The Dance Dome: Contemporary dance in 360º

The Dance Dome is two things at once: a portable cinema that has to physically travel the world, and a catalogue of immersive films that can be screened at planetariums worlwide.

Getting the dome there

The main challenge of the Dance Dome lies in delivering a consistent immersive experience across very different locations and conditions.

As a portable 360° cinema, it must be transported, installed and operated internationally, often with local crews who are new to the system. This requires the structure and technical setup to be both robust and straightforward to assemble, without compromising on performance quality.

Each site also brings different logistical challenges, meaning the dome has to adapt to varied locations while maintaining the same viewing and audio standards.

On top of that, the project balances touring, installation, and programming, ensuring the films and experience remain accessible to audiences while the system stays practical to deploy and maintain at scale.

Making the films

Producing immersive dance films internationally involves adapting to a wide range of production environments. Working in countries such as India and Zimbabwe requires coordinating logistics around equipment travel, visas and local production support, while also responding to different working practices, cultural contexts and on-the-ground conditions.

Filming in 360° also introduces a distinct set of creative and technical requirements. With the camera always capturing the full environment, each setup needs to be carefully considered in terms of staging, framing and crew positioning.

Choreography is developed in close collaboration with dancers and choreographers from the outset, ensuring movement is designed specifically for a 360° viewing space. This process often involves refining and adapting sequences so they translate effectively within the immersive dome environment.

The Dance Dome has grown year by year through new commissions, collaborations and original productions. The films cover different cultures, geographies and dance styles.

Programme length runs from 5 to 40 minutes depending on the public presentations. The dome works indoors and outdoors, at festivals, city centres, art venues and unexpected locations. 

On Tour

The dome has been installed in Hong Kong, Macau, Hammerfest in Norway, Spain and across the UK. The films have been screened at planetariums worlwide including  Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Museum Victoria's Melbourne Planetarium, the Charles C. Gates Planetarium in Denver, and festivals from Buenos Aires to Mauritius.

One the the main milestones came in October 2019, when the Dance Dome represented the UK alongside the London Symphony Orchestra and Akram Khan at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's 30th anniversary celebrations. For two weeks, audiences experienced free screenings of Liminality, The Sublime, and The Beautiful as an outdoor installation on the Hong Kong Piazza.

At the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, the Dance Dome ran a week of free screenings showing the full trilogy of dance films and becoming the first immersive venue to visit the Fringe. The 25th Macau Arts Festival in 2014 hosted ten days of screenings. That same year, the dome was installed inside the medieval walls of Harlech Castle and across other 5 locations in Wales.

Core Partners

Coreo Cymru - Creative dance producer for Wales, originally comissioned the Dance Dome platform in 2012.

Funders & Supporters

Arts Council of Wales, Wales Arts International, British Council (supported Liminality as part of UK India Year of Culture, and The Rift through the International Collaboration Programme), Society of Arts and Technology (SAT) Montreal (co-production partner for Liminality Live), and Norsk Filminstitutt (supported the Hammerfest presentation).

Collaborating Dance Companies

TaikaBox / Tanja Raman (The Beautiful), Harnisch-Lacey Dance Theatre (The Sublime), Earthfall (Pal O' Me Heart), The Danceworx India (Liminality), and AfriKera Arts Trust / Matamba Film Labs (The Rift).

Over fourteen years, the Dance Dome has brought immersive dance to audiences who would never have encountered it otherwise. From a world premiere in Cardiff where 600 visitors gave a 97% recommendation rate, to representing the UK alongside the London Symphony Orchestra and Akram Khan at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's 30th anniversary.

Liminality became the most awarded fulldome dance film in the catalogue, winning at four international festivals. The Rift premiered at IDFA DocLab in Amsterdam in November 2025 and won the Grand Prize at NewImages Festival in Paris in 2026. The programme continues to grow.