Of all the dance we have to look forward to throughout the 2025–26 season – and there is plenty – it is pleasing to note that there are a number of choreographers who have commissioned scores for their new creations. More than half of the productions listed below will have new compositions, and with several major new works presented in September alone, this season promises a bumper offering for fans of contemporary dance and ballet.
Sharon Eyal: Delay the Sadness
Familiar presence in contemporary choreography Sharon Eyal presents the first full-length world premiere of the 2025–26 dance season, on 12th September at Ruhrtriennale Festival in Bochum. With her long term collaborator Gai Behar and her company S-E-D (Sharon Eyal Dance), Delay the Sadness has a newly commissioned score by Josef Laimon, and lighting by Alon Cohen.
Eyal has become one of the most sought after choreographers of this generation. Her distinctive style, which often sees a large cast of dancers moving like a murmuration across the stage, with small, almost imperceptible movements on demi-pointe, is strangely compelling. Once you’re hooked, it’s difficult to look away. Her vocabulary is unique and instantly recognisable. Most extraordinary is how she gets the dancers to inhabit her movements to the point where it turns into an emotive experience for the dancers and the audience.
Wayne McGregor: Jocasta’s Line
Wayne McGregor is no stranger to the international stage, but even he will no doubt find his latest creation for Norwegian National Opera and Ballet an ambitious challenge. Jocasta’s Line is a full-length evening comprising Antigone with a new score by Samy Moussa, and Oedipus Rex set to the original Igor Stravinsky score from 1927. Opening night (13th September) will bring together the ballet, the chorus and orchestra in what promises to be a fascinating retelling of the Greek tragedy. McGregor has always favoured collaborations and it will include lighting design by Lucy Carter and set and costume design by Vicki Mortimer. Koen Kessels and Charlotte Politi will conduct.
Hofesh Schechter: Grand Finale
The third premiere of the month, 24th September, will be Hofesh Shechter’s Grand Finale, performed at Opera Antwerp by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. It is a reinterpretation of a work first premiered in 2017 for ten dancers titled In Your Rooms. Lasting about an hour and a half, during the Covid pandemic it was reduced to one hour, but this version was never seen in a live performance.
Schechter has since revamped Grand Finale for 15 dancers, and will present it in its third iteration this month. Described as “choreographic fireworks” and “choreography of the year”, the work weaves pieces by Tchaikovsky and Léhar into his own composition. Shechter has invited the Antwerp-based HERMESensemble to perform live on stage with the dancers. Tom Scutt has designed sets and costumes and National Dance Award winner Tom Visser has designed the lighting.
Marcos Morau: Wunderkammer
Marcos Morau, choreographer and artist in residence with Staatsballett Berlin, will create a full-length work for the company titled Wunderkammer, opening 31st October. The title refers to the historical cabinets of Renaissance and Baroque Europe, filled with curious objects of science, nature and art. Morau is known for his sense of theatre and his imaginative and dreamlike imagery. Described as “an emotional mirror of our time”, Morau has commissioned a score from Clara Aguilar, with sets by Max Glaenzel, costumes by Silvia Delagneau and lighting design by cube.bz. In keeping with his previous works, it is likely to bring surprises and unexpected perspectives, taking the audience on an adventurous journey.
Jean-Christophe Maillot: Ma Bayadère
On 27th December at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo will premiere Ma Bayadère, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s reimagined and updated version of the traditional production of La Bayadère. There has been much discussion in recent years around updates and recreations, and we are likely to see an increasing number of adaptations of classics in the near future.
Maillot has already proved that he is adept at choreographic reinvention. Instead of setting the ballet in a Hindu temple with its sacred dancers, he has opted for the ballet studio and the daily life of a dance company. The company suggests that it will be a very personal creation. Regular collaborator Jérôme Kaplan will design costumes and sets while Samuel Thery will design the lighting.
Yuri Possokhov: Eugene Onegin
In January, San Francisco Ballet will premiere a brand new version of Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin created by Yuri Possokhov, SFB’s Choreographer-in-Residence. A co-production with The Joffrey Ballet, it features an original score by Ilya Demutsky, costume designs by award-winning Tim Yip and sets by Tom Pye. With an enduring and dramatic narrative combined with Possokhov’s trademark ability to blend the contemporary with the classical, this looks set to be a memorable addition to the repertoire.
Bryan Arias: Hamlet
Ballet de L’Opéra national du Rhin will bring a new full-length Hamlet to La Filature, Mulhouse and Opéra Strasbourg, opening on 30th January. Choreographed by Bryan Arias, born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City, his style is contemporary but tempered with theatricality and surrealism. He has chosen to stick to Shakespeare’s narrative but seen from Ophelia’s perspective. Musical director Tanguy de Williencourt will lead the Orchestre national de Mulhouse through various works by Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Costumes will be designed by Bregje Van Balen with sets and lighting by Lukas Marian.
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa: Gentleman Jack
Northern Ballet are gearing up for the world premiere on 7th March at Leeds Grand Theatre of Gentleman Jack, choreographed by award-winning Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Inspired by the successful BBC television series and books, it tells the true story of a powerful 19th-century Yorkshire woman, Anne Lister, who lived her life as she pleased. A co-production with Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Claire Cowan has been commissioned to write the score which will be performed live. This is significant because funding cuts has meant that Northern Ballet cannot always perform with a live orchestra. Sally Wainwright, who wrote Gentleman Jack as well as Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax for television, will be the creative consultant while lighting and set design will be by Christopher Ash and Louise Flanagan will design costumes.
Cathy Marston: Romeo and Juliet
Cathy Marston will present a new version of Romeo and Juliet in May, created for her company, Ballett Zürich. Using the famous Prokofiev score, performed by the Orchester der Oper Zürich, costumes and sets will be designed by David Fleischer and lighting by Martin Gebhardt. Given Marston’s previous successes with narrative ballets (Jane Eyre, The Suit, Victoria, The Cellist, Atonement and last year’s Clara) we can expect an original take on Shakespeare’s tragic play.
Akram Khan: Carnage and the Divine
Finally, Akram Khan will make his main stage debut at Covent Garden with a commission from the Royal Ballet and Opera to create Carnage and the Divine, for a mix of company dancers and guest performers. Based on Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, it is likely to differ greatly from any other version on offer. Khan’s background in contemporary dance and Kathak gives him a unique voice which he uses to great effect whether it’s with his own Akram Khan Dance Company or with English National Ballet for whom he created Dust, Creature and his incredible reimagining of Giselle. The recipient of numerous awards including a staggering ten National Dance Awards, Khan’s Carnage and the Divine premieres on 29th July.
See all our listings for world premieres in dance and ballet.
