In a city like London, where nights out too often default to the same old sticky-floored pubs or overpriced clubs blasting Top 40 on repeat, the craving for something genuinely different has never been louder.
Enter: The Barbican’s Anyone Can Dance series.
This new late-night programme reimagines the Barbican Centre – usually home to orchestras and avant-garde theatre, as a space for club culture, with the first in the series curated by underground collective Eastern Margins on Friday, February 20, 2026.
Known for championing East and South East Asian creativity in the UK since 2018, Eastern Margins has carved out a reputation for boundary-pushing events that blur the lines between rave, art, and community gathering.
For one night only, the ClubStage on Level -1 will morph into a pulsating dance floor open until 3am, celebrating dance, diaspora, and Asian identity through music and performance. Expect high-energy sets from bedroom DJ Nick Cheo, genre-hopping producer KOLLIN, introspective rapper Jianbo, and ethereal alt-pop artist MEYY, all artists who helped pack out their recent Margins United festival in London.
The Anyone Can Dance series marks a bold step for the Barbican’s nightlife offerings, following the success of past after-hours events like collaborations with Rinse FM and Club Stamina.
The shift reflects a growing appetite for inclusive, culture-rich nightlife experiences in the capital – the kind that prioritise creativity and community over queues and VIP tables. From experimental DJ sets to late-night art happenings, the Barbican’s new programme offers a glimpse of what the future of London nightlife could look like: diverse, immersive, and built for everyone.
The event takes place at Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on January 23, 2026, via the Barbican website.