The Greenwich + Docklands International Festival returns to Newham with a packed programme of movement stretching across the area’s spaces
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As the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival draws to a close, Stratford is preparing to welcome a packed programme of free spectacles for a second year.
A total of 15 shows are set to arrive at locations across the area for this year’s Dancing City on Saturday, September 6. All will be performed at least twice.
“We were in Stratford very successfully last summer,” said Bradley Hemmings, GDIF founder and artistic director.
“The area has been transformed in the most remarkable way over the last few years, especially since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The advent of the new East Bank cultural quarter, which includes phenomenal outdoor spaces was the focus for Dancing City in 2024.
“This year we’re bringing 15 dance companies together here.
“Much of the action will take place in the town centre, with audiences also able to cross over to East Bank and into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to see more performances.
“We’ve expanded the programme for 2025 because we welcomed such large numbers to the shows last year we wanted to make sure we could spread over the wider area.”
Dancing City highlights
The one-day festival, which runs from 1pm-6.30pm, will feature the likes of dancer Joe Powell-Main – the first wheelchair user to dance with the Royal Ballet – who returns to GDIF with Passionately Defiant.
Billed as a “joyous celebration of dance and disability pride, which challenges perceptions of classical ballet” the piece will be performed at 1.55pm and 3.30pm at Marshgate South next to UCL East in the Olympic Park.
Also in the park will be 360º, a constantly rotating 17-minute show from Columbian dancer Raquel Gaultero that promises “an all-encompassing evocation of female lived experience”.
This includes nods to childhood games, motherhood and connection to the planet.
As ever, GDIF’s programme seeks to celebrate both the cultural landscape of east London while also reaching out.
This year Dancing City will welcome a triple bill presented in partnership with Fire Island Dance Festival.
The trio of shows will each be performed three times simultaneously at East Bank’s Waterfront at 1pm, 3.30pm and 6.05pm.
lighting the fire
Bradley said: “Each is led by LGBTQIA+ artists and they will be presented together.
“Fire Island Dance Festival in New York state is legendary.
“It was started in the 1990s in response to the AIDS crisis, which the area was very much at the epicentre of.
“It’s gone on to benefit people living with HIV across the US and beyond.
“The performances over there are on the waterfront with some of the most amazing staging I have ever seen.
“We’re trying to bring some of that energy to Stratford with these performances.
“What we’re also trying to do on September 6, 2025, is to create something that’s very permeable with shows taking place outside in public spaces.
“There will also be a link to Sadler’s Wells East at East Bank, which has been designed with a connection between the indoors and outdoors in mind.
“As part of Dancing City, we’ll be collaborating with them for One Sky, a performance that takes inspiration from South African kite festivals.
“It’s brilliant, taking place on the bridge over to the Olympic Park in front of East Bank in a celebration of togetherness.
“There’s something that happens at a festival like in public spaces like these.
“People share something and it’s very uplifting.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but we know from the feedback we get how grateful audiences are.
“We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary this year and I already have a very long list of what I want to do in the future.
“GDIF has always been about the community, the audiences who come to cherish the performances and the organisations that support us.
“We want to ensure we’re here for another 30 years.”
key details: Dancing City
Dancing City, part of the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is set to return to Stratford on Saturday, September 6, 2025, from 1pm-6.30pm.
All shows are free, with multiple repetitions to allow audiences to see as many performances as possible.
Full listings and timings are available here
The wider GDIF programme includes performances in Greenwich, Woolwich and Thamesmead.
Read more: Discover Greenwich Theatre’s revival of Jim Cartwright’s Two
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