Look out for The London Southbank Centre 2024-2025 Performance and Dance programme, featuring an array of international work, contemporary collaborations and brand-new work from award-winning companies and artists from the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, Poland, Australia, Canada and beyond. Boldly international and with a mix of new commissions and UK premieres that reinforce the Southbank Centre’s status as a creative engine for arts and culture, this programme will introduce audiences to adventurous, influential and up-and-coming artists for unforgettable experiences.
Building on the Southbank Centre’s vibrant history as a place for dance across its stages and public spaces, the season includes Nigeria’s much-celebrated QDance Company, led by choreographer Qudus Onikeku. The QDance Company makes its debut on the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage with Re:INCARNATION. An ode to the richness of Nigerian culture, this dance, music, fashion and visual art fusion mixes ancient Yoruba philosophy with Nigerian youth culture. Ten young dancers and two musicians perform the cycle of life with explosive energy, marked by the creative urban energy of the Nigerian city of Lagos.
The UK Premiere of 4/4 by Australian dance company Chunky Move sees eight dancers perform a display of mesmerising movement in Antony Hamilton’s blueprint for choreographic precision and physical endurance. The diversity in the dancers’ artistic backgrounds in krump, freestyle hip-hop and house, coupled with Hamilton’s striking craftsmanship and minimal scenography, highlights a uniquely Australian performance.
For one weekend only in May, the Southbank Centre presents two new performance works from Southeast Asia. Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep is a sonic portrait of new music icon Margaret Leng Tan – an evocative exploration of memory, time, control and loss. Haribo Kimchi takes audiences on a journey through the history of South Korea through the familiar, startling and sacred language of food.
Canada’s b-boy Crazy Smooth presents In My Body, a dynamic exploration of the effects of ageing on the street dancer’s entire being – body, mind and spirit. Crazy Smooth has assembled an intergenerational all-star cast of five men and four women comprised of Canada’s top street dancers, who execute the physically demanding and visually impressive choreography alongside projections and spoken word. The performance features an original soundtrack by DJ Shash’U and is written by Alejandro Rodriguez.
Acclaimed New York City provocateur Adrienne Truscott and the internationally renowned Brokentalkers from Dublin bring their collaboration Masterclass to London. Speaking truth to power, Masterclass is a hilarious examination of gender and power, using the arts world as a metaphor under the guise of a pompous TV talk show. This much anticipated London run follows an award-winning international tour.
For full event listings, please visit the Southbank Centre website.
Photography by Jeremy Collantes (main/In My Body Crazy Smooth) Herve Veronese (Qudus Onikeku re:Incarnation) and Rita Taylor (In My Body Crazy Smooth) courtesy of Southbank Centre
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