Sole Rebel C.I.C dancers, photography by Brian Roberts
WELCOME TO 20 25
Leap is back for 2025, showcasing a range of styles and heaps of talent from across the region.
Last year’s festival favourites are back: our opening night cabaret features some of the region’s most exciting performers, and Dancing In The Streets returns to Liverpool City Centre with a day of free performances by professional artists and companies. This year, we’re Dancing at The Palm House, bringing community dance performances and workshops to Sefton Park’s iconic venue, and once again our Schools Platform and Youth Showcase will offer opportunities for young people to shine.
Leap is committed to bringing people together through dance and creating development opportunities for emerging artists. We are delighted to be working in partnership with Culture Liverpool on eight new dance commissions that will appear throughout the festival,
including two nights at the Unity Theatre.
We also launched a programme of free dance classes for diverse communities across Liverpool City Region, beginning with the LGBTQIA+ community, later this year we’ll launch new classes for global majority participants and young people - details available on our website.
We couldn’t have put this year’s festival together without the support of our funders, our wonderful venues, our crowdfunder backers and our volunteer team working tirelessly behind the scenes.
We hope you enjoy this year’s festival and we look forward to seeing you there, Paul, Sinéad, Jamie and Maxine.
SHOUT OUT TO OUR CROWDFUNDERS
Eleanor Liverakou
Mary Pearson
Mia Malone
Lauren Roberts
Lisi Perry
Stuart Crowther
Rosemary Berkon
Mary Carr
Donna Jones
Alison keen
Alan Sprince and Debra Morris
Sri sarker
Rowena Gander
Paul Curran
Kate Halsall
Ina Colizza
Vicky Donnellan
Jean Smith
Rebecca Quinn
William Thomas
Janet Dugdale
Sean Kennedy
Karen Gallagher
David Littler
Jamie Paul Azzopardi
Andy Ramsay
Laura Orchard
Paul Doyle
Silvia Morelli
Peter Doyle
David Watson
Andy Ramsay
Jamie Azzopardi
Lesley Moore
Adam Holloway
Zahra Smith
Rebecca Quinn
Julia Doyle
Vicky Donnellan
Carol Kennedy
Evie Scott
Julia Hanly
Ina Colizza
Kate Halsall
Marie-Anne McQuay
Toni Bate
Emily Sole Rebel
Rowena Gander
Leila Chebbi
Ian Holden
Robyn Smith
Alison Keen
Karen Smith
Ele Cosgrove
Robert Marten
Maxine Salmon
Darren Suarez
F Murphy
Irina Santos
Gill Dempsey
Kirsty Barker
Lauren Roberts
Maureen Bird
Lindsey Brocklebank
Veronica Maguire
Grace Goulding
Kate Doyle
Tim Brunsden
Jen Hale
Nigel Robinson
Sarah Lockwood
Photography by Brian Roberts
SATURDAY 26 APRIL
Arts Bar Hope Street 7pm
£20 / £17 concs 18+
Celebrate the opening of the festival with our extra special cabaret.
Enter a world of raucous entertainment as we launch this year’s festival with an evening of burlesque, cabaret and jazz dance. Join us at the speakeasy for a great night out.
Featuring acts: Velvet Fox, Joss La Porta, and many more to be announced!
This is an inclusive, LGBTQIA+ event, and everyone is welcome.
Velvet Fox, photography by Jess Meade
SUNDAY 27 APRIL
DANCING AT THE PALM HOUSE
Sefton Park Palm House
12pm - 4pm FREE Family Friendly
Join us at Liverpool’s iconic Palm House to see performances by community groups from across Liverpool City Region, featuring performances including ballet, contemporary and jazz, alongside latin and dance from the African diaspora.
There’ll also be free, drop-in dance workshops to take part in throughout the day, offering visitors the chance to try something new (and maybe discover a hidden talent!) This event is free. Please consider making a donation via our website to support our continued work with communities through dance.
Helen McCarron Open Ballet Class, photography by Brian Roberts
TUESDAY 29 APRIL
SCHOOLS DANCE PLATFORM: ON BROADWAY
The Capstone Theatre
7pm
£10 / £8 concs
Family Friendly
Our Schools Dance Platform returns for 2025, celebrating the enormous talent in the region.
Each year we provide groups with a central theme for their performance and this year, young people from schools and colleges share work inspired by musicals.
Expect to see dances based on all your favourite shows including SIX, Dear Evan Hansen, Sister Act and many more.
Hunts Cross Primary School. photography by Jess Meade
SATURDAY 3 MAY
DIGITAL MOVES
Unity Theatre
From 5.30pm
Festival Pass £16 / £14 concs
Individual shows £8 16+
5.30pm
PEI YEE TONG • CRISIS EMPTINESS
A collaboration fusing live dance (contemporary and traditional Chinese styles), inspired by the increase of hate towards Asian communities during the pandemic.
6.30pm
KUDERA + MPEARSONATER • WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?
A collaborative project with garment designer Alena Kudera, who has created wearable sculptures from landfill-bound fast fashion and single use plastic.
8pm
MUDANZA COLLECTIVE • THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE
A performance by four dancers, exploring the hardship and heartache on the journey into adult/womanhood.
AMY MILSON • UNSEEN
A film exploring Amy’s experiences with Visual Impairment and Periventricular Leukomalacia. Co-commissioned by Culture Liverpool and DaDaFest.
An evening of new dance works, where movement intersects with the digital world, by artists Pei Yee Tong, Mary Pearson, Satya-Sara Khachik and Amy Milson. All works shared are new commissions by Culture Liverpool, funded by UKSPF with additional support and collaboration via Leap and DaDaFest.
All works shared are new commissions by Culture Liverpool, funded by UKSPF.
Kudera + Mpearsonater
SUNDAY 4 MAY
YOUTH DANCE SHOWCASE
The Capstone Theatre 6pm £10 / £8 concs Family Friendly
Dance schools and youth dance groups from across the North West share their work on a professional stage.
During the day the groups will take part in a series of workshops in multiple dance styles before taking to the stage in a public performance sharing their exciting and dynamic work, in an evening celebrating local youth talent.
Extreme Dance, photography by Jess Meade
MONDAY 5 MAY
DANCING IN THE STREETS
Liverpool ONE Church Street 12pm - 4pm FREE Family Friendly
Enjoy outdoor performances and workshops from the region’s leading dance artists. Expect to see a wide variety of dance styles and colourful characters across two sites in Liverpool City Centre.
Funded by Liverpool BID Company and Liverpool ONE.
Gill and Javi, photography by Brian Roberts
THE BIRDCAGE STAGE QUEEN OF HEARTS
Liverpool ONE, part of Dancing In The Streets
The Birdcage Stage bring their signature style of non-verbal visual theatre to Liverpool with a mesmerising spectacle of dance, acrobatics, clowning and aerial theatre.
The Queen of Hearts is a story of heartbreak, friendship, status games and silliness, fusing dance theatre, puppetry and costume art.
Follow the Queen’s subjects as they try their best to please her after no one turns up to her party. The Queen of Hearts is a fun show for the whole family reimagining what happens in Wonderland when Alice is nowhere to be seen!
Queen of Hearts from The Bird Cage Stage CIC, photography by Rob Watson
THURSDAY 8 MAY ARTS BAR DANCE OFF
Arts Bar Hope Street 7:45pm 18+
Soloist, duos and groups go head to head in a range of dance styles in a battle to be named Dance Off Champion.
Following a series of heats, the final will take place during Leap, when the winner will be voted for by you the audience.
FRIDAY 9 MAY
NEW DANCE WORK
Unity Theatre
7:30pm
£15 / £12 concs
16+
See new work created by Liverpool-based artists from the African Diaspora:
Afro Dance Academy
Showcasing the richness and diversity of Afro dance styles, including Afro House, Afrodance, and Amapiano.
Ruvimbo Bliss Munodawafa
Musikana Webasa (House Girl) is a performance examining the role and treatment of young female domestic workers in Zimbabwe.
Ithalia Johnson
Ithalia Johnson presents The Untold Stories of a Carnival Queen, a new piece exploring female empowerment, discrimination, bodily autonomy and sexual exploitation.
Ithalia Johnson, photography by Mina Bihi
COMMISSIONS...
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 live dance (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 movement has been inspired by the costumes and will be performed 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. Performed to a live score, at the Unity Theatre on 3rd May.
Commissioned by Culture Liverpool, thanks to UK Shared Prosperity funding, with further support by DaDa.
AMY MILSON
Unseen is a dance film 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 DaDaFest for Leap Dance Festival.
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 new dance film, 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.
Chaos Chaos Dance Dance 18 YEARS OF
We began in 2007 as an allmale dance group at Cardinal Heenan High School and since then have supported thousands of people across Liverpool City Region to dance. Over the years, we’ve created original dance theatre, worked in schools and youth centres, delivered summer schools and ran adult dance and fitness classes.
We understand first hand the transformative power of dance, in all its glorious forms, to improve people’s quality of life; its ability to communicate beyond verbal language, bring people together, and the innate human need to move our bodies.
Our work is rooted in supporting young people and communities. We deliver regular dance sessions in schools as part of the primary P.E. curriculum and after school clubs. We also deliver workshops in secondary and further education settings.
2024 saw us take on our most ambitious project to date, with the formation of Chaos Arts C.I.C. and the return of Leap Dance Festival. This was a steep learning curve for us as an organisation, and after 18 years of delivering classes, workshops and performances in the heart of the communities we work with, it felt like a coming of age moment.
This year, we launched the first of three new community dance groups, thanks to support from ACC Liverpool and National Lottery Good Causes. Over the course of 2025, we will launch two further groups that bring communities together to share their culture, heritage and uniqueness. These groups will focus on global majority participants in North Liverpool and young people in Knowsley.
A huge thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far, and made Chaos what it is today. I hope that all of you who have taken part, watched a performance or worked with us over the past 18 years have as many fond memories as I do.
Here’s to more dancing!
Paul
THANK YOU
LEAP 2025 wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our funders, partners, and supporters, whom we gratefully acknowledge.
And last but not least, we want to thank the incredible dance communities and audiences who make this event so special—whether by taking part, performing, or simply coming along to enjoy the experience. Your energy and enthusiasm bring Leap Dance Festival to life.
Dancing Queens, photography by Jazamin Sinclair
TOGETHER
We rely on the support and kind donations of individuals, private companies and funding bodies to deliver the work we do. Donate now and ensure this work is continued as we look forward to Leap 2025.
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