Dance Base Festival 2026 in partnership with Assembly Festival presents Fringe Fragments on 24 and 25 August 2026.
Produced by Dance Base, Fringe Fragments is a pitching platform showcasing dance talent from around the world. Designed as a public event and industry showcase in one, audiences can see several excerpts from tour-ready performances by international and UK dance artists, each presented with a short artist talk and hosted by Artistic Director, Tony Mills. This year, Dance Base is collaborating with Nordberg Movement (Sweden) and Kultur | lx—arts council Luxembourg, to present artists inspired by activism, Hip Hop and Merce Cunningham.
Artists include:
Penny Chivas Where We Choose to Stand (Scotland). A dance-theatre show inspired by activism and political change, blending movement, music, real stories and moments of audience connection.
Alicia Cano-Smit and Benoît Callens Echos Infinis (Luxembourg). Bound by a constant physical connection that shifts its point of contact, Benoît and Alicia move through cycles of conflict, support and loss of control to reveal the ways we become trapped, evolve and reconnect.
Philip Berlin La Ronde (Sweden) Performed by Philip and Louise Dahl, La Ronde is explosive yet minimalist. An investigation into circular and rotating dance material, expect spherical leaps, sudden accelerations and a thrilling physical claiming of the entire space.
Show times:
Monday 24 August | 13:15-14:15 and 17:30-18:30
Tuesday 25 August | 13:15-14:15 and 17:30-18:30
It is the same programme for each performance.
For Industry Professionals:
This year industry guests will get a further chance to get to know the artists and network on Monday 24 August with a Fr-Industry afternoon reception at 14:15 – 15:30 and an evening Fringe Fragments reception at 18:30 – 20:00.
Please help us keep track of the attendance by noting your interest by completing the registration form linked below.
Please note registration is for industry only.
For any industry enquiries, please email fringesupport@dancebase.co.uk
La Ronde by Philip Berlin (Sweden)
La Ronde is a choreography built from circular and revolving movement, marked by spherical leaps, sudden accelerations and a physical claiming of the entire space. Reflecting on the necessity of excess and waste, the work explores the immanent intelligence of dancing and its insatiable pull towards complexity.
Maxime Denuc’s music, composed within the sonic world of pipe organs, moves between the repetitive pulse of club music and the instrument’s spherical intensity. Running alongside the choreographic process is a digital-archaeological approach inspired by Merce Cunningham’s pioneering DanceForms software.
This presentation at Fringe Fragments is made possible through a collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in London and Kulturrådet/The Swedish Arts Council.
Find our more here.
Image credit: Sebastian Strand
Echos Infinis by Alicia Cano-Smit and Benoit Callens (Luxembourg)
What happens when two people cannot let go?
In Echos Infinis, Benoit Callens and Alicia Cano Smit explore the loops that inhabit our minds, relationships and daily lives.
Bound by constant physical connection, they move through cycles of conflict, support, balance and loss of control. Drawing from hip hop dance influences, physical theatre and structured improvisation, the duet unfolds as a living negotiation between repetition and transformation.
As patterns emerge, break apart and return in new forms, Echos Infinis offers a sensitive reflection on the ways we become trapped, evolve and reconnect.
Find out more about Benoît Callens and Alicia Cano-Smit.
Image credit: Bohumil Kostohryz
Where We Choose to Stand by Penny Chivas (UK)
Where We Choose to Stand is an ambitious dance-theatre work inspired by climate activism amid political upheaval.
Embedded in Nicolette Macleod’s evocative soundscape are first hand accounts from people from across the UK who have been involved in direct action, amplifying the voices of those often silenced for their actions. Through audience interaction, the work challenges audiences to reflect on where they stand, asking how we position ourselves in moments of crisis.
Find out more here.
Image credit: Brian Hartley