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Performing Arts Season

Key Visual Performing Arts Season 2024

A Panorama of International Dance, Theatre and Performance Productions

The programme is online; ticket sales are on.

Performing Arts Season 2026/27

Myths that tell of the world’s origins and rituals that connect humans to nature and the earth serve as the very source of identity, allowing humans to anchor themselves in history, confirm their roots in a particular land, and affirm their coexistence with others. Myths often depict battles, not to make humans hostile, but to provoke deep reflection on how tragic and devastating the consequences of war truly are. Some ancient rituals, including those involving sacrifice, may seem brutal by modern standards, but they were not intended to stimulate sadism; rather, they served to affirm the vulnerability and preciousness of life. It is fair to say that a sense of awe for the dignity of life has sustained these traditions.

The immediacy that characterises the practice of performing arts is a mechanism for activating a community’s collective imagination and emotion, and its origins can likely be traced back to songs and dances praying for harvests. There, mythical narratives unfolded, ritualistic forms became established as local festivals, and were passed down continuously across generations. In other words, myths and rituals can also be said to be the origins of performing arts. Now, let us ask ourselves anew: Can contemporary performing arts serve not as something that divides us living in the modern world, but as something that connects us? And can they inspire a sense of awe and reverence for life and its dignity? It is by returning to this fundamental meaning of performing arts that this 2026/27 Performing Arts Season has been conceived.

Programme

We open the fourth Performing Arts Season on 13 October with a bold new performance work: the stage version of Balkan Erotic Epic by the seminal iconic performance artist, Marina Abramović, will premiere in Germany. This durational ritual where ancient Balkan myths meet performance art explores until 17 October the eroticism, spirituality and traditions of Abramović’s homeland, brought to life by a cast of more than 30 performers, dancers, musicians and singers. Furthermore, she hosts an exhibition of the same name that opened in April at Gropius Bau.

Following on 12 and 13 November, Albanian-born Greek-based theatre maker Mario Banushi returns to Haus der Berliner Festspiele after being part of the festival Performing Exiles in 2025. Banushi shows his latest piece, MAMI, as its German premiere. As his personal mythology, this work, a visual poem and a landscape of memories, depicts the source of life and is a tribute to the women who nurtured us.

What is more, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker returns to her roots with the new creation GLA55, which will have its world premiere at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on 19 November, with further performances on 20 and 21 November. The Ictus Ensemble and Bl!ndman revisit early works by the master of minimalism, Philip Glass, while Rosas dancers let a geometric choreography unfold, guiding our consciousness into a trance-like dimension.

In December, you can see two bold dance pieces. Belgian-French choreographer Damien Jalet brings Planet [wanderer] on 4 and 5 December, inspired by Japan’s Genesis story, the Kojiki. Alongside the overwhelming organic stage set by the Japanese sculptor, Kohei Nawa, it discusses the boundary between the living and the dead, and the inseparable relationship between the human body, the elements of the cosmic world, and gravity. This work has been incorporated into the Focus Japan framework initiated by Berliner Festspiele in 2026, symbolising the long-standing exchange and resonance between the Berliner Festspiele and Japanese forms of artistic expression.

Canadian leading choreographer, Marie Chouinard, on the other hand, highlights on 9 and 10 December an evening consisting of her early masterpiece (1993) and her latest piece (2025): The Rite of Spring, a piece of music that has inspired legendary artists to create groundbreaking choreographies in each epoch, and MAGNIFICAT, which is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and is the canticle most frequently recited. What defines both works is that they are subject to her sublime and exquisite choreography. 

Dumb Type, Japan’s leading multimedia performance collective, presents their latest performance work, 2020, from 15 to 17 January. This has been a phantom work, which they almost completed and planned to premiere in March 2020 as the first work after 18 years but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; only a recorded version was presented. Berliner Festspiele present the European premiere in January 2027 right after the now live world premiere at ROHM Theatre Kyoto. AI, surveillance society, communication failure, the climate crisis, geopolitics – the performance explores these threats to humanity in the liminal space between technology and the living body. This work is also part of Focus Japan, initiated by Berliner Festspiele

After being a part of the 2025/26 Performing Arts Season and being nominated for the 2024 Theatertreffen, we are pleased to welcome again Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer and director Gisèle Vienne on 21 and 22 January with her new creation and Berliner Festspiele co-production, Archives of Feelings (world premiere at Schauspielhaus Zürich). In this first collaboration with the writer Marie NDiaye, Vienne articulates the contemporary concerns and the struggles for a dignified and viable life for all, embodying the long-standing research into power relations and their construction.

Through these prominent contemporary expressions of performing arts and while bringing back to mind fundamental meanings of performativity, we might find that the performing arts exist as neither mere entertaining nor healing, but as a device that shapes our profound perception and thinking about the world, and furthermore, generates and changes it. The theatre has been over time and will continue to be an actual space: a place for people to come together. At the same time, the experience of theatre is a phenomenon that cannot be repeated and exists only in the here and now. Let’s share this unique time together and encounter different people and perspectives in the upcoming edition of the Performing Arts Season, which coincides with the Berliner Festspiele’s 75th anniversary year.

Concept/Design: 3pc

© Berliner Festspiele / Performing Arts Season 2026

Impressions

  • A person perceived as female wearing a black headscarf stands in front of a black background in the rain. She looks up at the sky and lifts her skirt up to her ribs

    Marina Abramović, Scaring the Gods from the series Balkan Erotic Epic, Performance documentation, Factory International, 2025, Manchester, UK

    © Marina Abramović, Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Marco Anelli

  • A woman stands over a man, holding him wrapped in a mattress.

    MAMI

    © Pinelopi Gerasimou

  • Several people are standing or moving about in a rehearsal room, surrounded by colourful circles.

    Gla55. 10 movements to the music of Philip Glass

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • A person surrounded by a white liquid, moving in such a way that threads of the substance stretch from their entire body.

    Planet [wanderer]

    © Yoshikazu Inoue

  • Dancers move synchronously with their backs to the camera, wearing skin colored suits and hats, blue background.

    MAGNIFICAT

    © Sylvie-Ann Paré, dancers: Michael Baboolal, Adrian W.S. Batt, Justin Calvadores, Rose Gagnol, Valeria Galluccio, Luigi Luna, Carol Prieur, Sophie Qin, Celeste Robbins, Clémentine Schindler, Ana Van Tendeloo, Jérôme Zerges

  • A person dressed in white sits behind a square opening in the stage floor; three screens are positioned behind them.

    2020

    © Kazuo Fukunaga

  • In powerful and exaggerated gestures, three performers take a step forward.

    Thikra: A Night of Remembering

    © Camilla Greenwell

  • An empty room bathed in turquoise-blue light, festively set tables with flowers, and a balloon in the background.

    Archives of Feelings

    © Jean-Louis Fernandez

  • On stage there is a two-storey rock formation. Musicians are scattered across it and two people in colourful costumes are dancing next to it.

    Último helecho

    © Nina Laisné

  • People wearing masks depicting portraits of historical figures. Behind them is a projection of a ship's deck.

    The Great Yes, The Great No, July 2024

    © Monika Rittershaus

  • Mannequins sit on chairs. A performer in dynamic movement knocks over a chair.

    Showroomdummies #4

    © Yuki Moriya

  • A person of Colour stands in a spotlight in the atrium, surrounded by an audience.

    Wayward Chant, Ligia Lewis

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Frank Sperling

  • Ursina Lardi wears a toga-like beach dress. Willi Keller wears a towel around his hips and carries a drum.

    Dancing Idiots

    © Armin Smailovic

  • Dancers spin around their own axis. They hold long scarves that wave around them.

    Post Orientalist Express, Eun-Me Ahn, 2025

    © Jean-Marie Chabot

  • Dancers in various positions at a barre

    MOMO, Batsheva Dance Company

    © Ascaf

  • Performers on stage with a backdrop in the background during the performance of "This is not a message (Made in Taiwan)"

    Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan), Stefan Kaegi

    © Claudia Ndebele I Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan)

  • Two actors with sad faces sit on the stage leaning against each other.

    Verrückt nach Trost, Thorsten Lensing

    © SF / Armin Smailovic

  • Performer stands with a basket in the audience rows

    Bark of Millions, Taylor Mac

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Four dancers on a stage criss-crossed by lines and circles. One person is in a one-armed handstand position.

    Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga / Rosas, A7LA5

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • Two dancers in wide dresses and synchronised movement in front of a black and white projection.

    Glacial Decoy (1979), Trisha Brown Dance Company

    © Maria Baranova

  • Actors in a dystopian stage landscape look into an oversized egg.

    Der Garten der Lüste, Philippe Quesne

    © Martin Argyroglo

  • Three dancers in synchronised movement, arms at right angles

    Four New Works, Lucinda Childs

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A projection of Cohen with delicately done make-up; in the front there are orante candelabrums

    Put your heart under your feet…and walk!, Steven Cohen

    © Pierre Planchenault

  • A person of Color with funky glasses and barbecue tongs, next to a vacuum cleaner

    MIKE, Dana Michel

    © Françoise Robert

  • One person in a handstand above another lying on the ground

    INK, Dimitris Papaioannou

    © Julian Mommert

  • In front of a bouldering wall, several performers are in actobatic movements

    Corps extrêmes, Rachid Ouramdane

    © Pascale Cholette

  • In a sweeping movement, one person grabs another around the stomach

    Club Amour, Café Müller, Tanztheater Wuppertal

    © Oliver Look

  • large disco balls and confetti above dancing performers dressed in striking costumes

    Aerocircus – A Play by Thomas Köck, RambaZamba

    © Phillip Zwanzig

  • A person perceived as female wearing a black headscarf stands in front of a black background in the rain. She looks up at the sky and lifts her skirt up to her ribs

    Marina Abramović, Scaring the Gods from the series Balkan Erotic Epic, Performance documentation, Factory International, 2025, Manchester, UK

    © Marina Abramović, Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Marco Anelli

  • A woman stands over a man, holding him wrapped in a mattress.

    MAMI

    © Pinelopi Gerasimou

  • Several people are standing or moving about in a rehearsal room, surrounded by colourful circles.

    Gla55. 10 movements to the music of Philip Glass

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • A person surrounded by a white liquid, moving in such a way that threads of the substance stretch from their entire body.

    Planet [wanderer]

    © Yoshikazu Inoue

  • Dancers move synchronously with their backs to the camera, wearing skin colored suits and hats, blue background.

    MAGNIFICAT

    © Sylvie-Ann Paré, dancers: Michael Baboolal, Adrian W.S. Batt, Justin Calvadores, Rose Gagnol, Valeria Galluccio, Luigi Luna, Carol Prieur, Sophie Qin, Celeste Robbins, Clémentine Schindler, Ana Van Tendeloo, Jérôme Zerges

  • A person dressed in white sits behind a square opening in the stage floor; three screens are positioned behind them.

    2020

    © Kazuo Fukunaga

  • In powerful and exaggerated gestures, three performers take a step forward.

    Thikra: A Night of Remembering

    © Camilla Greenwell

  • An empty room bathed in turquoise-blue light, festively set tables with flowers, and a balloon in the background.

    Archives of Feelings

    © Jean-Louis Fernandez

  • On stage there is a two-storey rock formation. Musicians are scattered across it and two people in colourful costumes are dancing next to it.

    Último helecho

    © Nina Laisné

  • People wearing masks depicting portraits of historical figures. Behind them is a projection of a ship's deck.

    The Great Yes, The Great No, July 2024

    © Monika Rittershaus

  • Mannequins sit on chairs. A performer in dynamic movement knocks over a chair.

    Showroomdummies #4

    © Yuki Moriya

  • A person of Colour stands in a spotlight in the atrium, surrounded by an audience.

    Wayward Chant, Ligia Lewis

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Frank Sperling

  • Ursina Lardi wears a toga-like beach dress. Willi Keller wears a towel around his hips and carries a drum.

    Dancing Idiots

    © Armin Smailovic

  • Dancers spin around their own axis. They hold long scarves that wave around them.

    Post Orientalist Express, Eun-Me Ahn, 2025

    © Jean-Marie Chabot

  • Dancers in various positions at a barre

    MOMO, Batsheva Dance Company

    © Ascaf

  • Performers on stage with a backdrop in the background during the performance of "This is not a message (Made in Taiwan)"

    Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan), Stefan Kaegi

    © Claudia Ndebele I Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan)

  • Two actors with sad faces sit on the stage leaning against each other.

    Verrückt nach Trost, Thorsten Lensing

    © SF / Armin Smailovic

  • Performer stands with a basket in the audience rows

    Bark of Millions, Taylor Mac

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Four dancers on a stage criss-crossed by lines and circles. One person is in a one-armed handstand position.

    Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga / Rosas, A7LA5

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • Two dancers in wide dresses and synchronised movement in front of a black and white projection.

    Glacial Decoy (1979), Trisha Brown Dance Company

    © Maria Baranova

  • Actors in a dystopian stage landscape look into an oversized egg.

    Der Garten der Lüste, Philippe Quesne

    © Martin Argyroglo

  • Three dancers in synchronised movement, arms at right angles

    Four New Works, Lucinda Childs

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A projection of Cohen with delicately done make-up; in the front there are orante candelabrums

    Put your heart under your feet…and walk!, Steven Cohen

    © Pierre Planchenault

  • A person of Color with funky glasses and barbecue tongs, next to a vacuum cleaner

    MIKE, Dana Michel

    © Françoise Robert

  • One person in a handstand above another lying on the ground

    INK, Dimitris Papaioannou

    © Julian Mommert

  • In front of a bouldering wall, several performers are in actobatic movements

    Corps extrêmes, Rachid Ouramdane

    © Pascale Cholette

  • In a sweeping movement, one person grabs another around the stomach

    Club Amour, Café Müller, Tanztheater Wuppertal

    © Oliver Look

  • large disco balls and confetti above dancing performers dressed in striking costumes

    Aerocircus – A Play by Thomas Köck, RambaZamba

    © Phillip Zwanzig

  • A person perceived as female wearing a black headscarf stands in front of a black background in the rain. She looks up at the sky and lifts her skirt up to her ribs

    Marina Abramović, Scaring the Gods from the series Balkan Erotic Epic, Performance documentation, Factory International, 2025, Manchester, UK

    © Marina Abramović, Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo: Marco Anelli

  • A woman stands over a man, holding him wrapped in a mattress.

    MAMI

    © Pinelopi Gerasimou

  • Several people are standing or moving about in a rehearsal room, surrounded by colourful circles.

    Gla55. 10 movements to the music of Philip Glass

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • A person surrounded by a white liquid, moving in such a way that threads of the substance stretch from their entire body.

    Planet [wanderer]

    © Yoshikazu Inoue

  • Dancers move synchronously with their backs to the camera, wearing skin colored suits and hats, blue background.

    MAGNIFICAT

    © Sylvie-Ann Paré, dancers: Michael Baboolal, Adrian W.S. Batt, Justin Calvadores, Rose Gagnol, Valeria Galluccio, Luigi Luna, Carol Prieur, Sophie Qin, Celeste Robbins, Clémentine Schindler, Ana Van Tendeloo, Jérôme Zerges

  • A person dressed in white sits behind a square opening in the stage floor; three screens are positioned behind them.

    2020

    © Kazuo Fukunaga

  • In powerful and exaggerated gestures, three performers take a step forward.

    Thikra: A Night of Remembering

    © Camilla Greenwell

  • An empty room bathed in turquoise-blue light, festively set tables with flowers, and a balloon in the background.

    Archives of Feelings

    © Jean-Louis Fernandez

  • On stage there is a two-storey rock formation. Musicians are scattered across it and two people in colourful costumes are dancing next to it.

    Último helecho

    © Nina Laisné

  • People wearing masks depicting portraits of historical figures. Behind them is a projection of a ship's deck.

    The Great Yes, The Great No, July 2024

    © Monika Rittershaus

  • Mannequins sit on chairs. A performer in dynamic movement knocks over a chair.

    Showroomdummies #4

    © Yuki Moriya

  • A person of Colour stands in a spotlight in the atrium, surrounded by an audience.

    Wayward Chant, Ligia Lewis

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Frank Sperling

  • Ursina Lardi wears a toga-like beach dress. Willi Keller wears a towel around his hips and carries a drum.

    Dancing Idiots

    © Armin Smailovic

  • Dancers spin around their own axis. They hold long scarves that wave around them.

    Post Orientalist Express, Eun-Me Ahn, 2025

    © Jean-Marie Chabot

  • Dancers in various positions at a barre

    MOMO, Batsheva Dance Company

    © Ascaf

  • Performers on stage with a backdrop in the background during the performance of "This is not a message (Made in Taiwan)"

    Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan), Stefan Kaegi

    © Claudia Ndebele I Dies ist keine Botschaft (Made in Taiwan)

  • Two actors with sad faces sit on the stage leaning against each other.

    Verrückt nach Trost, Thorsten Lensing

    © SF / Armin Smailovic

  • Performer stands with a basket in the audience rows

    Bark of Millions, Taylor Mac

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Four dancers on a stage criss-crossed by lines and circles. One person is in a one-armed handstand position.

    Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga / Rosas, A7LA5

    © Anne Van Aerschot

  • Two dancers in wide dresses and synchronised movement in front of a black and white projection.

    Glacial Decoy (1979), Trisha Brown Dance Company

    © Maria Baranova

  • Actors in a dystopian stage landscape look into an oversized egg.

    Der Garten der Lüste, Philippe Quesne

    © Martin Argyroglo

  • Three dancers in synchronised movement, arms at right angles

    Four New Works, Lucinda Childs

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A projection of Cohen with delicately done make-up; in the front there are orante candelabrums

    Put your heart under your feet…and walk!, Steven Cohen

    © Pierre Planchenault

  • A person of Color with funky glasses and barbecue tongs, next to a vacuum cleaner

    MIKE, Dana Michel

    © Françoise Robert

  • One person in a handstand above another lying on the ground

    INK, Dimitris Papaioannou

    © Julian Mommert

  • In front of a bouldering wall, several performers are in actobatic movements

    Corps extrêmes, Rachid Ouramdane

    © Pascale Cholette

  • In a sweeping movement, one person grabs another around the stomach

    Club Amour, Café Müller, Tanztheater Wuppertal

    © Oliver Look

  • large disco balls and confetti above dancing performers dressed in striking costumes

    Aerocircus – A Play by Thomas Köck, RambaZamba

    © Phillip Zwanzig

In the Media Library

In a lecture at the Performing Arts Season 2025/26, Gisèle Vienne offered insights into the significance of dolls in her work. Interviews, essays, and videos from previous editions of the Performing Arts Season, including contributions by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Akram Khan and Philippe Quesne, are still available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

To the Media Library
A person in a yellow jumper sits on a row of chairs and looks at another person lying on the floor.

Showroomdummies#4, Centre Pompidou 2021

© Yuki Moriya

About Performing Arts Season

Berliner Festspiele’s Performing Arts Season has been presenting a range of outstanding international dance, theatre and performance productions at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and Gropius Bau during the autumn and winter months. Some of the works shown are co-produced by the Berliner Festspiele or specially produced in Berlin.

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