The KNMA Dance Festival 2026, curated by dancer and choreographer Leela Samson, opens at Sunder Nursery, New Delhi, on October 15 and runs until October 18. Titled around the many expressions of love in Indian literature, music and oral traditions, the four-day festival presents 14 performances, including six special commissions, across classical, folk, ritual and contemporary dance practices.
Following KNMA’s festival editions on theatre in 2024 and music in 2025, this year’s programme turns to dance as a way of exploring desire, devotion, friendship, longing, surrender and transcendence. Performances begin at 6 pm each evening at Sunder Nursery, near Humayun’s Tomb in Nizamuddin.
Festival theme: love in many forms
The festival brings together dance traditions from across India, including Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kattaikkuttu and Theyyam. Its works draw on sources ranging from the Nala-Damayanti story and Krishna narratives to the poetry of Akka Mahadevi, Amir Khusrau, Sant Janabai and the nineteenth-century Punjabi mystic Piro.
Leela Samson’s curatorial premise positions love not only as romance, but as a wider ethical and spiritual force. “What the world so desperately needs now is understanding, tolerance, sharing and love,” she says in the festival statement, describing the edition as a celebration of love “in all its many dimensions.”
Day-wise programme
| Date | Highlights |
|---|---|
| October 15 | Chenda Melam by Delhi Panchavadya Trust; Anaṅga Raṅga with Swapnasundari, Madhavi Mudgal, Kalamandalam Balasubramanian, Bragha Bessell and Vaishali Trivedi; Ānanda-līlā, a Manipuri Maharaas presentation by Anjika Society. |
| October 16 | Śubhārambha from Manipuri Sankirtana; Śṛṅgāra-manjarī on Nala and Damayanti in Kathakali; Prema Darpaṇa in Kuchipudi and Marga Natya; Anurāgam in Bharatanatyam by Sridevi Nrithyalaya. |
| October 17 | Kādal, a Kattaikkuttu excerpt from Subhadrā-kalyāṇam led by P. Rajagopal and Hanne M. de Bruin; Milan, inspired by Piro, performed by Meera Sreenarayanan; Anurākti, a contemporary work by Jahnavi Sheriff and her group. |
| October 18 | Bhakti, based on the Kathivanoor Veeran Theyyam tradition; Praṇidhāna on Sant Janabai, performed by Harinie Jeevitha; Raṅg Rūḥānī on Amir Khusrau and Nizamuddin Auliya; and the closing Odissi work Basanta Anurāga led by Dr Aruna Mohanty and Orissa Dance Academy. |
Artists to watch
The line-up pairs senior exponents with emerging practitioners. Among the featured artists are Padma Shri-winning Odissi dancer Madhavi Mudgal, Kathakali practitioner Kalamandalam Balasubramanian, Vilasini Natyam researcher and performer Swapnasundari, Abhinaya and Nritta maestro Bragha Bessell, Bharatanatyam dancer Adithya PV, Kathak artist Dheerendra Tiwari, and Odissi guru Dr Aruna Mohanty.
The festival also includes performers from the Anjika Society, Kattaikkuttu Sangam, Sridevi Nrithyalaya, International Centre for Folklore and Culture, Orissa Dance Academy and Jahnavi Sheriff and Friends.
Why it matters
KNMA’s Annual Festival has become one of Delhi’s key platforms for connecting visual art with live performance. The museum describes the event as part of its commitment to building relationships between the performing arts, the museum and wider audiences, while foregrounding India’s cultural diversity.
Aditi Jaitly Jadeja, Associate Director, Performing Arts, KNMA, said the 2026 edition explores “the many expressions of love across India’s literature, music and storytelling traditions,” bringing together artists who carry traditions forward with those reinterpreting and expanding their practice.
Tickets and venue details
- Event: KNMA Dance Festival 2026, The Call of the Beloved
- Dates: October 15–18, 2026
- Time: 6 pm–9 pm daily
- Venue: Sunder Nursery, Bharat Scouts and Guides Marg, opposite Humayun Tomb Park, Nizamuddin, New Delhi
- Tickets: Available through KNMA’s website, Skillbox and BookMyShow.
For audiences in Delhi interested in Indian classical dance, folk performance and contemporary choreography, the KNMA Dance Festival 2026 offers a rare four-night survey of how love has been imagined, ritualised and performed across the country’s artistic traditions.
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