Step 2026
The fourth edition of Step took place from March 4-12 2026. All in all, 58 events at 19 locations in eight municipalities in Region Västra Götaland and Halland were presented. Audiences in Ale, Göteborg, Härryda, Lerum, Mölndal, Stenungsund, Vara and Varberg got the opportunity to experience performances from Scotland, Norway and Sweden.
The selection for Step 2026 was done by our curators Gabrielle Haga – Senior Advisor at Scenekunstbruket in Norway, Annika Ostwald – Head of Operations and Artistic Director for Rum för Dans in Region Halland and Fiona Ferguson – Creative Development Director at Edinburgh International Children’s Festival in Edinburgh. Producentbyrån were responsible for bringing in local, regional, and national performances and events to the program.
Our international professional’s program gathered 55 delegates and participants from Scotland, Serbia, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. During three days – March 4–6 – industry professionals gathered at Vara Konserthus, Mölnlycke kulturhus and Folkteatern in Gothenburg to experience performances, network, mingle and listen to talks about bicycle tours, the conditions for creating dance for young audiences in the Nordic countries, what resources we have at hand and what we need to create dance performances, an initiative for a new national distribution system for performing arts for young audiences and what the process of creating a performance for children with complex need might look like. In collaboration with Dansakademin, as a bridge from their initiative Open Stage, three West Swedish dance artists and companies presented their respective artistic practises.
Step 2026 was inaugurated at Vara Konserthus with speeches by Simon Ljungman – Artistic Development Director at Vara Konserthus, Carl Forsberg – First Vice Chair of the Regional Cultural Committee of Västra Götaland and by Step’s Project Manager Hanko Zell. The opening also featured a flash mob with students from the culture schools of Vara and Partille lead by choreographer and dancer Maja Fock.
A big thanks to everyone who participated during the festival! Big thanks also to our collaborators, presenters and all our funders for your continued belief in what we do, and for wanting to do this together with us. Las but not least – a huge thanks to the audiences who took part of the performances and talks during Step 2026!
Participants
PERFORMANCE
Bare Rør
Panta Rei Danseteater(NO)
PERFORMANCE
DANCING WITH THE DEAD
Bobbi Lo Produktion(SE)
PERFORMANCE
En dans för ett ord
Regionteater Väst(SE)
PERFORMANCE
Fritt fram
KompaniTO(NO)
PERFORMANCE
Love Tenderly
Tony Tran(NO)
PERFORMANCE
Papperssvalan
Memory Wax(SE)
PERFORMANCE
Pop!
Vince Virr(UK)
PERFORMANCE
Rock me Baby
Karstein Solli & Øystein Elle(NO)
PERFORMANCE
Tillie the Terrible
Tanja Andersson och Stefan Ostojić(SE)
Workshops
Sensing Movement: Creating Sensory Performance | Hayley Earlam (UK)
Pop! – workshop | Vince Virr (UK)
Participants Professional’s Program
Anna Hallqvist | Dancer and choreographer (SE)
Carl Forsberg | First vice chair of the regional cultural committee of Västra Götaland (SE)
Cathrine Kolping | Dancer and choreographer Värmdans (SE)
Gabrielle Haga | Senior advisor Scenekunstbruket (NO)
Hanko Zell | Project manager Step (SE)
Hanna Uddenberg | Producer Mölnlycke kulturhus (SE)
Hayley Earlam | Dancer and choreographer (UK)
Helena Helén | Producer Vara Konserthus (SE)
Johanna Jonasson | Artistic director, choreographer and dancer Memory Wax (SE)
Maja Fock | Dancer and choreographer (SE)
Mari Dahl Stoknes | Dancer and choreographer KompaniTO (SE)
Pernille Møller Taasinge | Development director Aaben Dans (DK)
Sandra Grehn | Moderator (SE)
Simon Ljungman | Artistic development director Vara Konserthus (SE)
Stefan Ostojić | Actor and clown (RS)
Students from Partille culture school (SE)
Students from Vara culture school (SE)
Taneli Törmä | Artistic director Tanssiteatteri Minimi (FI)
Tanja Andersson | Dancer and choreographer (SE)
Terese Anthin | Head of culture Härryda kommun (SE)
Tinna Grétarsdóttir | Executive director Reykjavík Arts Festival (IS)
Zara Zimmermann | ASSITEJ Sverige (SE)
Municipalities
Step 2026 was carried out in cooperation with the following municipalities.
Ale kommun
Göteborgs stad
Härryda kommun
Lerums kommun
Mölndals stad
Stenungsunds kommun
Vara kommun
Varbergs kommun
Partners
We collaborated with the following partners.
Atalante
Dansakademin
Mölnlycke kulturhus
Nordstan
Regionteater Väst
Rum för Dans
Vara Konserthus
Världskulturmuseet
Venues and locations
During the 2026 festival we presented events at the following venues and locations.
Atalante
Övre Husargatan 1
411 22 Gothenburg
Bergkristallparken
Beryllgatan 25
426 55 Västra Frölunda
Folkteatern
Olof Palmes Plats 1
413 30 Gothenburg
Göteborgs botaniska trädgård
Carl Slottsbergs gata 22A
413 19 Gothenburg
Kulturhuset Bergsjön
Bergsjöns kulturhusväg 4A
415 66 Gothenburg
Kulturhuset Fregatten
Fregatten 1
444 30 Stenungsund
Kulturhuset Kåken
Kålltorpsgatan 2
416 52 Gothenburg
Kvänums förskola
Nya vägen 21
535 30 Kvänum
Lorry
Forsebron, Norra Forsåkersgatan
431 34 Mölndal
Mölnlycke kulturhus
Biblioteksgatan 2
435 30 Mölnlycke
Nordstan
Götgatan 11
411 05 Gothenburg
Producentbyrån
Kastellgatan 6
411 22 Gothenburg
Röselidsskolan
Röselidsvägen 5
443 42 Gråbo
Spinnstudion
Järntorget 7
413 04 Gothenburg
Stora Högagården
Stora Vägen 16
444 60 Stora Höga
Svenstorps förskola
Göteborgsvägen 249
446 38 Älvängen
Vara Konserthus
Allégatan 49
534 31 Vara
Varbergs Teater
Engelbrektsgatan 5
432 41 Varberg
Världskulturmuseet
Södra Vägen 54
412 54 Gothenburg
Funding
Step 2026 was carried out with support from Västra Götalandsregionen, Kulturrådet, Göteborgs stad, British Council, Konstnärsnämnden, Kulturfonden för Sverige och Finland and Clara Lachmanns Stiftelse.