Spectacular finale for Big Dance

Posted on July 12, 2012

As the finale of Big Dance 2012, Wayne McGregor’s spectacular Big Dance Trafalgar Square, involving 1,000 performers from 30 London groups, will take place this weekend on Saturday, July 14.

The performance will be part of a whole afternoon of Big Dance at Trafalgar Square, from 3pm to 5.15pm, starting with big screen broadcasts of commissioned films from Big Dance Beijing and Big Dance Rio. The day is part of Big Street Dance Day with events taking place across the UK. 

The groups involved represent a huge range of dance styles including Bollywood, hip hop, street, contemporary, ballet and Latin American. The piece will include film footage by Ravi Deepres, with a specially commissioned score by Scanner and Joel Cadbury and costumes by Studio XO, known for their stage costumes for JLS and Black Eyed Peas. 

Also of interest this weekend for Dance Today readers are Big Dance Brazil Day on July 15 at Wandsworth Park, which includes workshops, capoeira and a late-night open-air screening of Rio, and London Goes Latin, a day of Latin showcases, masterclasses and a world record attempt. 

Big Dance is a high-profile campaign that aims to get everyone taking dancing– wherever they are, whatever their age, experience or ability. Over two million people have taken part in Big Dance since it began, with events taking place in unusual locations all over the UK.

Big Dance 2012 is one of the biggest mass participation events being presented as part of the London 2012 Festival, the 12-week nationwide celebration running from June 21 until September 9, bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

See www.bigdance2012.com, for more details. 

 Photograph © Kois Miah

Nicola Rayner

Nicola Rayner was editor of Dance Today from 2010 to 2015. She has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out Buenos Aires, where she cut her teeth as a dance journalist working on the tango section. Today she continues to dance everything from ballroom to breakdance, with varying degrees of success. Her debut novel, The Girl Before You, was published last year in paperback, ebook and audiobook.