Performance - Uncover Liverpool

Leap Dance Festival 2026

Leap Dance Festival returns for 2026 with a programme showcasing the work of local artists, community groups and young people. Ths year, they’re bringing back some of their most popular events, including Dancing at the Palm House, our Schools and Youth platforms and Dancing in the Streets.

See below for the full programme of events.

YOU & US | Cathy Waller DanceDate: Fri 24 AprilTime: 7.30pmVenue: The Capstone TheatreSummary: An emotionally powerful contemporary dance work exploring invisible disability, identity and belonging, set to an original soundtrack by MOBO-winning composer Lewis Wright.

Youth Dance ShowcaseDate: Sat 25 AprilTime: 6pmVenue: The Arts Centre, City of Liverpool CollegeSummary: A celebratory evening showcasing dance performances by talented young people from schools and youth groups across the North West.

Dancing at the Palm HouseDate: Sun 26 AprilTime: 12.30pmVenue: Sefton Park Palm HouseSummary: A free afternoon of performances and participatory workshops featuring community dance groups in the stunning surroundings of Liverpool’s iconic Palm House.

Schools Dance Platform: Dancing Through the DecadesDate: Tue 28 AprilTime: 7pmVenue: Liverpool LighthouseSummary: Students from regional schools and colleges perform dance pieces inspired by music and styles spanning the last 100 years.

Liverpool Dance PrizeDate: Thu 30 AprilTime: 7.30pmVenue: Unity TheatreSummary: Four emerging choreographers present new work in competition for a £1000 development grant, spotlighting the next generation of dance talent.

Queer MovesDate: Fri 1 MayTime: 7.30pmVenue: Unity TheatreSummary: A vibrant evening of contemporary dance by LGBTQIA+ artists from Liverpool, including newly commissioned works supported by Culture Liverpool.

Windows of Displacement | Toussaint To MoveDate: Sat 2 MayTime: 7.30pmVenue: Unity TheatreSummary: A compelling autobiographical solo blending dance, song and spoken word to explore migration, identity and ancestral memory.

Dancing in the StreetsDate: Mon 4 MayTime: 12pm – 4pmVenue: Liverpool ONESummary: A free outdoor programme of performances and pop-up dance activity bringing a wide range of styles to Liverpool city centre.

Interplay | Phoenix Dance TheatreDate: Fri 8 MayTime: 7.30pmVenue: Liverpool PlayhouseSummary: An exciting mixed bill featuring internationally acclaimed choreographers exploring collaboration, contrast and creative exchange through contemporary dance.

Shakespeare North TakeoverDate: Sat 9 MayTime: 12pm – 6pmVenue: Shakespeare North PlayhouseSummary: A full day of dance activity including free taster sessions, new works-in-progress, and a creative life drawing session inspired by live performers.

Big Burlesque CabaretDate: Sat 9 MayTime: 8pmVenue: Shakespeare North PlayhouseSummary: The festival finale brings an 18+ evening of burlesque, cabaret and aerial performance celebrating bold, inclusive and high-energy live entertainment.

A Life Drawing Less Ordinary

A life (drawing) less ordinary is a creative social for people to come together and create drawings, paintings, sculpture and more, inspired by contemporary dance. There will be dancers and musicians performing live in the Gallery space at Shakespeare North Playhouse.

Bring your own materials and sketch / snap / jot down your interpretations of the movements, as performers travel around the space.

https://www.instagram.com/alifedrawinglessordinary/

Usually £12, we are offering this class for FREE during Leap Dance Festival 2026 as part of our take over of Shakespeare North Playhouse! Please book a place so we have an idea of numbers. This event takes places in Shakespeare North’s Gallery.

Find out more about Leap 2026: leapfestival.co.uk

Leap 2026’s Big Burlesque Cabaret

Enter a world of raucous entertainment as we close this year’s festival with an evening of burlesque, cabaret and aerial performances, in Shakespeare North’s breathtaking Cockpit Stage.

Featuring: The Classic Tease Serving British Sleaze Cadbury Parfait, Ooh La La Cabaret’s Paul Curran, boylesque artist Joss La Porta, circus performer Velma Von Bon Bon and The Stiletto Prince Rajan Das.

This is an inclusive, LGBTQIA+ event, and everyone is welcome (18+). This event takes place in Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Cockpit Theatre

Produced by Chaos Arts CIC for Leap Dance Festival

Leap Dance Festival Scratch

Three new dance works in development, created for Leap 2026, exploring identity, intimacy and liberation. This event takes place in Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Studio.

Taciturn | Women Holding Things

In the rhythm of everyday life, their hands gather the things that keep the world moving. They carry the quiet responsibility of nurturing and sustaining the spaces where life unfolds. Within them rests a living archive of memories, joys, griefs and hopes. In their care, love becomes both weight and strength, something held gently yet carried forward.

C(P)LAY | Price of Silence

What happens to the body when adapting and complying become the only way to maintain stability within a relationship?

Price of Silence examines the subtle and often invisible pressures that exist within unequal relationships. In many situations from intimate partnerships to wider social structures, stability is maintained through constant adjustment, and this adaptation is rarely shared equally.

Olena Hrabchak | Canvas of Becoming

Canvas of Becoming is a symbolic exploration of personal growth and self-liberation. The dancer’s white costume represents openness and possibility. What begins as beauty evolves into visual and physical burden.

Produced by Chaos Arts CIC for Leap Dance Festival. Find out more about Leap 2026: leapfestival.co.uk

COMMS FAIL by Roy Claire Potter

Roy Claire Potter has worked with a team of fellow artists, radio astronomers, amateur radio operators, musicians and creative consultants to research and develop ‘COMMS FAIL’, a multicomponent artwork that will unfold throughout 2026.Several iterations including, a performance, a live radio broadcast, an album with booklet, and a sculptural installation explore the grammar of communicative resilience and remote connection by amplifying autistic perspectives.On Saturday 2nd May at the Bluecoat, a staged performance written for three voices with music composed by Carmel Smickersgill, will invite a live audience to help produce a radio broadcast for a remote audience. There will be gentle interaction with ushers and performers to pick your preferred spot to enjoy the action, and to contribute by making sounds or being quiet, moving props, or being a witness.⁠.The performance and simultaneous radio broadcast lasts for 1 hour and begins with ushers welcoming guests into a large, dimmed performance space. Live audio description of the audience settling in and actors setting up their space will be audible in the room at first, before transferring to headsets. Throughout the performance soft white spotlights occasionally turn red, acting as a cue for the live audience to interact with sound-making props to herald listeners elsewhere.COMMS FAIL is mixed live for broadcast on Resonance FM online and 104.4 FM in Central LondonResearch and development has been generously supported by Art Explora, Paris, and informed by consultancy from Erik Chancy (LB1KJ) of Norsk Radio Relæ Liga, Philippe Zarka, CNRS Research Director at Paris Observatory, and by the work of Professor Philippa Browning at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester.Later in 2026, a live album documenting the performance will be released on Cafe OTO’s digital record label TAKUROKU along with a booklet published under their new imprint OTOHON, containing the script and the visual scores that informed the music. All proceeds will go to National Autistic Society, UK.

This project is an Unlimited UK Partner Award 2025 commission with Liverpool Biennial made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England.

Free, booking required

Spring/Summer Season Launch 2026

From 5:30pm in our bar

Launch begins 6pm

We’re thrilled to unveil a bold and vibrant summer season, bringing together standout local festivals like Leap and Liverpool Improvisation Fest alongside powerful new work from our associate companies, RAWD and 20 Stories High. At its heart isA Radical Reimagining, Unity’s major heritage project, featuring exhibitions, events and performances that celebrate our radical past while championing the next generation of young theatre-makers shaping our future.

Entry is free, please reserve your seat by booking tickets.

The Music of the Lord of The Rings: Tribute to Howard Shore

Experience the powerful music from the iconic The Lord of the Rings films.

Performed by the chamber ensemble Mystery Ensemble, the musicians’ virtuoso playing will transport you to a fantasy world of elves, hobbits, and dwarves. Loved by millions, this unforgettable music is guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

Featuring the mesmerising melodies of world-renowned Canadian composer Howard Shore, winner of three Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards for the trilogy.

Please note that the programme may be subject to change

This concert will last approximately 1 hour with no interval

Promoted by Red Events & Distribution Limited

The Adam Buxton Band

Join Adam Buxton and his live band for an intimate evening celebrating the release of his debut album, Buckle Up, out now via Decca.

Buxton, our most beloved podcaster, seasoned veteran of GarageBand and the jingle, enlisted Metronomy’s Joe Mount as producer and band leader …”I hoped it would be a Metronomy record with my voice” Buxton initially pondered, also hoping the record might sound like “Berlin-period Bowie and Eno going for lunch with Radiohead and Nina Simone at Brian Wilson’s beach brasserie.” Instead came fifteen songs that inhabit the space between heartfelt and silly, where Buxton has comfortably set up shop.

Promoted by Splot

Sophie Lukacs

Sophie Lukacs masterfully blends Mandingue kora tradition with a modern singer-songwriter voice.

Her award-winning debut album, Bamako, follows seven years of study in Mali with kora legends like Toumani Diabaté. The Budapest-born artist delivers a unique fusion that proves music truly has no borders, only bridges waiting to be built.

Presented in partnership with Africa Oyé

Hayao Miyazaki’s Dreams by Mystery Ensemble

Miyazaki Dreams is a concert dedicated to the films of renowned Japanese director and Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki. Mystery Ensemble presents music from his animated films, as well as compositions inspired by his work.

The programme includes well-known pieces by composer Joe Hisaishi from My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and other films. It also features works by other composers influenced by Miyazaki’s films.

The music introduces audiences to the worlds of Miyazaki’s stories, featuring memorable characters, heroines, and elements inspired by Japanese folklore.