Leap Dance Festival unveils this year’s acts ahead of its return

The Leap Dance Festival 2025 is set to be a spectacular celebration of dance, culture, and creativity, with a lineup of thought-provoking commissions from some of Liverpool’s most talented local artists and companies.

Leap Dance Festival will showcase new, exciting works exploring a wide range of social issues and artistic expressions.

Following a competitive call-out, Culture Liverpool in partnership with Leap has commissioned eight local artists and companies to produce new work for this year’s festival. These dance grant commissions have been made possible due to UK Shared Prosperity funding and further support by DaDa.

Other commissions include a fusion of dance, spoken word and film inspired by the increase of hate towards Asian communities during the pandemic and a performance examining the role and treatment of young female domestic workers in Zimbabwe.

The full list of commissions are:

Grace Goulding

Freddie Flashmob – Everybody Dance Now is a pop-up performance featuring 50 performers, all dressed as the iconic Freddie Mercury, in a joyous celebration of community togetherness through dance. This piece will form part of Dancing in the Streets, Monday 5th May.

Pei Yee Tong

A collaboration fusing dance live (contemporary and traditional Chinese styles), with spoken word and film by Noel Jones. The piece is inspired by the increase of hate towards Asian communities during the pandemic. It will be performed at the Unity Theatre on 3rd May.

Mary Pearson

What have we become? is a collaborative project with garment designer Alena Kudera, who has created wearable sculptures from landfill-bound fast fashion and single use plastic. The costumes inspired the movements of three dancers who will perform to an original score. This piece will be performed at the Unity Theatre on 3rd May.

Satya-Sara Khachik

The Loss of Innocence is a performance by four dancers, exploring the hardship and heartache on the journey into adult/womanhood, and the potential of finding solace in community. Inspired by resilient female figures throughout history and in film, as well as martial arts, this piece will be performed to a live score, at the Unity Theatre on 3rd May.

Amy Milson

Unseen is a concept video exploring Amy’s experiences with Visual Impairment and Periventricular Leukomalacia, featuring three movement artists, and combines dance, music and spoken word. Amy will present her film with a live Q&A, at the Unity Theatre on 3rd May. Co-commissioned by Culture Liverpool and DaDa for Leap Dance Festival.

Amy is currently part of the Future Movement Rambert project that is supported by Culture Liverpool.

Afro Dance Academy 

A performance sharing African culture through movement, showcasing the richness and diversity of Afro dance styles, including Afro House, Afrodance, and Amapiano. This piece will be performed at Unity Theatre on 9th May.

Ruvimbo Bliss Munodawafa

Musikana Webasa (House Girl) is a performance examining the role and treatment of young female domestic workers in Zimbabwe, using contemporary dance theatre to highlight issues of disparity, depression, loneliness, abuse, the traditional gaze, aims, hope, ambitions and dreams. This piece will be performed at Unity Theatre on 9th May.

Sole Rebel CIC

A film of a new dance piece, choreographed by tap artist Jack Evans, working with 20 emerging dancers from Sole Rebel’s T&P Company 2025. The film will be shot at an iconic Liverpool location and shared online during the festival.

Leap Dance Festival 2025 takes place from Saturday 26th April – Friday 9th May, with seven events taking place in The Capstone and Unity theatres, Arts Bar, Sefton Park Palm House and Liverpool One. 

Visit www.leapfestival.co.uk for the full programme and to book tickets.

Leap Dance Festival Director, Paul Doyle, said:

“Leap Dance Festival exists to support artists to produce exciting new work, and to provide access and opportunities for people in the Liverpool City Region to engage with dance. We’re really excited to present these new works during the festival and online, and we can’t wait to see our audiences’ reactions!”

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:

“From a joyous celebration of community togetherness, to a piece inspired by the surge in discrimination against Asian communities during the pandemic, the new commissions are a powerful exploration of human nature and stories.

“While Satya-Sara Khachik’s Loss of innocence piece explores finding solace in community, Pei Yee Tong’s piece examines the feeling of alienation due to belonging to a particular community.

“Dance can evoke empathy and understanding, as well as fostering a shared emotional experience, which is why it can be a powerful way of breaking down barriers and bringing people together.”

Discover more events across Liverpool City Region here.