Leap Dance Festival’s day of free dance activity in the heart of Liverpool City Centre returns. Enjoy outdoor performances and workshops from the region’s leading dance artists. Expect to see a wide variety of dance styles and colourful characters throughout the day at Liverpool One.
Produced by Chaos Arts CIC for Leap Dance Festival 2026
Sefton Park Palm House, FREE
Following the hugely successful event last year, our community dance event simply had to return to Sefton Park! Groups from across Liverpool City Region, of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, will perform in a range of styles. Last year, we cheered on 14 different groups with performers spanning seven decades in age.
There will also be free taster sessions taking place throughout the day, inside and outside this iconic venue, offering the chance to try something new (and maybe discover a hidden talent!)
Produced by Chaos Arts CIC for Leap Dance Festival
What does invisibility mean to you? You and Us asks why we hide parts of ourselves to fit in, and what it might mean to be fully seen. What began with Cathy’s personal experience of invisible disability, grew into a collaboration unravelling the stories of hundreds of people and challenging the unwritten rules of belonging.
Featuring emotionally charged dance performance against an original, pulsing soundtrack created by the MOBO award winning Lewis Wright.
Presented as part of The Angel Field Festival in partnership with Liverpool Hope University. Part of Leap Dance Festival 2026 leapfestival.co.uk/shows
A powerful mixed bill showcasing work by internationally renowned choreographers, this compelling evening of dance places creative collaboration at its core, and explores themes of duality and the fusion of distinct artistic voices. Featuring duet and ensemble works, each piece offers a bold and dynamic interplay between contrasting perspectives, celebrating the beauty of shared vision and artistic exchange.
Choreography by James Pett & Travis Clausen-Knight, Ed Myhill, and Marcus Jarrell Willis & Yusha-Marie Sorzano.
Part of Leap Dance Festival 2026
The beloved Christmas classic returns!
After last year’s acclaimed tour, Crown Ballet® brings back its dazzling production of The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky’s timeless masterpiece.
Follow young Marie as her Nutcracker doll transforms into a prince and leads her into a world of snowflakes, magical battles, and the sparkling Kingdom of Sweets.
A heart-warming holiday tradition — magical, memorable, and utterly unforgettable.
7:30pm
Leap Dance Festival’s opportunity for emerging dance artists returns. Four shortlisted artists and companies will each receive £500 to create a new piece of work and compete for a development grant of £1000. Those presenting work will be announced once shortlisting has taken place, following the open call. Artists from Liverpool Dance Prize 2024 went on to present work at Edinburgh Fringe, Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival and at Turn North West.
https://www.leapfestival.co.uk/
7:30pm
Issues surrounding migration, home, borders and identity pose some of the biggest questions of our time. Choreographed and performed by Akeim Toussaint Buck, Windows of Displacement, is an autobiographical solo blending dance, song and spoken word. Through the lens of imperialism, colonialism and global displacement, he weaves a story that speaks to the experiences and lives entangled in the politics of power and oppression. Using his own journey of migration from Jamaica to the UK as a catalyst, Toussaint Buck presents the threads connecting oppression, from the Transatlantic Slave Trade, to the current mining and exploitation of the Congo.
Part of Leap Dance Festival 2026. Commissioned by Yorkshire Dance Amplified and Northern School of Contemporary Dance through the Northern Connections programme, delivered in partnership with Spin Arts and Leeds Beckett University. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
https://www.leapfestival.co.uk/
7:30pm
An evening of new work by LGBTQIA+ artists from Liverpool, commissioned for Leap 2026. Those presenting work will be announced once Leap Dance Festival’s Culture Liverpool commissions have been granted, following the open call.
https://www.leapfestival.co.uk/
The Smackdown, now in it’s 12th year, is a one day dance extravaganza right here in Liverpool! Featuring a day of workshops, an evening of social dancing and performances and one hell of an after party.
Although we specialise in Jazz and Swing dancing here at Mersey Swing, the Smackdown is a chance for us to explore what the rest of the dance world has to offer. In the past, we’ve had Locking, Afro Beat, Flamenco, Tap, Breaking and so much more. So click on our website to see what this year’s event has in store.