Name: Performing Arts Season — Berliner Festspiele 2026
Start: 2026-10-14T00:00:00+00:00
End: 2027-01-22T00:00:00+00:00
Location: Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Performing Arts Season

About Performing Arts Season

The Performing Arts Season of the Berliner Festspiele is a four-month season encompassing international dance, theatre, and performance productions at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Wilmersdorf. Since 2023, Europe's and the world's most important choreographers, theatre makers, and performance artists have gathered here every autumn and winter — from Marina Abramović to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Marie Chouinard, to the Japanese collective Dumb Type.

Dates 14 Oct — 22 Jan 2027

Venue Berlin (11000)

Prices —

Status Confirmed

Edition 2026

Performing Arts Season — edition 2026

Tickets →

The 4th Performing Arts Season of the Berliner Festspiele opens on October 14, 2026, with the German premiere of Marina Abramović's Balkan Erotic Epic and runs until January 22, 2027, featuring works by Mario Banushi, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker/Rosas, Damien Jalet, Marie Chouinard, Dumb Type, and Gisèle Vienne.

Four months of curated international dance and performance season at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Advance ticket sales start on June 18, 2026, at 2 PM. The season is conceived as a forum for current European and non-European performance, with a focus on works having their German premiere in Berlin.

Highlights Performing Arts Season 2026

Marina Abramović — Balkan Erotic Epic, German premiere to open the season
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas — GLA55
Marie Chouinard — Double bill with The Rite of Spring and MAGNIFICAT
Dumb Type — 2020, the Japanese performance collective
Gisèle Vienne — Archives of Feelings to close the season

Programme Performing Arts Season 2026

The 4th Performing Arts Season of the Berliner Festspiele 2026/27 runs from October 14, 2026, to January 22, 2027, at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Schaperstraße 24, 10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Advance ticket sales start: June 18, 2026, 2:00 PM via berlinerfestspiele.de.

Opening Production

October 14–17, 2026 — Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic (German Premiere). Durational performance with over 30 participants, where ancient Balkan myths meet performance art.

November 2026

November 12–13 — Mario Banushi: MAMI
November 19–21 — Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas: GLA55

December 2026

December 4–5 — Damien Jalet: Planet [wanderer]
December 9–10 — Marie Chouinard: The Rite of Spring & MAGNIFICAT

January 2027

January 15–17 — Dumb Type: 2020 — Multimedia performance by the Japanese collective
January 21–22 — Gisèle Vienne: Archives of Feelings

Artistic Direction

Matthias Pees has been the Artistic Director of the Performing Arts Season since 2023. The season is understood as a curated format featuring works that, according to Berliner Festspiele, « do not understand performing arts as something that separates us in the modern world, but as something that connects us ».

Prices Performing Arts Season 2026

Tickets available from June 18, 2026, 2 PM, via berlinerfestspiele.de and at the theatre box office on Schaperstraße. Prices vary by production. Purchasing a season pass (if offered) is worthwhile for multiple performances. Discounts available for pupils, students, and Berlin Pass holders.

Practical information

Practical information — Performing Arts Season

Getting There

U-Bahn U3/U9 to Spichernstraße — three minutes on foot. Bus lines M19, M29, 204, 249 have several stops within reach. The Kurfürstendamm is a ten-minute walk away.

Tickets

Advance sales for the 2026/27 season start: June 18, 2026, 2:00 PM. Online via berlinerfestspiele.de and at the theatre box office. Reservations by phone: 030 254 89 100.

A Season Instead of a Festival

Unlike most Berlin performance marathons, the Berliner Festspiele opts for an extended format with its Performing Arts Season: not ten days of programming in August, but four months of curated season from October to January. This allows major names to choose Berlin as a central European stage without having to position the Berliner Festspiele's audience in competition with Avignon, Wiener Festwochen, or Holland Festival.

What the Season Offers

The focus is on works from the international dance and performance scene: conceptual choreography, dance theatre, performance art, multimedia stage installations. Each production typically runs for two to four evenings. The opening is usually the most ambitious production — in 2026, the season will open with the German premiere of Marina Abramović's work Balkan Erotic Epic, a durational performance with over 30 participants.

Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Wilmersdorf

The Haus der Berliner Festspiele at Schaperstraße 24 is located in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district on the western edge of the Kurfürstendamm. Opened in 1963 as the Freie Volksbühne (Renzo Mongiardino), it has been a permanent venue for the Festspiele since 2001 and is a central location for the international performance scene in Germany. With 999 seats, it is one of the largest venues for contemporary performance in Berlin.