Senegal Hosts Africa’s Largest Contemporary Dance Festival

Twenty-five companies gathered at the École des Sables on May 2-4, 2026, for the African Dance Biennale – as the continent’s most important choreographic platform faces an uncertain future. The previous edition was held in 2023 in Mozambique.

Key points

• Twenty-five dance companies from across Africa converged on Toubab Dialao for the African Dance Biennale
• The event was hosted by the École des Sables, the continent’s leading professional dance training institution
• The school faces a potential expropriation threat from a nearby $1 billion deep-water port project

Twenty-five dance companies from across Africa gathered on May 2–4, 2026, in the fishing village of Toubab Dialao, Senegal, for the African Dance Biennale – the continent’s premier showcase for contemporary African dance.

Dozens of dancers dressed in vivid oranges, greens, and blues stamped, leapt, and collapsed onto the sun-baked sand of the coastal village, an hour’s drive from the capital, Dakar. The three-day event concluded on Sunday evening.

A Continent’s Choreographic Memory

Founded in 1997, the African Dance Biennale has spent nearly three decades rotating across African cities to raise the visibility of choreographic work across the continent. The previous edition took place in 2023, in Maputo, Mozambique.

This edition was held at the École des Sables in Toubab Dialao, which has grown into the continent’s most important professional dance training institution. The school was founded in 1998 by Germaine Acogny, widely regarded as the mother of contemporary African dance.

Its iconic open-air sand studio has drawn dancers from dozens of countries for intensive residencies blending her original contemporary technique with traditional West African and Black modern dance styles.

École des Sables gained significant international recognition in recent years as the home of the first African production of Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring, which toured globally from 2021 to 2025.

Part of a Wider Cultural Renaissance

The biennale is the latest in a series of major cultural events to have called Senegal home in recent years. In November 2024, Dakar hosted the 15th edition of Dak’Art – the Biennale of Contemporary African Art – which featured 58 artists from 33 countries under the theme The Wake, exploring the enduring legacy of colonialism and the awakening of new African voices. 

With over 300 venues participating in its OFF programme alone, the edition represented an unprecedented density of artistic activity across the Senegalese capital. Together, these gatherings are cementing Senegal’s reputation as one of the continent’s foremost cultural destinations.

A Celebration Shadowed by Uncertainty

The dance biennale comes at a precarious moment for the École des Sables. Indeed, a $1 billion deep-water port project supervised by Dubai Ports World is currently under construction just south of the fishing village. This project threatens to expropriate surrounding land – including plots the school has acquired specifically to protect its natural ecosystem.

Arts institutions in the area have formed an association to oppose the development, as concern grows over the future of one of Africa’s most distinctive cultural landmarks.