Chiang Mai gets its own contemporary dance festival this autumn, and it comes with a theme that fits the city well. ALaLa Dance Fest 2026, running at Kalm Village under the banner 'Spirit & Ritual', gathers artists from northern Thailand's Lanna culture, southern Thailand, Japan and India for four performances, four movement workshops and a Lanna spirit dance exhibition.
The programme is built around comparing inherited traditions with contemporary practice. On one side you have Lanna spirit dance, Noh and Brahmayatana rituals, cast threads, and body-and-breathing work from Japan and Bali; on the other, the experimental side of contemporary dance. The idea is to give artists room to question, mix and push these forms rather than present them as museum pieces.
Each of the four days carries two shows, with workshops running before them at 10am and 2pm. On the first day and again on 12 October, the stage at 6pm hosts Niri: Paths Through Ritual & Belonging, a solo by Joysntoyha Aslikan telling stories of belief and ritual through India's Brahmayatana tradition, followed by Tok Song Nga, a dance-theatre piece by Sirikosk Dance exploring memory, death and stories through movement rooted in Lanna culture. On the Sunday and on 13 October at 6pm, Wanatsanaskat and Khampha Dance present Between The Threads, which looks at how threads — think a woven white cloth — can carry meanings of faith and connection. Then Hosufine from Japan takes the stage with The Wandering Moon Theatre at 7pm, an evening of shadow, light, masks and live music recounting tales of origins, memories and the bamboo grove.
The workshop line-up is just as varied: Breathing Ritual with Hosufine, Root In Motion (Noh Dance) with Wanatsanaskat, Spirit Dance 101 with Sirikosk Dance Theatre, and The Body As Ritual In Practice with Joysntoyha Aslikan. Each session costs 150 baht and registration is done online in advance.
Tickets are refreshingly cheap by festival standards. A one-day pass covering two performances is 350 baht, while a two-day pass covering all four shows is 400 baht — barely more than the price of a sit-down dinner. Entry to the Lanna spirit dance exhibition is free, so even if you skip the ticketed shows you can still catch part of the festival.
For travellers, this is a good excuse to time a Chiang Mai trip around something you would not find in the guidebooks. Kalm Village is a characterful venue in the old city, and the festival's focus on Lanna ritual gives it a local flavour that generic touring productions lack. Days are free for temples and coffee shops, with performances and workshops bookending the evening and early afternoon.
Practical notes: reserve tickets and workshop spots via the festival's online forms, as capacity at an intimate venue like this goes quickly. Budget a couple of hours per evening if you're doing a full day pass, since the two shows run back to back from 6pm.
