The best dance and ballet shows in February 2026

Although it was first staged in 2008, this is the first time the penultimate work of legendary choreographer Pina Bausch will be shown in London, so this is a pretty big deal. Contemporary dance heads have long been awaiting the UK premiere of Sweet Mambo, an expressionist dance work which explores human emotion in its many forms. 

Peter Wright’s production of ‘Giselle’ returns for the first time in a decade. The OG romantic ballet arrives just in time for Valentine’s day, telling the haunting tale of a peasant girl tricked into betrothing herself to a dallying prince, before killing herself and going off to seek revenge on all men as one of the Willis. 

Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire returns to the Royal Opera House for the first time since 2007 to celebrate Tetley’s centenary. In this melancholy and surreal modern ballet dancers hang off a singular scaffold. Inspired by stock characters from commedia dell'arte, Pierrot the clown is tormented by the sinister Brighella and beautiful Columbine. 

Each year in January, the Place puts on Resolution, the UK’s biggest festival of emerging dance artists and choreographers. As per usual, this year presents a bold programme of eclectic dance triple bills that spans everything from Manon Servage’s Eclipse – a neoclassical dance performance that fuses queer club culture with ballet, to ZhouXin Theater’s Doom Box – a live performance and installation that uses the ‘blank body’ as inspiration.

The ultimate sadgirl ballet is returning to the Royal Opera House in winter 2026. Wayne McGregor’s sweeping and expressive ballet exploring the life and work of Virginia Woolf, accompanied by Max Richter’s haunting original score, has been one of the Royal Ballet’s big hitters over the past decade. First staged in 2015, the dance triptych inspired by extracts from Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves picked up an Olivier award for best dance production. 

Technically, Infinitie Bodies is a dance exhibition rather than a live show, however, Wayne McGregor’s dancers are in residence at this totally hypnotic installation exploring the relationship between machines and the body in the work of the virtuoso choreographer. Dancers will be performing at random times throughout the exhibition’s run.