Dancenorth has announced an expansive and deeply collaborative 2026 season, revealing three major works that have grown from years of artistic exchange within the Company’s North Queensland home. The program underscores Dancenorth’s ongoing investment in independent artists, long-form creative development and community engagement.
Co CEO and Co Artistic Director Kyle Page describes the season as the culmination of ideas seeded long ago, brought to life through sustained partnership with the Ensemble. “Our 2026 season carries the fruit of creative seeds planted years ago,” he said. “Chris, Alisdair and Michelle are three extraordinary artists, distinct in style, intent and process, yet united by a shared spirit of curiosity and generosity.”
The year begins with the first leg of a seven-city national tour of Lighting the Dark, directed by Kuarna based artist Chris Dyke, who made history in 2024 as the first Australian artist living with Down syndrome to direct a full length mainstage contemporary dance work. Inspired by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Banksy, the work has evolved through more than a decade of annual visits to Dancenorth. Page notes the creative trust underpinning the project, recalling Dyke’s ambition to work with the full Ensemble. “We just knew we had to make it happen.”
In July, Dancenorth returns home to Gurambilbarra with Plagiary, Alisdair Macindoe’s ever evolving experiment in AI driven performance making. Developed in part during a 2020 NO SHOW residency, Plagiary employs artificial intelligence as a live choreographer and playwright, generating a new performance in real time with each show. The work has already enjoyed seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and the Netherlands. Page reflects on its long development arc, noting that Macindoe began experimenting with AI in 2018, “before AI had entered the mainstream, daily vernacular.”
Later in the year, the Company will premiere a new work by Michelle Heaven, the first artist to create through Dancenorth’s artist development program, The Whole Thing. Over three development blocks across three years, Heaven has shaped a highly physical, character-rich world in which dancers construct and deconstruct imaginative environments. Page calls it “a real honour to share it with our hometown audience.”
Alongside these major works, Dancenorth will continue its broad commitment to artist development and community participation. The Company will further the creation of Galaxia, a new Page and Amber Haines collaboration with New York theatre maker Andrew Schneider and Dr Bayo Akomalafe, supported by the Queensland Arts Showcase Program and scheduled to premiere in 2027. It will also expand its Regional Gravitation Program and continue its year round Community Experience program, which provides access to dance across North Queensland.
Co CEO and Executive Director Hillary Coyne highlights the organisation’s responsibility to cultivate the next generation of dance makers. “Central to Dancenorth’s ethos is empowering many, diverse voices to rise through dance,” she said. Applications for the Company’s A.R.T. residencies and Secondment Week open early in the year, ensuring a steady flow of new artists into the creative ecology of the North.
With three significant premieres, a national tour, and continued development of major future works, Dancenorth’s 2026 season reaffirms the Company’s role as a national leader in artist-led innovation, community connection and the creation of new Australian dance.
For more information, visit www.dancenorth.com.au