Friday 20 March (public performances) + Saturday 21 March (artist day) 2026 — at Contact, Manchester
Turn, Manchester's open call dance platform, returns to Contact in 2026, and North West* dancers and dance-makers (aged 18+) are invited to submit
proposals of short pieces of work, works-in-progress, or extracts of longer
works for inclusion in this annual event.
To get a feel for it, have a look at
the 2025 programme + image
gallery and 2024 programme + image gallery.
Proposal Deadline: Friday 16 January 2026, 5pm.
Turn 2026:
an
open submission dance platform for North West* dancers and dance-makers on
Friday 20 March:
● short finished pieces of work;
● excerpts or extracts of longer
works;
● works-in-progress;
Plus an artist day on Saturday 21 March.
Turn 2026 will be a single evening of public performances throughout Contact
on Fri 20 March — followed by an artist day incorporating a workshop or masterclasses and
feedback sessions on Sat 21 March.
Participating artists
will be expected to attend both days.
Proposals should be for pieces with some live presence, 20 minutes maximum for show-type work, technically simple, adaptable to quick turnarounds, and suitable for showing alongside other pieces.
We are looking for dance in any form which uses the artists' creativity, has strong concept, original choreography, and professional aspiration.
We welcome work which explores forms beyond Contemporary — including radical re-imaginings of classical non-western and urban forms; and we are particularly interested in contemporary work which explores the boundaries between dance and Live Art.
Priorities are for high quality and exciting dance-based work by North West* artists, which has not been seen in Manchester before.
Turn aims to be:
● a public micro-festival and open submission
platform;
● an opportunity for artists to meet, show, and peer-review work;
● an
artist networking event;
● and is open to North West England* dancers and
dance-makers, aged 18+
*North West England consists of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside; does NOT include Yorkshire or Derbyshire.
To apply to Turn 2026:
1. Please read the venue (Contact)'s tech specs + Visiting Company Handbook and the
spaces information below;
2. Complete and submit the proposal
and monitoring forms.
(Direct
form links: https://forms.gle/RVAQCPk8rTrefk2z6 and https://forms.gle/A8MFfDGRYnNBXY5Z9)
3. Include a short compulsory video submission —
upload to your own YouTube/Vimeo or similar page, and include the link in the
proposal form; alternatively upload to the Turn google folder. Video
should be short (ideally 5, max 10 mins) and does not have to be high quality
or edited but should give a feel of the work you are proposing — i.e.
rehearsal footage or a video sketch of ideas and style.
NB we'd appreciate if
everyone could use the online form; if you have significant difficulties please
contact turn@habmcr.org for
an offline version.
Closing Deadline: 5pm, Friday 16 January 2026.
NOTES
We advise you complete the proposal form while logged into Google so you can save and edit. Otherwise you will need to complete at one sitting so please copy and paste the longer elements from another document. Below, for reference only, is a sample copy of the form so you can see the questions offline — please do not submit this.
Turn 2026 will offer an honorarium of up to £300 per piece selected, to cover fees/expenses.
There will be a technical meeting for ALL selected artists on Saturday 7 March 2026 (daytime, in person or remotely).
Enquiries: turn@habmcr.org | turnmcr.org
CREDITS
Turn 2026 is presented by Word of Warning + Contact; produced by hÅb; supported by Cheshire Dance, Project Auske, and using public funding by Arts Council England. Thanks to Company Chameleon.