WILD on the Beach
Round up
On 5&6 July, movement met nature on the sand. For the first time ever, Motionhouse brought its gravity-defying dance-circus show WILD to a beach stage.
Sunday evening was topped off with a Summer Social silent disco, bar and street food.
WILD
This July, Motionhouse brought WILD to the beach at Watergate Bay – a free outdoor performance combining dance, circus, and acrobatics. Set in a striking forest of tall poles, the show saw performers leap, slide, and swing against the dramatic coastal backdrop. From the top of the pole, life in the canopy looks down onto the forest floor – a dangerous world of unknown meetings…
Performance times:
Saturday - 12pm & 4pm - Gravity and Knot
Sunday - Opening with Treviglas Academy dance performance at 12pm & 4pm - WILD
Summer social silent disco:
Sunday 5-7pm
Get to know Motionhouse
Watergate Bay is such a beautiful place and we felt very lucky to have the opportunity to make a piece of work there. Road to the Beach / The Edge was a major participatory performance event developed in partnership with The Works, Creative Partnerships Cornwall and The Extreme Academy involving local dancers and children from local schools, culminating in the performance, The Edge, on the beach at Watergate. To date, it's the only show we've ever made for performance on a beach so it still holds some really special memories for us. So coming back after all these years to perform WILD feels very special. It's the first time we'll perform the show on a beach so it's a new and exciting experience for us!
It’s going to be a completely new experience performing WILD on a beach and we're really looking forward to it. We're used to performing the show in lots of different places, often with a cityscape background, so it's going to be exciting to have the sea as a backdrop. When the dancers stand on top of the poles it will be such a breath-taking view looking out over the sea.
WILD is about our relationship with the natural world so it feels very fitting to be sharing the show with nature all around.
The show is perfect for the whole family and all ages. There’s something in it for everyone.
We hope that the show will move people and perhaps give them an opportunity to reflect on our world as well as that sense of shared enjoyment that people get from watching live work together - and in such an incredible setting.
Sunday summer social silent disco
Sunday 5-7pm
After the WILD performance, crowds stayed on the sand for the summer social silent disco, with a mix of local street food vendors and bar from Sharp's Brewery.
Kids' Zone on the Beach
Sunday 6 July 11am-4pm
On the Sunday, our Kids' Zone team hosted the family activity area. With reading tents, sandcastle and sand sculpture building, hula hoop games and a paper aeroplane racing station.
Food & drink
Sunday from 12pm
Tacos and curries were dished up on the sand, with Load-A-Waffle on hand for dessert. Guests sipped Sharp’s beers, ciders, and chilled AIX rosé from the beach bar, while hot drinks kept everyone refreshed throughout the day.
Summer social supported by Sharps
WILD is commissioned by Gulbenkian & ART31 and Birmingham Hippodrome (as part of the Hippodrome Associate Artist programme). Supported by Without Walls with commissioning from Freedom Festival, Hat Fair, and Out There International Festival of Circus & Street Arts. With additional backing from the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Foyle Foundation, The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust, The Saintbury Trust and The City of London Corporation.
Motionhouse is supported by Arts Council England with additional support from Warwick District Council and is a Hippodrome Associate Artist.
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