Elixir Festival at Sadler's Wells — dance

Sadler’s Wells’ Elixir Festival is in its final stretch, with dance performances, workshops and talks running across Angel and Stratford through Sunday, 27 April. (sadlerswells.com) The festival is billed as a three-week programme “rethinking perceptions around dance and age” at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Sadler’s Wells East. Its remaining headline performance is Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier’s solo *danses vagabondes* at Sadler’s Wells East on 25 and 27 April. (sadlerswells.com; sadlerswells.com) Elixir mixes stage work with participatory events. Sadler’s Wells says the programme has included free classes and workshops, artist talks, screenings and a community-led Get Into Dance Festival that took over The Dance Floor at Sadler’s Wells East on 19 April from 11am to 5:30pm. (sadlerswells.com; sadlerswells.com) The through-line is age on stage, not age as a barrier. Sadler’s Wells frames the festival around “creative ageing,” asking how people express “changing bodies and minds” over time rather than treating dance as an art form for the young alone. (sadlerswells.com) That idea shows up in the casting and the class design. The programme has included workshops for people over 65, Company of Elders sessions for amateur dancers aged 60 and over, and an intergenerational performance of Pina Bausch’s *Nelken Line* on 12 April. (sadlerswells.com) Company of Elders sits near the center of that pitch. Sadler’s Wells says its resident over-60s performance company has been running since 1989, and appeared in this year’s festival with a double bill featuring work by John-William Watson and Charlotta Öfverholm. (sadlerswells.com) The community strand is broad rather than symbolic. The 19 April Get Into Dance lineup included English National Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme, The Place Over 60s, East London Dance’s Leap of Faith, and groups from St Hilda’s, St Luke’s, Pembury and Brickworks community centres. (sadlerswells.com) Elixir is also not a one-off experiment. WhatsOnStage reported in November that the biennial festival was part of Sadler’s Wells’ spring 2026 season, alongside large-scale productions by companies including Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Rambert and English National Ballet. (whatsonstage.com) Londonist flagged the free side of the programme earlier this month, including taster classes and a talk with choreographer Meryl Tankard and dancers from *Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78*. With the festival ending on 27 April, the remaining window is now down to the last few days. (londonist.com; sadlerswells.com)