London’s largest free, outdoor arts and theatre festival, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival (GDIF 2023) has added a show-stopping performance held on one of the capital’s most iconic buildings to its programme.
Resurgam (I Will Rise) is a vertical performance that fuses dance to architecture that will take place on the south side of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Californian dance troupe Bandaloop, known for creating innovative vertical performances, have been granted rare access to scale the walls of the landmark and will stage the production from August 31 to September 2 as a world premiere.
The spectacle is a site-responsive performance featuring mid-air choreography with rock climbing techniques and an original music score.
The dance company created the work to celebrate the 300-year anniversary of the cathedral’s architect, Sir Christopher Wren who also designed the Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory and as in response to this year’s festival theme, Acts of Hope.
Tomas Cavanagh, Bandaloop Executive Director said the performance invited people to ‘look up at hope and to ‘what is possible and at the grand harmony between vertical dance, living history and extraordinary architecture’.
The festival’s full programme for 2023 showcases world-class theatre, art installations, spectacle and dance in locations across London.
More than 35 events, including two world premieres and 14 UK premieres, are inspired by the theme, inviting Londoners to come together for uplifting moments of shared wonder and connection.
French high-wire walker Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga opens GDIF 2023 on Friday August 25 with Open Lines, a tight-rope walk above Woolwich.
She will be supported by 12 residents who will hold and help suspend the ropes she will perform on in a breathtaking act of participation.
Also on the bill, Woman, Life, Freedom which is a piece of protest-theatre incorporating live music and movement that embraces the warmth and vitality of Iranian culture and the courage of the young generation fighting for it.
The Architect is a ‘life-affirming theatrical journey’ held on a double-decker bus and water ballet Cygnus, performed at the side of the Thames at the Royal Victoria Dock by life-sized, multi-coloured animatronic swans is a response to climate change, as is the Sliding Slope by Dutch dance company Vloeistof, which takes place on the roof of a full-sized, submerged house.
Festival favourites the Greenwich Fair and Dancing City in Canary Wharf return too.
The Greenwich + Docklands International Festival runs from August 25 to September 10. For the full programme of events visit festival.org/GDIF-2023.
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