Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF) London’s leading and longest established FREE festival of outdoor performance returns to Royal Borough of Greenwich, Newham and the Thamesmead from Friday 22 August to Saturday 6 September. To celebrate 30 years of the award-winning annual festival, 30 companies from across the world will present new work inspired by the theme Above and Beyond.

The hugely popular “festival within the festival” Dancing City returns this year on 6 September from 1-6pm featuring an exciting new partnership with New York’s iconic Fire Island Dance Festival which will see a stellar line-up of international LGBTQIA+ dance artists perform at GDIF. Fire Island Dance Festival was established in 1995 as a fundraising event for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA) and has become a celebrated annual outdoor festival showcasing world-class emerging and established dance.

This year’s alfresco dance take-over will showcase a host of amazing outdoor spaces across Stratford – popping up in the Town Centre, and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Dancing City will feature three London premieres from groundbreaking disabled artists and companies, along with a huge variety of work from exceptional homegrown and international artists.

Denise Roberts Hurlin, Founding Director of Dancers Responding to AIDS and Fire Island Dance Festival said: “As we celebrate 30 years of both GDIF and Fire Island Dance Festival, our shared commitment to bold artistry and meaningful change resonates across the atlantic. This partnership reflects the power of dance to unite and uplift. Together, we embrace LGBTQIA+ voices and stories that must be seen and heard. This milestone reminds us why we began – and why we keep going.”

Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of the London Borough of Newham added: “This incredible festival reflects Newham’s growing reputation as the beating heart of culture in London, transforming our public spaces into vibrant stages where world-class dance meets the energy of our community. In Newham, we believe that culture and the arts should be accessible to all, and this year, Dancing City, a celebration of free outdoor Dance in Newham will go even further—offering meaningful opportunities for volunteering, training, and employment to local residents. I can’t wait to see our borough come alive with extraordinary performances that bring joy, inspiration, and opportunity to audiences of all ages.”

Shazia Hussain, CEO of LLDC, the organisation behind Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, said: “We are thrilled to host Dancing City as part of GDIF’s 30th anniversary celebrations, activating our public spaces with a vibrant, free programme of dance from around the world. This year’s line-up champions inclusivity – celebrating disabled artists, LGBTQIA+ voices and emerging local talent. It reflects the Park’s ongoing mission to be a welcoming, inspiring place where everyone can connect through culture. Together with our East Bank partners, this bold and joyful celebration of creativity highlights the power of collaboration. We can’t wait to welcome audiences and see the Park come alive with dance.”

The full programme for Dancing City 2025 is as follows:

UK Premiere
LAYL (NIGHT)
Ahmad Joudeh (Syria/USA)
Saturday 6 September, 13:00, 15:30, 18:05
Eastbank Waterfront, E20 2AQ
Syrian-born dancer and international Emmy-winner Ahmad Joudeh brings his deeply personal choreography to London for the first time. As an artist who has risked his life in his commitment to dance, this performance is a testimony to his courage and dedication.
Weaving together classical and Sufi dervish movement “Layl”, acts as a cultural bridge between East and West, uniting diverse traditions through the universal language of dance.

UK Premiere
A DELICATE BALANCE
Pontus Lidberg (Sweden)
Saturday 6 September, 13:00, 15:30, 18:05
Stratford Waterfront, E20 2AQ
Acclaimed Swedish choreographer, film-maker and dancer Pontus Liberg, creates an entrancing duet exploring themes of trust, vulnerability and human connection. Joined by Cuban born choreographer and dancer Raul Reinoso, (Acosta Danza), this intimate and stunningly realised performance uses a simple prop (a glass water) to reveal achingly beautiful perspectives on the essence of relationships.

UK Premiere
COURTNEY’S DINER
Courtney Washington Balenciaga and Masterz at Work Dance Family (USA)
Saturday 6 September, 13:00, 15:30, 18:05
Stratford Waterfront, E20 2AQ
The worlds of contemporary dance and New York City’s ballroom scene come together in this fearless and fabulous explosion of movement from a ballroom icon.
Brought to you by the legendary mother of the House of Balenciaga and founder of the Kiki House of Juicy Couture, Courtney Washington Balenciaga’s electric fusion of ballroom choreography, vogueing and contemporary dance celebrates identity, perseverance and partying.

UK Premiere
THROUGH ANOTHER LENS
Restless Dance Theatre (Australia)
Saturday 6 September, 14:55, 17:00
Waterfront Square
Performed by a powerful ensemble of disabled and non-disabled artists, this work uncovers beauty in places we rarely pause to see.
From Australia’s internationally acclaimed inclusive company, this bold new performance invites you to slow down, look closer, and experience the world from a different perspective.
This outdoor performance strips away theatrical trickery to focus on what really matters: presence, perspective, and connection. What unfolds is tender, fierce, and achingly real.

UK Premiere
360°
La Gualtero (Columbia)
Saturday 6 September, 15:10, 16:40
The Carousel, E20 2AD
This hypnotising performance features continually rotating choreography which Raquel Galtero uses to evoke her Columbian heritage. With echoes of carnival, 360 unfolds as an all-encompassing evocation of female lived experience: of childhood games, empowerment, motherhood and connection to the planet.

FRAGMENTS OF US
Talawa, Fubunation and Sonia Hughes
Saturday 6 September, 13:00, 15:20
Stratford Rooftop, Stratford Town Centre
Celebrating the endless possibilities of Black masculinity, this world premiere dance theatre performance by leading Black theatre company Talawa with acclaimed Black dance company Fubunation, directed by award-winning artist Sonia Hughes features fluid movement and poignant poetry to reveal snapshots of joy, struggle, love and loss.

London Premiere
One Sky
Pagrav Dance Company (UK)
Saturday 6 September, 14:30, 17:40
Stratford Walk, E20 2AS
The spirit of South Asian kite festivals comes to Stratford, in this dance spectacular which celebrates the importance of togetherness.
Last seen at Dancing City in 2023, Pagrav Dance Company return to GDIF in their 20th anniversary year with the London premiere of this new show inspired by the tradition of kite-flying from rooftops, offering a sky high fusion of movement, music and puppetry.

UK Premiere
Passage
Yoann Bourgeois Art Company (France)
Saturday 6 September, 15:45, 17:10
Fountain Room
What secrets lie hidden on the other side of the door? Yoann Bourgeois, widely known for viral live performance videos and recent collaborations with Harry Styles, Coldplay and FKA Twigs, brings his signature blend of gravity-defying movement and extraordinary staging to Dancing City for the second consecutive year. A revolving doorway which perpetually opens and closes, becomes the setting for a captivating performance which reflects on the cyclical nature of time and the limitless possibilities of choice.

UK Premiere
Passionately Defiant
Joe Powell-Main (UK)
Saturday 6 September, 13:55, 15:30
Marshgate South, E20 2AE
A joyous celebration of dance and disability pride which challenges perceptions of classical ballet. Mixing electrifying paso doble, tango and ballet, this deeply personal performance defiantly celebrates Joe Powell Main’s journey back to dance after becoming disabled at the age of 15 and going on to become the first wheelchair user to dance with the Royal Ballet.

London Premiere
RO-TES-រទេះ
Stopgap Dance (UK)
Saturday 6 September, 13:15, 16:15
Marshgate South, E20 2AE
Nadenh grew up on a boat in the Cambodian jungle. As a disabled child he could swim before he could wheel and the first time that he saw a RO-TES-រទេះ (Khmer for wagon) was the moment he realised he could move across the land too.
With groundbreaking innovation in wheelchair design, Nadenh invites you into a world of bold movement, irresistible rhythms and joyful celebration of progress, community, and possibility.

London Premiere
ROOTS TO RISE
Nandita Shankardass (UK)
Saturday 6 September, 14:15, 17:30
Carousel Room, E20 2AD
Three women confront their personal and collective histories, learning from one another and those who came before.
Blending classical Indian dance with contemporary and folk movement, this environmentally themed production is a celebration of resistance and community which takes audiences on a journey back to the land, the soil and the stories written in the stars.

London Premiere
Waterkind
Land Before Time (Sweden)
Saturday 6 September, 13:35, 16:05
Carpenter’s Lock, E20 2ST
This choreographic tribute to water is presented in the reflective setting of Carpenters Lock. Featuring expressive freestyle and popping echoing the flows and currents of rivers and oceans, the interplay and responsiveness of this captivating duet offers a meditation on the fundamental importance of water to our lives.

Jungle Boy
Levan Peart
Saturday 6 September, 14:00, 16:15
Stratford Waterfront, E20 2AQ
Newham local Levan Peart celebrates self-discovery, healing and community in this vibrant performance featuring four London dancers and live music.

When Jazz Meets Hip Hop
UEL Dance Collective
Saturday 6 September, 13:30, 15:00
Stratford Rooftop, Stratford Town Centre
The UEL Dance Collective have been working with Jade Hackett on a piece which explores the connection between Jazz music (inspired by the Harlem Renaissance) and hip-hop culture. Understanding how the two genres, both being the musical language of rebellion and power to the voiceless, can also bring joy, community and healing. Jazz is still such a prevalent frequency within today’s modern culture and will continue to evolve with hip-hop, furthermore.

The Whispering Forest
The Yoruba Tales Collective (UK)
Saturday 6 September
Stratford Waterfront, E20 2AQ
From nature’s powers of repair narrated by eco-critical Yoruba mythologies, this mixed reality experience engages magical characters danced through spectacular textiles. Inspired by the Horniman’s Yoruba archive, with The Venus Bushfire’s music composition, Fumy Opeyemi’s dance, Tosin Olufon’s XR experience design and Toyin Gbomedo’s vocals.

GDIF will open on Friday 22 August with French company Lézards Bleus whose new production Above and Beyond encompasses this year’s festival theme quite literally, as eight extraordinary parkour performers give a heart-stopping performance across the landmark buildings and recently relandscaped public spaces of Woolwich. This world premiere has been specially commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the festival with spectacular formation climbing combined with choreography and music inspired by Woolwich’s rich history of mutuality and shared endeavour. A central collaboration with the locally based Citizens of the World Choir reflects the creativity and stories of local people which have been at the heart of GDIF for the last 30 years.

Spectacular staging is central to The Weight of Water in Thamesmead on 5 – 6 September as Dutch company Panama Pictures use stunning physical theatre to explore the climate crisis. A huge floating structure tips back and forth on water, with nail-biting choreography as dancers fight to cling on. More jaw-dropping outdoor performance is featured in Turning Worlds from 30 – 31 August at Greenwich Peninsula, staged in the Design District’s Rooftop Basketball Court alongside other vibrant and buzzing destinations. The theme of Above and Beyond is explored through trailblazing collaborations between engineering and performance including a fusion of circus and robotics, a production enabling a performer to perform vertically on a wall and a captivating dance and physical theatre performance on a giant, rotating metal spiral.

In this landmark 30th year, the much-loved Greenwich Fair returns to its historic nineteenth century home in Greenwich Park. GDIF’s reinvention of the original fair brings together a packed programme of uplifting, fun and disruptive street theatre, games and family fun to the beautifully relandscaped Wolfe Statue Piazza at the top of Greenwich Park Hill. Amongst the highlights will be extraordinary puppetry in Theatre-Rites and Miguel Altunaga’s Eshu at the Crossroads, Miss High Leg Kick’s camp and playful celebration of ecology Lady Garden and the UK premiere of a breathtaking all-female high wire performance, Epiphytes, from Belgian company Des Chaussons Rouges. Framed by London’s best view, this performance offers new perspectives on our relationship with the natural world and will provide extraordinary images of the festival theme in action.

Bradley Hemmings MBE, GDIF’s Artistic Director introduces this year’s festival: ‘This year’s theme Above and Beyond grows out of 30 years of delivering GDIF across Greenwich, East London and the City of London. In that time we’ve learned that there are no edges or boundaries in outdoor theatre and the usual distinctions between art and the everyday are often miraculously blurred. This year our “stage” stretches out in all directions – across parks, town centres, basketball courts, roofs and a water space, whilst we also invite audiences to look up, both physically and imaginatively. In the difficult, often fractious times we’re living through, the festival offers a moment in the midst of life’s challenges, to take a breath and experience something uplifting, free and accessible which everyone can enjoy.’

To be published by Unicorn on August 22, Above and Beyond: 30 Years of Greenwich+Docklands International Festival in August, is a limited edition large-format hardback book celebrating three decades of GDIF’s most memorable moments, from audacious aerial choreography timed between take-offs at City Airport to riverbank performances programmed to the tide. Written and edited by Fiona Hughes the must-have book full with stunning never-seem-before photography is available to preorder today and will be available to buy online, in select stores and at GDIF events from 22 August.