East London arts development organisation Certain Blacks are back on their home ground of Royal Docks with the biggest Ensemble Festival so far. Ensemble is the annual event celebrating diverse performance. Taking place from 19-23 July and completely free, Certain Blacks alongside regular collaborators Without Walls, a consortium of arts organisations specialising in outdoor arts, deliver a packed programme of newly commissioned circus, dance, street arts, live art and last but definitely not least…voguing!
Ensemble Festival 2023 in partnership with The Royal Docks Cultural Team offer their most extensive programme to date, furthering the mission of Certain Blacks to bring performance ‘from the margins to the mainstream’. Certain Blacks Artistic Director Clive Lyttle says:
“I’m excited and delighted that a large-scale Certain Blacks programme is part of this years At The Docks – Royal Docks series of summer events and brand new commissions. It’s a fantastic opportunity to present an extended programme and offer the public outstanding British and international performance including Bench Invasions from Belgium’s Compagnie Krak, The Frame from Catalan company Eléctrico 28 and include relevant themes of ecology, modern living and reconnection in these busy times. There’s something for everyone, we look forward to presenting Ensemble Festival 2023 this July”.
Ensemble Festival 2023 includes pop-up performances on Wednesday, 19 & Thursday 20 July as a taster for the weekend’s events: A two-day programme on Saturday, 22 and Sunday, 23 July, with a gravity defying performance in the shape of Gorilla Circus’s Unity as the finale of the evening. This spectacular aerial work merges immersive theatre, circus and storytelling.
The weekend’s highlights include Mughal Miniatures, dance within outsized picture frames courtesy of the Sonia Sabri Company, Amina Khayyam Dance Company’s You and Me, the Ghetto Fabulous Family Catwalk Extravaganza, an all-star voguing extravaganza fresh from Manchester and Liverpool, West Indian cookery from Fussy Foodies and Serving Sounds a multi-sensory sound installation which appears to be a bar, except you get bass rather than beer and everyone gets served!
As if this wasn’t enough, take tea via The Tea Tuk Tuk providing a moment to stop, connect in conversation with others and follow the complex journey of the tea leaf from China to India to North America to UK while enjoying the Tuk Tuk experience.
Ensemble Festival also highlights The Royal Docks summer theme of sustainability, modern living and ecology via work such as Out of the Deep Blue, a large scale puppet show exploring issues of the earth’s sustainability, The Bench Invasion invites 10 strangers to take a bench each, have a chat and watch life pass. Eléctrico 28’s The Frame is a performance that explores what keeps us from engaging in life fully, rather than through our phones and computers.
Ensemble Festival also features performances from Bureau of Silly Ideas, Richard Stamp’s dotComedy and an all-star special from the inimitable Miss High Leg Kick with a host of special guests to complete a memorable programme of outdoor arts.
Ensemble Festival at Royal Docks takes place at Western Gateway and Dockside Lawns, get there via Royal Albert DLR
For full line up and more information about Ensemble Festival go to https://certainblacks.com/
