, The Place is delighted to present Luca Silvestrini’s highly anticipated new dance-theatre adaptation of Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. The Magic Flute is brought to life with Protein’s playful mix of dancing, storytelling, singing and stunning visuals, with Mozart’s famous score rearranged by composer Frank Moon, design by Dick Bird, and lighting by Rachel Shipp. Following Protein’s award-winning family show The Little Prince, this enchanting new tale of love and friendship shining through darkness is perfect for children aged 5+ and their grown-ups. (17 - 24 DEC)
An Evening With Ọkan is a vibrant takeover of The Place with performances, workshops and conversations unfolding across different spaces, inspired by Ella Mesma and Akeim Toussaint Buck’s new show Ọkan, as part of Bloomsbury Festival 2025. Ọkan in a rich celebration of culture, community and connection exploring the influences of salsa, Wing Chun, and Yoruba culture in Ella and Akeim’s research. The power of art, dance, and community are celeberated through live perfromances, an exhibition, movement workshop, a social salsa class open to all levels, and an Afro-latin DJ set in The Place bar. (18 OCT)
Internationally acclaimed Taiwanese choreographer Ching-Ying Chien, renowned for her work with Akram Khan Company which won her a National Dance Award in 2016, makes her choreographic debut at The Place with a double bill, combining her first solo show Vulture (2018) with a new piece, Eve, created in Taiwan as part of an exchange programme between the UK and Taiwan. In Tibetan mythology a vulture, sensing its end, flies into the sun to melt away. Echoing the Greek myth of Icarus, Vulture explores Ching-Ying Chien’s own experiences with loss, underscoring life’s uncontrollable nature and our human limitations.
Eve reimagines the creation myth, imagining Adam and Eve reborn after civilisation has collapsed, undone by technology. The piece explores humanity’s journey from primordial unity to individual emergence, moving from innocence to a pivotal awakening where past knowledge and desires unfold. Does humanity, stripped of technology, return to a simpler state? Eve is an invitation to contemplate our origins and enduring essence. (26 SEP)
Award-winning artist and choreographer Dollie Henry MBE and jazz composer Paul Jenkins, return to The Place this autumn with Jazz Arts ReWIRED Convention 2025, a unique evening celebrating the rich cultural diversity and creativity of UK jazz dance artists and creative. This thrilling evening of original and innovative jazz theatre will share a kaleidoscope of commissioned works from BOP Jazz Theatre UK, Griot Dance Collective, Lukas Hunt Creations, The Ovonlen-Jones Ensemble and Footnotes Dance, and introduce five emerging Jazz choreographers selected for the JAR25 Emerging Jazz Artist platform. (20 SEP).
The showcase is preceded by a Day of Practice and Participation devoted to dancers, practitioners, teachers and jazz dance enthusiasts, with an array of exciting masterclasses led by a stellar line up of international jazz dance artists and choreographers. (13 SEP)
Fusing the “Pow! Biff! and Wallop!” of over-the-top stunt fights with personal stories of real encounters with violence, Stuntman explores the relationship between violence and masculinity and the impact this has on our perceptions of men. Taking inspiration from classic and contemporary action movies like Die Hard, John Wick and Enter the Dragon, SUPERFAN create high-octane and sometimes ridiculous fight scenes within a striking, film-set inspired design. An intensely physical, funny, and tender duet by two men wrestling with their relationship to violence – both onscreen and off, this is a show for anyone who has ever enjoyed a violent action movie (but felt a bit weird about it). (4 OCT
Subverting traditionally male Turkish folk dances with an all-female contemporary company, KIZLAR (meaning girls) brings striking forms and a strong yet sensual energy to the stage.
Choreographer Ceyda Tanc’s distinctive style is rooted in her British-Turkish heritage. Combining athletic contemporary movement with Turkish folk dance, she draws on themes of ritual, ceremony and community to create an aesthetically driven dance work that is unapologetically feminist. (8 OCT)
In Exquisite Noise, choreographer Dam Van Huynh explores alternative methods of dissent, drawing on noise to embody defiance and celebrating the power of coming together. Sounds of protest against inequalities take centre stage, creating a unique sensory experience through music, lights and movement. This is a dance between disruption and communion, an invitation to wake up our collective spirit in an act of solidarity and care. (10 OCT)
The Place is committed to working collaboratively with other UK venues to reduce the ecological impact of touring. Two international works are coming to The Place this autumn as part of wider tours of the UK.
Rinse, created by Bundjalung and Ngapuhi dance artist Amrita Hepi and theatre-maker Mish Grigor, explores the romance of beginnings.Hepi’s electric performance questions whether being on the brink of extinction – a series of endings of various kinds – has intensified the seduction of the past. By recreating an entropic origin myth on stage, Rinse travels from end to ending, weaving together autobiographical elements with the grand narratives of art, feminism, dance, the void, desire, popular culture and colonial history. (14 OCT)
Tjimur Dance Theatre makes its UK debut as Taiwan’s premiere contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring and expressing the identity of the indigenous Paiwan people, presented by Dance Umbrella.
Choreographed by Baru Madiljin, bulabulay mun? / how are you? draws on the historic Mudan shipwreck incident of 1874 – a traumatic chapter in Taiwanese history, to reflect on the relationship between human actions and their unforeseen consequences. Through an interplay of traditional Mudan songs and dance, bulabulay mun? seeks to heal historical wounds and revive ancestral memory, embodying the resilience and spirit of the Paiwan people. At its heart is a poetic meditation on our elemental connection to the world, an invitation to attune our senses and rediscover our place within nature. (21 & 22 OCT)
National Dance Company Wales makes it annual visit to The Place with a triple-bill of bold works journeying through time and imagination. A quiet moment becomes epic in Infinity Duet, a unique collaboration between choreographer Faye Tan and artist Cecile Johnson Soliz, as a swinging sculpture takes centre stage and dancers make warm, soulful movements to explore weight and time.
Precision meets surrealism in Marcos Morau’s Waltz, where glittering, otherworldly beings move across a stark white landscape. A dystopian sci-fi adventure into chaos and control, this acclaimed work has captivated audiences across Europe.
Finally, Mabon by Osian Meilir is a vivid quest deep into ancient Wales to encounter the world’s oldest animals, the legendary Mabinogion, blending fantastical costumes, wild choreography, and haunting new music by Welsh triple harpist Cerys Hafana. (17 OCT)
Choreographer Amina Khayyam returns to The Place with a new dance-theatre production, Bibi Rukiya’s Reckless Daughter. Loosely inspired by Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, this tale explores patriarchy and feminism within marginalised communities through Kathak storytelling. A conflicted widow who confines her daughters to uphold the family’s reputation yearns for empowerment yet remains deeply conditioned by societal patriarchy. One daughter, driven by her dreams, challenges her. To inform the piece with real stories, Amina Khayyam Dance Company worked with women's community groups nationwide, examining the roles, responsibilities and sacrifices of mothers and daughters=. (4 & 5 NOV)
Redefining dance of the African diaspora with a contemporary outlook, ACE Dance and Music returns with a bold new double bill presenting two powerful, contrasting visions of our world today, told through exhilarating and emotive, breathtaking physicality.
Rooted in the realities faced by millions across the globe, Serge Aimé Coulibaly captures the chaos of conflict. Driven by a fierce soundscape and fusion of African and contemporary dance, shattered worlds surge with athleticism and endurance – a testimony to human resilience and courage. In stark contrast, Vincent Mantsoe’s work travels to far flung corners of the earth, where spirituality and harmony shape everyday life. Two choreographers with extraordinary heritage and seven diverse dancers re-write the rules and embody a state of unity and deep connectedness rarely seen in our divided world. (14 NOV)
For children and young people, The Place is proud to present the UK Premiere of Time Keeps The Drummer by the widely acclaimed company Fevered Sleep, which sees twelve children create a new durational piece live in front of the audience’s eyes over five hours. Through movement, improvisation, projection, music and lighting, the young performers offer their audiences an opportunity to witness an ever-evolving experience, inviting audiences experience time in their own terms - fluid, joyful and chaotic, full of wild abandon and limitless possibility. (13 SEP)
The season is completed by Fresh, The Place’s annual showcase of dance created and curated with young people. This vibrant evening presents a mixed bill of bite-sized performances as professional and youth companies share our stage for the night, and budding dance enthusiasts rub shoulders with professionals. (22 NOV)
The Peter Farley Collaborations Project has been a distinguished fixture in London Contemporary Dance School's performance calendar for two decades. Showcasing the convergence of creative synergies between student choreographers from London Contemporary Dance School and student designers from Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL and student composers from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the result is a daring and imaginative cross-pollination of ideas that challenge and redefine these roles in contemporary dance.