Ensemble Festival 2026
Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July 2026, 12pm – 8pm
Royal Victoria Docks, London, E16 1FA
This July, Certain Blacks presents Ensemble Festival 2026 in London’s historic Royal Victoria Docks. Now in its seventh edition, the free outdoor celebration of circus, dance, and theatre returns for two full days of bold, joyful and thought-provoking work from exciting contemporary artists. Suitable for all ages, Ensemble Festival continues to transform the Docklands waterside destination into a vibrant meeting point for innovative outdoor arts and community celebration in Newham.
This year’s programme explores identity, ritual, ecology, and collective experience through a dynamic mix of dance, gig theatre, circus, and physical storytelling. Highlights include Fragments of Us by the renowned Talawa Theatre in collaboration with contemporary dance company FUBUNATION and award-winning artist Sonia Hughes, a dance and spoken word performance exploring ancestry, belonging, and shared experiences. Garbh by Shyam Dattani and Mira Salat reimagines the Gujarati folk dance Garba through contemporary choreography and a visually rich design, while ElevateHer by Daughters of the Wire celebrates female camaraderie and empowerment through an all-female wire walking performance.
Meanwhile, Nigel “Kobby” Taylor’s The Torch blends Afrobeat, hip-hop, rap and storytelling into a gig-theatre experience about identity, legacy and discovering one’s own light. Ferdinando + Bernstein’s Stick and Stone brings audiences together through physical comedy and visual imagery in a playful and poignant reflection on nature, ecological crisis, and reconnection.
The programme also includes Balance by Brainfools, a circus-theatre piece using found objects and acrobatics to reflect on pub culture, and Captain C-Man by Cormac Mohally, a juggling and circus show for all ages.
The festival will also showcase a selection of contemporary Catalan performances. These include U.F.A by Cris Clown , a public space installation centred around a clown suspended in the middle of the street; Domte by Nacho Flores, a poetic street circus duet inspired by mythology and transformation and Water Silhouettes by Teatro en Movimiento Callejerx, a participatory performance exploring water scarcity through a symbolic language.
Following recent funding awarded through Arts Council England’s Creative Foundations Fund, Certain Blacks will invest in environmentally conscious and sustainable infrastructure to deliver a greener festival. As well, Ensemble Festival 2026 features work supported through Without Walls, the national network championing outdoor arts across England.
Clive Lyttle, Artistic Director of Certain Blacks says: “I was recently asked by a group of young Black men where I was from – ‘Are you from Somalia? No. Are you from Jamaica? No. So you think you are British? Why? You aren’t from here?’ – ‘I was born in Lewisham Hospital; the same place my mum worked all her life and where she died so, this is where I’m from.’ The work in the festival touches on this conversation of identity and what it is to be diverse, or different or care about the world. It’s a pleasure to present work from artists that engage with these themes and we are grateful for the support of our funders, community and friends, which enable us to keep telling these stories”
