Music may be the reason Southbank Centre was built, but over the years dance has enjoyed an increasingly visible presence on its various stages. And now that the Festival Hall has been redeveloped, with a bigger stage and greatly enhanced facilities, you can expect to see dance given an even better showing. Gone are the days when white tutued swans crashed into the wings as they rushed off stage.

But it’s only one dancer, Julia Mach, who will test out the new facilities when the Festival Hall unveils its first dance performance for the paying public after reopening. It is presenting the UK premiere (June 26-27) of digital artist Klaus Obermaier’s cutting-edge realisation of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring, with the score played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop.

In Obermaier’s Rite, Mach performs on a platform in front of the orchestra. The audience will be provided with 3D glasses to allow them to see her body transferred into a virtual, three-dimensional space where it is multiplied and morphed, and projected onto a large screen above the orchestra. Electronic sensors and cameras pick up changes in the music’s dynamic and tempo and trigger changes in the audience’s visual experience.

It’s the kind of crossover piece the institution loves to champion. “What we pride ourselves on are those partnerships where top-quality live music connects with innovative, on-the-edge dance,” says Julia Carruthers, head of dance and performance at Southbank Centre.

Every big opening needs a big noise, and for dance that will come on July 14 and 15 when the Ballet Boyz (William Trevitt and Michael Nunn, pictured) curate and perform in Ballet for the People at the Festival Hall. The evening will feature new work specially commissioned from Rafael Bonachela, the hot young choreographer who is the venue’s new artist in residence. William Tuckett and Craig Revel Horwood (of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing) are also contributing works. English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Rambert are among the companies participating and a “special contribution” from one of the world’s most feted choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon, is promised.

A week later comes the kind of off-the-wall happening Southbank Centre is famous for. This one is even called Off the Wall. On July 20 and 21 its “rooftops become a futuristic urban backdrop to a world where people run up walls, skim across sharp edges and defy the laws of physics”. This free, outdoor extravaganza features a cast of more than 100, and incorporates dance, physical theatre, music, abseiling and aerial circus under the auspices of the troupe Stan Won’t Dance.

And did I mention London’s largest sprung floor? It comes back into action this weekend when the Festival Hall Ballroom reopens for business as a dance performance space free to the public.

The buzz at the new-look Festival Hall is bound to generate renewed interest in the venue’s dance programme, along with that of its sister venues, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. “There’s massive pedestrian traffic between the London Eye and Tate Modern,” says Carruthers. “And dance benefits from being in that mix.”

Next week (June 12-14) Carruthers brings the Belgian company Les Ballets C de la B back to Southbank Centre. Musicians, a counter-tenor and dancers share the stage in Import Export, a dance-theatre production that sets out to explore powerlessness in the face of aggression. And looking further ahead – to September – Carruthers has commissioned a new score from Scott Walker to be choreographed by Bonachela for CandoCo. Both productions will be seen in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. And in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s had a mini makeover of its own.

Box office: 0871 663 2585. www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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