Get a Move On: Tempo Dance Festival Kicks Off in 1.5 Weeks

In just 1.5 weeks time Tempo Dance Festival | Te Rerenga o Tere kicks off its milestone 25th edition, celebrating the brazen, the visceral and the rebellious. Featuring the best dance creatives from Aotearoa and beyond, the festival offers up six days of movement from 13 – 18 October (with some pre-festival treats) in Tāmaki Makaurau.

With 40% of the ticketed programme close to or fully sold out, and a third of the Festival being FREE to attend – there’s no excuse not to be locking in October as the month of dance.

Check out more new details, more line-ups and more reasons to clear your calendar for this year’s festival.

Just confirmed is a very special event, and one that means a lot to Tempo. On the final day of the Festival, Honouring A Dance Creative will celebrate the life and legacy of the late Dr Carla Marja van Zon, ONZM. A dynamo in the arts, Carla’s colleagues and friends will acknowledge her extraordinary contribution to dance, both at home and abroad, and her remarkable career spanning multiple decades working across arts festivals in Aotearoa.

Dance your Friday night away at BODIES: a club night, co-curated with Prowl Productions, with performances from The Legendary Trailblazing Illustrious and Supreme House of Coven-Aucoin, international performance artist Kerith Manderson-Galvin, Projekt Team, Kuini, Wiseman Mataiti, and DJ Happyfeet, DJ AMERO and DJ Brenda on the decks. The party is ON from 9.30pm ‘til late at Cassette Nine.

Celia Hext and Olivia McGregor bring dance out of the theatre and into the Karangahape Road Car Park with EXHAUST, MARKING OUT THREE COUNT takes Tempo out West at Te Puna Creative Hub in Henderson in mashup of wrestlers and dancers, and genre-defying DARK!DARK!DARK! at the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber adds a third performance, now on from 16–18 October.

Presented by Touch Compass, WHITE NOISE + Oro will be New Zealand Sign Language interpreted and audio described, with a Touch Tour available at 7.15pm (before the performance), facilitated by Audio Described Aotearoa. For access details for this show and the wider festival, visit tempodancefestival.co.nz

Dreaming With Your Feet: Classes for All schedule is dropping later this week, with options for everyone to get moving – from community-building dance fitness to house dance, and more. The festival will also be announcing the 6 artists from across Aotearoa and Australia whose screendance works will be presented at Academy Cinemas in Dream Futures: Screendance Now, curated in collaboration with Dance (Lens), Melbourne.

Ephemeral Lab. Photo credit: Seungwoo Hong

If you love 80s dance films (and who doesn’t?), there’s a special pre-Festival screening of Dance Films of Yesteryear: Flashdance. Come early and you can even learn some of the moves from a guest teacher! Keep an eye out around K’ Road on Saturday 17th October with our surprise pop up performances, or drop through the Q Theatre foyer for a mini exhibition of some of the best dance photography taken in Aotearoa.

With works from some of the country's most celebrated dance artists and companies, including Atamira Dance Company, Touch Compass, Projekt Team, Movement of the Human and more, Tempo Dance Festival is here to move you.

Tempo Dance Festival | Te Rerenga o Tere takes place across Tāmaki Makaurau from 13–18 October 2026.

Explore the full programme now at: www.tempodancefestival.co.nz