Iconic St Paul's Cathedral Vertical Dance RESURGAM Comes to the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival

A spectacular fusion of dance and architecture RESURGAM will take place on the façade of St Paul’s Cathedral, London’s best known landmark. BANDALOOP, the Californian based company known for its innovation in vertical performance, have been granted rare access to St Paul’s to create a site-responsive piece, fusing intricate mid-air choreography with rock climbing techniques and original music. This event also celebrates the 300-year anniversary of the cathedral’s architect Sir Christopher Wren who also has a strong connection to Greenwich, where he designed both the Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory. 

The world premiere has been co-produced and co-commissioned by Greenwich+Docklands International Festival and the City of London Corporation as part of its 2023 Bartholomew Fair event. It is part of the City Corporation’s Destination City programme, which sets out a vision for the Square Mile to become a world-leading leisure destination for UK and international visitors, workers, and residents to enjoy.

Thomas Cavanagh, BANDALOOP Executive Director says: “It is an honor to be premiering RESURGAM on the south-side exterior of St Paul’s Cathedral for London audiences who we invite to look up; at hope, at what is possible and at the grand harmony between vertical dance, living history and extraordinary architecture. BANDALOOP has toured the world performing on skyscrapers and UNESCO heritage sites, but this London premiere is a one-of-a-kind celebration of place, an aerial dream in realtime.”

Bradley Hemmings MBE, GDIF Artistic Director says “We’re thrilled to be able to offer audiences this stunning and timely exploration of the word RESURGAM (I Will Rise) which is inscribed beneath the phoenix carved onto the south transept of St Paul’s. Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece has always stood as an icon of hope for Londoners and the festival is humbled to be delivering this extraordinary site specific event, as a contemporary reflection on the way in which hope can sustain us through difficult times”
 

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival’s full 2023 programme, 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 Acts of Hope, 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 25 August with OPEN LINES, a heart-stopping tight-rope walk above Woolwich. She will be supported by 12 local people who will hold and help suspend the ropes on which this performance takes place in a breathtaking act of participation at the launch of this year’s festival, enshrining this year’s theme of Acts of Hope. This spectacular opening production from the French company Basinga, is part of Woolwich Lates which is supported by Berkley Group, the Mayor of London’s Night Time Enterprise Zone and Night Czar Amy Lamé.
 

Through live music, movement and protest-theatre WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM! reveals the colour, warmth and vitality of Iranian culture, for which a courageous young generation are currently fighting. Unearthing the extraordinary music and voices of women, who, in Iran, cannot be heard freely, this newly commissioned production shines a light on the rich and celebratory culture and the right to express it, that women in Iran are fighting, since the death of Mahsa Amini almost a year ago. Presented by Ameena Hamid and directed by an Iranian artist who wishes to remain anonymous, this stirring and joyful event invites audiences to express solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, in Stratford Park.

In a weekend of events from international companies that respond to the climate crisis on either side of the Thames, CYGNUS, a water ballet performed by life-sized, multi-coloured animatronic swans on the Royal Victoria Dock, is joined by fellow Dutch dance theatre company Vloeistof’s SLIDING SLOPE, an urgent response to climate change and rising water levels which takes place on the roof of a full-sized, submerged house. Both events are presented as part of At the Docks a brand new season of arts, culture and events. Over at Greenwich Peninsula, acclaimed French specialists in spectacle, Gratte Ciel present ROZÉO, a poetic performance-installation on top of ten-metre-high sway poles evoking the wonder of the natural world. 

Performance dates have been revealed for THE ARCHITECT, a previously announced, life-affirming theatrical journey on a double-decker bus, conceived by Actors Touring Company Artistic Director Matthew Xia, with writers Roy Williams and Mojisola Adebayo. This immersive experience, in which audiences travel across South-East London on a double decker bus, is infused with the experiences of Black Londoners across the three decades since the murder of Stephen Lawrence and is created with the support of the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation. 

Festival favorites GREENWICH FAIR, a family-friendly day of street theatre and circus transforming Greenwich Town Centre, and DANCING CITY, a weekend of outdoor contemporary dance across the public spaces of the Canary Wharf estate, return for 2023 with bigger programmes than ever before. At Canary Wharf, the UK premiere of PAN CATWALK from Dutch company Zwermers, fuses fashion and choreography with a never-ending sequence of synchronized costume changes in a mind-opening celebration of fluidity and self-expression.

At Greenwich Park, as an extended addition of GDIF’s GREENWICH FAIR, leading disabled theatre maker Julie McNamara presents a specially commissioned immersive production A WOVEN WAKE FOR MIDSUMMER, framed by installation artist, Oliver McDonald’s artwork/arena, THIS WOVEN O, created entirely from willow. Stopgap and Chris Pavia’s promenade dance theatre piece connecting to the natural world ECHOES WITHIN THE EARTH and Caroline Cardus’ provocative road sign installation THE WAY AHEAD are among many events created by disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent artists for this year’s programme, and underly GDIF’s ongoing commitment to access and its recent recognition as the only UK festival to be awarded a Platinum Accessibility Standard by Attitude is Everything.