Dance Bridges Festival is an international dance biennial celebrating a diverse range of contemporary dance that is artistically innovative, thought-provoking and relevant. The Festival is run by Dance Bridges, a non-profit organisation with a core value for excellence and believing in the power of community built through artistic exchanges and discursive dialogues. The Festival supports year round activities in addition to the main festival under the artistic direction of Vanessa Mirza (UK/India).

The Festival was founded in August 2014, and has taken place in the month of August since its origin in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024. Over these past 5 editions Dance Bridges has presented performances, residencies, workshops, artist talks and film screenings collaborating with more than 85 independent artists and dance companies from over 35 countries as well as engaging with 25,000+ audience members and participants.

The 6th edition of the Festival will be held in Kolkata from August 20th-24th, 2026. This year’s festival will have a host of international and national artists presenting performances, workshops, dance film screenings, artistic showcases and other outreach events. Artists previews will be released shortly with the full programme and venue details shared by end June 2026. Most events are ticketed and bookings should be made in advance. Details of ticket links will be announced in June 2026.

We are also launching our industry event ‘DBF Rendezvous’ for arts professionals on 21st & 22nd August. Registration for global/local delegates who would like to be part of these conversations and networking events can sign up online and a confirmation email will be sent by the Dance Brides team. Due to limited capacity we would like to limit attendance to one person per organisation.

We look forward to engaging with you in the City of Joy soon!