Sadler’s Wells heats up August with ‘The Car Man’ and ‘The Dance Floor is Black’

August at Sadler’s Wells brings a packed programme of performances, festivals and family events, led by the return of The Dance Floor is Black at Sadler’s Wells East and Matthew Bourne’s acclaimed The Car Man at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

East Bank’s The Music is Black Festival returns to Sadler’s Wells East on 22–23 August with another weekend of The Dance Floor is Black, a specially curated series of events celebrating the rich history and vibrant culture of social dance.

Ahead of the festival, the PlayLab Day Festival takes place on Friday, 21 August on The Dance Floor in the foyer of Sadler’s Wells East. This free, non-ticketed event for children aged 2–5 marks the culmination of the PlayLab Artist Development Programme, a six-week initiative led by choreographer Takeshi Matsumoto that supports artists developing new dance works for young audiences. The festival will showcase early-stage ideas from participating artists alongside family-friendly activities including face painting and arts and crafts.

Meanwhile, at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Matthew Bourne’s award-winning The Car Man continues through Saturday, 29 August. Loosely based on Bizet’s opera, the iconic production is set to the composer’s thrilling and instantly recognizable score.

Throughout the month, the Sadler’s Wells Learning and Engagement team will also lead a series of workshops for families with children under 11 as part of Newham Libraries’ summer programme. The sessions explore rhythm, movement and music through creative dance activities. More information is available through Newham Libraries.

Also, this month, Digital Stage welcomes three new films from The Floor is Yours commission series, which premiered at the Dance Digital film festival in June. Following a public callout in 2025, three artists were selected to create short dance films exploring how movement can emerge in everyday life and unexpected places.

Nepenthe is a surreal dance film exploring how movement can reclaim memory. Told entirely through dance, it follows two women drifting through memories frozen in time as they attempt to rewrite the emotional past from a place of empowerment. Inspired by the mythical Greek remedy said to soften sorrow, Nepenthe explores dance as survival, release and reinvention, tracing how female friendship and chosen family can help reshape the stories that once defined us.

HOLD takes J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World as its starting point. In the film, two strangers navigate a submerged landscape while sharing a remnant from a world lost.

Más Glow explores preconceived notions of beauty; the rules imposed on the female body and the power of taking up space. As gestures unfold inside a nail salon and dance shifts toward monstrous movement, four women challenge expectations of how they are meant to behave.

All three films are available to watch for free on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage.

For more information on performances, events and Digital Stage programming, visit www.sadlerswells.com.

The Dance Floor is Black at Sadler’s Wells East – The Music is Black Festival from East Bank at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Photo credit Rahil Ahmad.