Dance Umbrella

18/06/2026

Apply now! We have 2️⃣ major new curatorial opportunities at Dance Umbrella:

🩷 Guest Curator
You will curate and deliver one main event as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2027 and tour it to another partner festival or venue. For cultural practitioners with a passion for dance and performance who are ready to hone their curatorial voice.

🧡 Curatorial Fellow
You will attend Dance Umbrella Festival 2026 & 2027, shadowing the DU team at key points, as well as receive access to mentoring and a budget for international travel. For someone who is curious about curation and wants to develop a deeper understanding of how dance and performance programmes are shaped, produced and presented. No curatorial experience required.

🇬🇧 To apply for either role, you must be based in the UK

🗣️ Info Session
Mon 29 June 2026, 11.00 BST | Online
An opportunity to hear about DCS and ask any questions you may have about the advertised roles.
Sign up to attend: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/nZ3bq7X4RE

⏰ Application deadline: Mon 13 July 2026, 10.00 BST
📝 Learn more and apply now: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/about-us/work-with-us/

Part of Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship (DCS): Dance Umbrella’s major multi-year initiative designed to transform curatorial leadership within the UK and international dance ecology.

DCS Partners: Aerowaves, DanceEast, Fabric, The Lowry

DCS Funders: Arts Council England, British Council, Backstage Trust, Fonds Podiumkunsten

09/06/2026

New show announcement 📣 Lebanese dance artist Omar Rajeh - Maqamat makes his Dance Umbrella Festival debut this October with his powerful solo, Dance is Not for Us 🪴

At once a personal memoir and political act, alone on stage he dances and speaks of a past that no longer exists – of Lebanon, of loss, of a world that froze before it could become a future.

We can’t wait to return to the Barbican Centre once again, together presenting this raw, urgent and deeply human work that asks what it means to keep dancing when everything around you says stop.

📍 Barbican Centre, The Pit
🗓️ 16-17 Oct
🎟️ Tickets £20, concessions available - on sale 19 June

Learn more: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/event/omar-rajeh-maqamat-dance-is-not-for-us/

08/06/2026

One week left to apply! ⏰

We’re hiring for a brand new role 🌟 Become the Project Manager for Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship (DCS): Dance Umbrella’s major multi-year initiative designed to transform curatorial leadership within the UK and international dance ecology.

📌 What is the aim of DCS?
To create structural, long‑term change by widening who curates, how curation is practiced, and who has access to networks, resources and influence.

💼 What is the role of the Project Manager?
The Project Manager is the central producer and coordinator of the DCS programme. This is a highly dynamic, relationship driven role that requires outstanding project management, coordination across multiple partners, cultural sensitivity, a commitment to equitable practice, and excellent attention to detail.

📄 Term: July 2026 – December 2028, fixed-term
⏰ Hours: Part‑time 0.6 contract (3 days a week)
📌 Location: Mostly office based role (central London)
💫 Salary: £38,000 per annum, (£22,800 pro rata)
📝 Application deadline: Monday 15 June 2026, 18.00 BST

Learn more and apply now: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/about-us/work-with-us/

04/06/2026

Ben Duke 🗣️ “If you give the audience it too much, their imagination is not required.”

Filmed at last year’s Dance Umbrella Festival in the stunning Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, you can now watch our interactive lecture from Lost Dog Artistic Director on exploring the craft of storytelling through words and movement 📚💫

📺 Watch now: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/event/artist-encounters-making-text-move/

🤝 In partnership with Shakespeare's Globe as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2025

🎤 Facilitated by Stella Kanu
💫 Performers Miguel Altunaga, Hannah Shepherd
🎥 Filmed and edited by Monika Davies

03/06/2026

Freddie Opoku-Addaie catching up with nora chipaumire last night at Tate Modern 🧡

We first presented nora chipaumire in our 2022 festival at Bernie Grant Arts Centre with ‘shebeenDUB’: her immersive audio-visual adventure into dub culture, featuring a towering sound-system installation 🔈

She returns to London this month with her newest work ‘gadzi’, an installation now open at that draws on the legends, stones and soil of her native country, Zimbabwe 🪨

26-28 June there will be three special immersive performances, where she will be joined by dancers Yinka Esi Graves, Marguerite Hemmings and Joyce Edwards.

🎟️ The performances are free to watch with a ticket, which you can book here: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/nora-chipaumire-performance

02/06/2026

🗣️ Ben Duke: “I always feel drawn to the problem of putting text and movement together.”

Filmed last October at the stunning Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, you can now watch our talk with Lost Dog Artistic Director on exploring the craft of storytelling through words and movement.

He is joined by his collaborators Miguel Altunaga and Hannah Shepherd to show live examples of his process and practice which seamlessly blends literature, theatre and dance to tell engaging stories.

📺 Watch now: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/event/artist-encounters-making-text-move/

🤝 In partnership with Shakespeare's Globe as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2025

🎤 Facilitated by Stella Kanu
🎥 Filmed and edited by Monika Davies

28/05/2026

🇸🇳 Earlier this month, we hosted a Think Tank at the African Dance Biennale in , in partnership with the British Council.

We invited a group of artists and curators from the African continent with the aim of deepening cultural connections and developing a more nuanced understanding of how to present and contextualise artists from Global South countries in UK cultural programming.

This is part of our wider Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship (DCS) programme, which is committed to exploring how dance work is programmed, who curates, and whose voices shape the future of dance and the wider local and global arts ecology.

Learn more about DCS: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/2026/05/20/dance-umbrella-announces-major-funding-for-diversifying-curatorial-stewardship-programme/

❤️ We want to extend our gratitude to the artists, curators and directors who joined us:

Artists & Curators: Bougaire Eléna (Senegal), Fatima Ndoye (Senegal/Switzerland), Lassina Koné (Mali), Quito Tembe (Mozambique), Anthea Lewis (UK), Khoudia Touré (Senegal/France), Ndèye Mané TOURE (Senegal), Zora Snake (Belgium/Cameroon), Amala Dianor (Senegal/France), Patrick Acogny (Senegal/France), Steph Bergé (France/UK/Cameroon)

British Council: Isabel Moura Mendes (Senior Relationship Manager, Theatre and Dance, UK); Morgane Quemener (Country Director, Senegal)

Dance Umbrella (UK): Freddie Opoku-Addaie (Artistic Director & Co-CEO), Tania Wilmer (Executive Director & Co-CEO)

Illustrator: Charlotte Wanda Kachelmann (Germany)

📸 Credit Pape Ndao

27/05/2026

🏙️❤️ Last week, our Co-CEOs Freddie Opoku-Addaie & Tania Wilmer joined fellow London creative leaders to celebrate 10 years of Sadiq Khan as the capital's mayor.

We’re proud to bring world class international dance every year to our incredible global city 🌍

📍St Clement Hotel, London

📸 Caroline Teo

21/05/2026

We’re hiring for a brand new role 🌟 Become the Project Manager for Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship (DCS): Dance Umbrella’s major multi-year initiative designed to transform curatorial leadership within the UK and international dance ecology.

📌 What is the aim of DCS?
To create structural, long‑term change by widening who curates, how curation is practiced, and who has access to networks, resources and influence.

💼 What is the role of the Project Manager?
The Project Manager is the central producer and coordinator of the DCS programme. This is a highly dynamic, relationship driven role that requires outstanding project management, coordination across multiple partners, cultural sensitivity, a commitment to equitable practice, and excellent attention to detail.

📄 Term: July 2026 – December 2028, fixed-term
⏰ Hours: Part‑time 0.6 contract (3 days a week)
📌 Location: Mostly office based role (central London)
💫 Salary: £38,000 per annum, (£22,800 pro rata)
📝 Application deadline: Monday 15 June 2026, 18.00 BST

Learn more and apply now: https://danceumbrella.co.uk/about-us/work-with-us/