Full Programme 2026
a platform
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a party
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a provocation to move you
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Tempo Dance Festival | te rerenga o tere
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13–18 oct 2026
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a platform 〰️ a party 〰️ a provocation to move you 〰️ Tempo Dance Festival | te rerenga o tere 〰️ 13–18 oct 2026 〰️
EXPLORE THE FULL PROGRAMME
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Street Dance
Contemporary Dance
Live Art
LGBTQIA+
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Free Events
Pay What You Can Events
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Wheelchair Acc
tbc
YMCĀ .
Atamira Dance Company
Choreographed by Oli Mathiesen
A bold takatāpui rebirth of the Village People. A disco interior with a cultural inferior. Appropriation has never looked so good.
Q Theatre | Tue 13 + Wed 14 Oct | 8pm |
60 min
CONJAH + collaborators
Presented by CONJAH and Auckland Live
Lineages of darkness, defiance, transformation and possibility converge in a spectral terrain. The unfleshed phenomena of dance, design and story-telling makes its highly-anticipated Tāmaki Makaurau debut.
Concert Chamber, Auckland Townl Hall | Fri 16 + Sat 17 Oct | 8pm | 1 hr 40 min
Jessie McCall
Presented by Footnote NZ Dance
Ominous and funny, intimate and sweeping, Big Low Dream is a rehearsal of possible futures — tender, desperate, and rising. A new contemporary dance work about what we reach for, together, in the dark.
Q Theatre | Fri 25 + Sat 26 Sep | 7pm |
60 min
Rebecca Jensen
Body as barometer.
The natural basic waltz step is a three-part clockwise movement. Originating in 16th-century peasant dances, it has evolved through countless forms. In Natural Basic, this cadence is a point of departure.
From the creator behind Slip (2024).
Q Theatre | Tue 13 + Wed 14 Oct | 6.30pm | 50 min
seki .
Sefa Tunupopo
How do we maintain the things we hold close, our relationships, and ourselves, in order to keep going?
A street dance love letter to family and a meditation on survival, care and maintenance.
Basement Theatre | Tue 13 + Wed 14 Oct | 8pm | 60 min
exhaust .
Celia Hext + Olivia McGregor
Running on fumes. Dancing on dollars.
EXHAUST opens a concrete portal to bring dance, life and breath to your local vehicle storage facilities. From two of our most extraordinary dancers.
Secret Location | Wed 14 Oct | 6.30pm |
50 min
Ctenophora Co.
When do we hold things dear, and when do we allow ourselves to let go?
A tangle of holding self, holding together, and holding nothing; folding audiences into a dreamlike vista.
Basement Theatre | Thurs 15 + Fri 16 + Sat 17 Oct | 6.30pm | 45 min
off axis .
John “Happyfeet” Vaifale
Presented by Projekt Team
What happens when the cypher falls off axis?
This is not simply a battle or a showcase, but a theatrical journey that expands what Hip Hop can look like, feel like and become.
Q Theatre | Thurs 15 Oct | 8pm | 45 min
Deanne Butterworth + val smith
When It Is Finished explores embodied knowledge with Narrm Melbourne-based Deanne Butterworth; while Glimmer is a choreographic meditation exploring the trajectory of transgender time from our own val smith. A double bill.
Q Theatre | Fri 16 Oct | 6.30pm | 60 min
Alisha McLennan Marler + guests
Presented by Touch Compass
An electrifying performance, WHITE NOISE has emerged from award-winning creator/performer Alisha McLennan Marler’s lived experience of disability, as an artist, mother, and person.
Presented with a short work from Oro.
Q Theatre | Fri 16 Oct | 8pm | 70 min
bloom .
Lily-Mae Solhee Baird + Wiseman Mataiti +
Janina Smolira
Bloom celebrates choreographers whose work is in a blossoming, shifting or simmering state.
Featuring new and reimagined works that speak to being the body / beyond the body, queerness, indigeneity and who is going to give them their 10s.
Basement Theatre | Fri 16 + Sat 17 Oct | 8pm | 60 min
Co-curated with Prowl Productions
A party and a provocation, for your brain and your behind.
Featuring performances from
Coven-Aucoin, Prowl Productions,
Kerith Manderson-Galvin and more, plus DJs to sweat the night away.
Secret Location | Fri 16 Oct | 9.30pm-late
New Zealand School of Dance +
Ngā Akoranga Kani Kani | Dance Studies | Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland
Two of our tertiary dance institutions come together for one night only with original works by Matte Roffe, Sarah Knox with Third Year dancers, Horn's Out and Kerah McLean Duffy.
Q Theatre | Sat 17 Oct | 6.30pm | 60 min
Body Island
A body does not re-organise alone.
Directed by Kelly Nash, The Room Would Split Open asks what care can do when it becomes physical, political and choreographic.
Q Theatre | Sat 17 Oct: 8pm +
Sun 18 Oct: 6pm | 50 min
Co-curated with Dance (Lens)
Come together to celebrate and send off the Festival in style with larger than life bodies and ideas, splashed across the iconic Academy Cinemas screen.
A collection of the best dance films from Aotearoa and beyond.
Academy Cinemas | Sun 18 Oct | 7.30pm | 60 min
TŌRUA .
Presented by Movement of the Human and Auckland Live
Acclaimed choreographer and director Malia Johnston returns with Tōrua, a captivating immersive urban dance experience.
(Re)discover the spaces around two of Auckland's newest city landmarks - Karanga-a-Hape Station and Te Waihorotiu Station.
Karanga-a-Hape: Meet @ Pitt St Methodist Church | Fri 9 Oct: 6pm; Sat 10 + Sun 11 Oct: 1pm + 6pm (50 min)
Te Waihorotiu: Meet @ Aotea Centre Box Office | Fri 16 Oct: 6pm; Sat 17 + Sun 18 Oct: 1pm + 6pm (50 min)
FREE, Bookings recommended
Jang Huddle – Yunha Jang
A site-specific trail through Myers Park and Karangahape Road, channelling otherworldly beings and urban spirits!
Inspired by the new public artwork BTM 도깨비 (DoGGeBi) by Sunghwan Park.
Gather at the public artwork BTM 도깨비 (DoGGeBi) on Cross Street | Sat 17 Oct | 3.30pm | 60 min | FREE, Bookings required
Rebecca Jensen
Suspended in an endless countdown, a group of pro-wrestlers and dancers embody stasis. Join for a moment, or stay for three hours to watch the delirium unfold.
Secret Location | Sat 17 Oct | 2–5pm | 3 hrs
FREE
Xin Ji + Alistair Deverick
Co-presented with Objectspace
Drawing from Xin Ji’s debut solo work Body Story, this intimate gallery performance traces the journey of a body through moments where the emotional and physical collide. Performed with composer Alistair Deverick,
Objectspace | Sat 17 Oct | 4.30pm doors, 5pm performance | 30 min |
FREE, Bookings required
Presented by Basement Theatre
Test Fest is Basement Theatre's new festival for artists testing something before it's ready – spanning all artforms.
The three-night Fest is topped off on Saturday 10th October with an event dedicated to dance.
Basement Theatre | Party: 7 Oct; Fest 8–10 Oct; Dance Night: 10 Oct | 6.30pm | 2 hrs | FREE, Bookings required
Moreno Creations
Come witness fabulous whackers and open‑style killers throw down in explosive 1v1 Whacking and Open‑Style battles.
Be prepared for them hit the music like they mean it and charge the room with pure glitter and glam!
Basement Theatre | Thurs 15 Oct | 7.30pm | 3 hrs | FREE, Bookings recommended
Jang Huddle – Yunha Jang
This workshop is an invitation to experiment, collaborate, and create a series of short performances using movement, sound, light, text and visual art, with Yunha Jang.
Silo Theatre Hall w/ RM Gallery | Sat 3 Oct | 10am–4pm
Classes For All
Get moving and find your personal groove with one day of fabulous classes for all levels in Dreaming With Your Feet.
Location TBC | Sat 17 Oct | Various |
45–90 min | Pay What You Can
To Be Announced
Don’t miss the chance to absolutely lose it amongst fellow nostalgic fans at some of the best Dance Films of Yesteryear.
Academy Cinemas | Fri 9 Oct | 6pm | 2 hrs | Come early to learn some moves!
To Be Announced
Gather with us to celebrate an extraordinary contributor to Aotearoa dance at Honouring A Dance Creative. There will be formalities followed by a chance to catch up.
Q Theatre | Sun 18 Oct | 2pm | 45 min
FREE, Bookings required
To Be Announced
Between shows, check out the exhibition in Q Theatre’s Lounge acknowledging our rich history of amazing dance photography.
Q Theatre | Tue 13 – Sun 18 Oct | FREE
To Be Announced
With the K Road Business Association
Join us for a dance break at Karangahape Road’s infamous FAM market, thanks to
K Road Business Association.
Beresford Square | Sat 17 Oct | 10am–2pm | FREE
