Travel Topics
Konark Dance Festival brings Indian classical performance to Konark from 1–5 December 2026. The open-air auditorium overlooks the Sun Temple, placing living performance beside one of Odisha’s best-known monuments. Odissi…
Fancy swapping the dancefloor for the French Alps this summer? The Avoriaz Danse Festival returns from 22 to 28 August 2026, bringing seven days of classes, masterclasses, performances and late-night…
Mark Bibby Jackson spends 48 hours in Bratislava Slovakia to see why this underrated European capital is a winter wonderland. My previous visit to the Bratislava Slovakia was in 1994…
Wild Canvas offers a unique camping experience with a relaxed festival vibe, available for Summer 2026. When Is Wild Canvas 2026? Spanning the school holidays from 6 to 31 August…
Judith Schrut reviews Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, currently on its 65th Anniversary Tour, at Sadlers Wells Theatre, London and 12 venues across the UK, through 28 October. Alvin Ailey…
Cheek by Jowl – Life is a Dream (La vida es sueño) Calderón’s classic Life is a Dream is an astounding drama about free choice, fate, and the wonder of life…
Kakilang – HOME X Performed at the Barbican‘s Pit HOME X is a visually spectacular virtual environment that fuses performers in London and Hong Kong in real-time utilising depth-sensing cameras that…
Festa Junina Brazil is not Carnival, nevertheless it is a huge event on the Brazilian calendar. There is song and dancing, although in this case it is more forrό than samba. Also food has a bigger focus…
Considering its vast size and enormous population, it’s no surprise that India is an incredible diverse country home to many different ethnic groups and religions. And with each of these…
The Royal Ballet will return to the Royal Opera House in May after a five-month hiatus with a programme to celebrate the best international choreographers – 21st Century Choreographers. It will include works by…
The streets of Derby will resound with dance, music, comedy and contemporary circus this September, as Derby Festé hits the ground running for a thirteenth successive year…
With the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic affecting most travel plans at the moment, Elinor Goodman suggests that while planning your next trip you might consider drinking in Cuban music on a…
The Jack in the Green Festival takes place in the Sussex coastal town of Hastings – 1066 and all that – traditionally over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. A festival steeped in English folklore…
Dance like nobody is watching – well, there’s little chance of that happening in today’s modern world with Instagram and selfie sticks. There are thousands of cultural dance festivals around…
The annual Feria de Cali or Cali Fair in Colombia has grown into one of South America’s most important salsa festivals with fireworks, colourful parades, free music concerts…
The sensational Barranquilla Carnival held in February in Colombia is the world’s second biggest fiesta with magnificent street parades, traditional dancers, lots of local…
One of the longest surviving medieval rituals in England, the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance has been performed in a village in Staffordshire since 1226. Horn Dance Ritual The folk dance…
During the 10 days of Gentse Feesten (Ghent Festivities), the entire city of Ghent in Belgium turns into Europe’s largest cultural open air festival with over 3,300 international and local…
On 14 May, the world-famous Blackpool Tower celebrated its 125th anniversary, having opened for business way back in 1894. This celebration will in turn draw attention to one of the…
During the days of the Onam Festival, the biggest and most spectacular festival of Kerala, the entire Indian state goes on a spree of celebrations, music and dance performances, elaborate…
From April to November, the Venice Biennale (la Biennale di Venezia in its original Italian, and in English also called the Venice Biennial) is one of the world’s most prestigious cultural happenings, famous…
A firm fixture on the tourist trail, Ubud upholds its integrity as Bali’s cultural hub, finds Johan Smits looking for things to do in Ubud. “You can’t just go in…
Marking the start of the green (or wet) season, the Candle Festival Thailand in July is amongst the most beautiful celebrations in Thailand. Extravagant, intricately-carved candle sculptures are shown off…
International top artists giving world class performances ranging from the classical to the avant-garde, and the familiar to the surprising – the Hong Kong Arts Festival is this vibrant city’s…
Dance like nobody’s watching, so they say – clearly this does not apply to Strictly, but if you have moves like our editor’s there is little chance that anyone will be watching or at least not for long. Fortunately, there are people with rhythm and going to watch them perform can be a cultural highlight of your trip.
On our pages we have lists of festivals around the world from the World Tango Dance Tournament in Buenos Aires in August to the Zurich Tanzt Dance Festival in May, so that you can coincide your trip with the best festivals around.
But dancing is not all about choreographed moves. It is also about improvisation, especially when this is on the street or in carnivals. Let us lead you on a quick step through some of the best carnivals around the world where you can imagine no one is watching as you do the fandango, regardless of what Instagram or Facebook might later suggest.
