2026 Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival Comes to Tempe Center for the Arts

The Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival returns to the Tempe Center for the Arts for its 2026 season, celebrating 19 years of bold, boundary-pushing contemporary dance. Curated by national adjudicators, the festival features work by 16 choreographers and over 50 performers from Arizona, across the U.S., and abroad.

This year’s standout performances include:

Valkyrie Yao is a China-born multidisciplinary artist and scholar currently based in Arizona following the completion of her MFA at Arizona State University. Profile XX is an intergenerational feminist dance theatre work examining how womanhood is shaped by social surveillance, inherited memory, and psychological fragmentation.

Cristina Camacho (aka Macho) is a Los Angeles– and New York–based choreographer and performer whose work bridges contemporary and street styles, with credits spanning MTV, BET, The CW, and leading concert dance venues. Who’s Afraid of Forever? is a contemporary dance quartet reimagining Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? through time and memory, reframing two couples as a single relationship split between younger and older selves.

Fabio Liberti is an Italian choreographer based in Denmark whose work has been presented internationally across Europe and North America, with commissions for companies including Danish Dance Theatre, Skånes Dansteater, and Norrdans. Don’t, Kiss. Louisiana is a physically demanding duet examining addiction and relational co-dependency through sustained physical contact, with performers remaining lip-locked throughout the piece.

This diverse lineup promises an inspiring and unforgettable experience, celebrating the creativity and impact of contemporary dance.

New this year, each evening begins with a free Community Movement Class in the TCA Lobby (6:45–7:15 PM), open to dancers and non-dancers alike, and introduces guest hosts—with The Ladies hosting Friday and Lolita Hernandez hosting Saturday. 

The 2026 Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival, produced by CONDER|dance, is a nationally recognized platform for innovative contemporary dance. Led by Artistic Director Carley Conder, CONDER|dance—founded in 2003—brings together many of Phoenix’s leading contemporary dancers while maintaining an active national presence. Information about the 2026 Breaking Ground Contemporary Dance Festival and CONDER/dance may be found at conderdance.com.

The festival takes place January 30–31 at 7:30 PM at the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, with post-show Q&A sessions each night. 

Tickets range from $30–$40 and are available at tempecenterforthearts.com.

Image credit Breaking Ground