What’s On at DanceX 2025: Festival of Dance in Melbourne
The Australian Ballet presents the highly anticipated return of DanceX 2025, a two-week Festival of Dance in Melbourne celebrating the depth, range, and diversity of dance across Australia and New Zealand. Running from 8 – 19 October 2025 at Arts Centre Melbourne (Playhouse Theatre, Fairfax Studio, and The Show Room), DanceX showcases world-class performances from leading companies and choreographers.
Curated by David Hallberg, Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, DanceX Melbourne brings together 14 acclaimed dance companies and choreographers for a program that spans contemporary, classical, traditional, and experimental dance. This is the only festival of its kind in Australia and New Zealand, offering audiences the rare chance to experience the vitality and creativity of the region’s most innovative dance artists in one place.
The DanceX 2025 program includes performances from The Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Bangarra Dance Theatre, West Australian Ballet, Stephanie Lake Company, Restless Dance Theatre, Dancenorth, Gary Lang NT Dance Company, alongside renowned choreographers such as Timothy Harbour, Lucy Guerin, Jenni Large, Jayden Lewis Wall, Melissa Pham, and Melanie Lane.
DANCEX WEEK ONE: 8 – 11 OCTOBER 2025
The opening week of DanceX – Festival of Dance 2025 at Arts Centre Melbourne features an inspiring mix of leading companies and choreographers:
PLAYHOUSE, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Performance dates & times:
Wednesday 8 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Thursday 9 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Friday 10 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Saturday 11 October 2025, 1:30 PM, 7:30 PM
Royal New Zealand Ballet – Te Ao Mārama
Te Ao Mārama, created by Moss Te Ururangi Patterson for the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 70th anniversary, is a powerful work inspired by haka that showcases Māori culture and the strength of the company’s male dancers, now performed internationally at DanceX for the first time.
The Australian Ballet & Lucy Guerin – Ground Control
Ground Control, created by Lucy Guerin and performed by The Australian Ballet, explores the tension between gravity and flight as four dancers embody the balance of resistance and release.
Restless Dance Theatre – Seeing Through Darkness
Seeing Through Darkness, directed by Michelle Ryan and performed by Restless Dance Theatre, is a 17-minute immersive work inspired by Georges Rouault’s expressionist paintings that explores perception, disability, and the beauty of difference through dance, music, light, and moving image.
Dancenorth Australia – Wayfinder (Excerpt)
Wayfinder by Dancenorth Australia is a vibrant fusion of dance, music, and visual art that celebrates connection, collective awe, and our innate sensorial nature. Content warning: Contains strobe lighting, theatrical haze and loud/startling noise.
The Australian Ballet & The Australian Ballet School – Allegro Brillante
Allegro Brillante, performed by The Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet School, is George Balanchine’s joyous pure-dance work set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, showcasing expansive romanticism, precision, and classical brilliance in a fast-paced, vibrant performance.
Special Single Performances:
FAIRFAX STUDIO, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Jenni Large – Wet Hard Long
Wet Hard Long by Jenni Large is a physically intense and provocative dance exploring feminine resilience, endurance, and the societal pressures on the femme body. Content Warning: Contains strobing, abrupt blackouts, haze and loud sounds.
Performance dates & times:
Wednesday 8 October 2025, 6 PM
Thursday 9 October 2025, 6 PM
Friday 10 October 2025, 8 PM
Saturday 11 October 2025, 8 PM
Jayden Lewis Wall & Melissa Pham – Flesh Vessel
Flesh Vessel by Jayden Lewis Wall and Melissa Pham is a precise and immersive dance exploring embodiment, relational presence, and the body as a dynamic site of communication. Content warning: Flesh Vessel contains partial nudity and flashing lights.
Performance dates & times:
Wednesday 8 October 2025. 8 PM
Thursday 9 October 2025, 8 PM
Friday 10 October 2025, 6 PM
Saturday 11 October 2025, 6 PM
DANCEX WEEK TWO: 15 – 19 OCTOBER 2025
The second week of DanceX Melbourne 2025 continues with powerful works from Australia’s most celebrated dance companies:
PLAYHOUSE, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Performance dates & times:
Wednesday 15 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Thursday 16 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Friday 17 October 2025, 7:30 PM
Saturday 18 October 2025, 1:30 PM, 7:30 PM
Bangarra Dance Theatre – Yuldea (Excerpts)
Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Yuldea (Excerpts) tells the story of the Aṉangu people and the 1917 Transcontinental Railway meeting, brought to life with original music, striking design, and immersive stage effects, under the direction of Artistic Director Frances Rings. Content warnings: Please be advised that this performance contains strobe lighting, haze, smoke effects and elevated sound levels. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this production contains voices of recently deceased persons.
The Australian Ballet & Timothy Harbour – New Work by Tim Harbour
A world premiere from acclaimed choreographer Tim Harbour with Artists of The Australian Ballet.
West Australian Ballet – Extension to Boom
West Australian Ballet’s Extension to Boom transforms Bryce Dessner’s Two Pianos into an abstract, dreamlike ballet where dancers explore dynamic landscapes and push beyond perceived limits. Content Warning: This performance includes loud music and flashing lights
Stephanie Lake Company – Auto Cannibal
Stephanie Lake Company’s Auto Cannibal explores the evolution and repurposing of past choreographic ideas, transforming them through the bodies of new dancers in a reflection on creativity and renewal.
Gary Lang NT Dance Company – The Other Side of Me
Gary Lang NT Dance Company’s The Other Side of Me tells the true-life story of a young Aboriginal man from the Stolen Generations, exploring identity, belonging, and cross-cultural experiences through powerful, healing dance. Content warning: The Other Side of Me contains references to the stolen generation and includes coarse language and water-based haze. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences are advised that this show references people who have died.
Special Single Performances:
THE SHOW ROOM, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Melanie Lane – Dream Swamp
Melanie Lane’s Dream Swamp immerses young audiences in a magical, surreal world where dancers shape-shift, defy gravity, and spark imagination through movement, sound, and colour. Content warning: Low light, haze, loud sounds, low-pressure audience engagement. Age range: 4 – 10 years
Performance dates & times
Wednesday 15 October 2025, 1:30 PM
Saturday 18 October 2025, 1:30 PM, 4:30 PM
Sunday 19 October 2025, 11 AM, 1:30 PM, 4 PM
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
DATE: 8 – 19 October 2025
VENUES: PLAYHOUSE, FAIRFAX STUDIO, THE SHOW ROOM, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
BUY TICKETS
Children under the age of 15 must be under the supervision of a responsible adult (18 years of age or older) at all times.
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