Southbank Centre comes alive as the temperatures soar, and this summer that's more true than ever. This year's big festival is themed around dancefloors of every kind, and the magic that happens when people of every age and every culture get moving. Dance Your Way Home is curated in collaboration with Emma Warren, who wrote a book of the same name - in celebration of the type of ordinary, messy dancing we do in kitchens and bars, not the rarified kind that happens on the stages of the Royal Opera House.
That means the line-up is full of opportunities to get involved, many of them free. Enjoy a micro disco anytime at Annie Frost Nicholson's installation Discoteca, which creates a bright pink dancefloor for one. Dealing with loss? Shake it out to a line-up of female DJs at Grief Rave (Aug 3). Learn African-derived social dances at A Dance Floor Journey (Aug 1). Or take a dance journey through the decades with History of Hip Hop (Aug 25), with a host who'll link together sounds from soul to funk to grime.
Feeling shy? There are also plenty of dance performances you can simply watch: like Icelandic artist Ásrún Magnúsdóttir's Listening Party (Aug 2-3), which explores how teenagers use movement to connect, or Alex Baczyński-Jenkins's Untitled (Holding Horizon) (Jul 31-31) which explores queer embodiment and desire. Or browse an exhibition by poet Iris Colomb, in response to the festival's themes. Browse the festival's full line-up for more inspo, and you're bound to find something that'll make your feet tap and your heart leap.
