Biennale College Danza: the new call for applications for 2026

The new international calls dedicated to young dancers and choreographers for Biennale College Danza 2026 go online today, Tuesday 16 December, on the website of La Biennale di Venezia – www.labiennale.org. The calls will remain online through Monday 26 January 2026.

16 dancers between the ages of 18 and 28 years old, and 2 choreographers under 30 will be selected by Sir Wayne McGregor, now in his sixth year as Director, for Biennale College Danza 2026: an intensive and immersive three-month residency in Venice (13 May > 1 August) with a single programme to be conducted under the guidance of leading international masters and professionals in the field, to develop artistic abilities and acquire new knowledge and skills in the career paths they have chosen.

The selected young artists will participate in:

• an introductory residency with McGregor and his team, focused on exploring Physical Thinking through choreographic, performative and artificial intelligence-based practices. This intensive programme will offer the selected artists the opportunity to improve their personal collaborative skills with the aim of conceiving a work together, and sharing in the techniques of production and choreographic composition;
• two new creations, commissioned by La Biennale exclusively for them, which will premiere at the 20^th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (17 July > 1 August). Following Saburo Teshigawara, Xie Xin, Cristina Caprioli and Sir Wayne McGregor, the selected young artists will work with Molissa Fenley and Maxine Doyle, two of the most influential innovators of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries;
• a performance workshop for research and development led by Wayne McGregor, culminating in the creation of a site-specific event;
• two short original creations conceived by the two selected choreographers, both to premiere at the 20^th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (17 July > 1 August).

The 20^th International Festival of Contemporary Dance, scheduled to be held in Venice from 17 July to 1 August 2026, will be a place of critical and creative exchange for the dancers and choreographers of the Biennale College who not only will present new works at the end of the training programme, but will also be invited to attend all the festival performances, and participate in lectures and mini-residencies with the invited artists.

Call out for dancers

Call out for choreographers