Elixir Festival — Sadler's Wells dance series
- Contemporary dance festival rethinking age and performance runs across Sadler's Wells venues this week until 27 April. - Programming includes performances and community 'Get Into Dance' sessions in Islington and Stratford. - Line-up and ticket info can be found at londonist.com.
Sadler’s Wells’ Elixir Festival is in its final days, with performances, talks and workshops running across Angel and Stratford until Sunday, 27 April. (sadlerswells.com) The 2026 edition runs from 7 to 27 April at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Sadler’s Wells East. The programme mixes ticketed stage works with free classes, screenings and community events. (sadlerswells.com; onedanceuk.org) Sadler’s Wells frames the festival around “creative ageing,” with work that asks how people “express our changing bodies and minds as we grow and age.” Its spring season announcement described Elixir as a biennial festival focused on older performers. (sadlerswells.com; whatsonstage.com) That idea shapes the line-up. The festival opened with the United Kingdom premiere of *Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78* from 7 to 11 April, bringing Meryl Tankard together with other members of Pina Bausch’s original 1978 cast and pairing live performance with archival footage. (onedanceuk.org) It also included Sadler’s Wells’ resident Company of Elders in a double bill on 8 April, with work by John-William Watson and Charlotta Öfverholm. Sadler’s Wells says the company’s workshops were aimed at amateur dancers aged 60 and over, including one session for men and another open to all genders. (onedanceuk.org; sadlerswells.com) The community side of the festival landed most clearly at Get Into Dance Festival on Sunday, 19 April, a free event at Sadler’s Wells East that ran from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The schedule included The Place Over 60s, English National Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme, East London Dance’s Leap of Faith, Bollywood and Indian classical workshops, and a closing set from DJ Kathy. (sadlerswells.com) Sadler’s Wells says those Get Into Dance classes run year-round in community centres across Islington and East London. The festival showcase pulled in groups from venues including Pembury Community Centre, St Hilda’s East Community Centre and St Luke’s Community Centre. (sadlerswells.com) The last major performance still to come is Louise Lecavalier’s solo *danses vagabondes* at Sadler’s Wells East on 25 and 27 April. Sadler’s Wells says the new piece follows Lecavalier’s appearance at the 2024 Elixir Festival and is inspired by Carlo Rovelli’s *Écrits Vagabonds*. (sadlerswells.com; onedanceuk.org) By Sunday night, this year’s Elixir closes after three weeks of asking a practical question on stage and in studios: what dancing looks like across a longer life. (sadlerswells.com)
