DHX Television’s Family Channel has set the premiere date for season five of The Next Step. 

The tween dance series will premiere Friday May 26 at 4:30 p.m. on the Canadian kidsnet, with encore presentations set for 7 p.m. Accompanying the new season is The Next Step: The Off Season, available on the Family Channel app. The digital short series takes a look at what the dancers have been up to in between seasons.

DHX greenlit the 20-episode fifth season last June. The order marked the first time the Halifax, Canada-based media co. had greenlit an original kids production for a fifth season.

Created by Frank van Keeken, The Next Step is produced by Boat Rocker-owned Radical Sheep Productions in association with Family Channel. Executive producers are Boat Rocker’s Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, as well as Michelle Melanson Cuperus (The Bagel and Becky Show), Rachael Schaefer (Wingin’ It) and Karen McClellan (The Other Kingdom).

The series is made with the financial support of the Shaw Rocket Fund, the CMF and UK pubcaster CBBC. BBC Worldwide handles international rights to the series.

From Playback