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Ensemble Festival 2418 - 21 July 2024 at the Royal Docks, London
Free and suitable for all age groups.
Big, bold and breathtaking, Ensemble Festival returns to London’s Royal Docks from 18 to 21 July. Produced by East London arts development organisation Certain Blacks, Ensemble once again offers an action-packed and diverse programme of spectacular circus, theatre, music, dance and more. Ensemble Festival is completely free to the public.
At Ensemble Festival, Docklands audiences can experience the celebrated feats of NoFit State Circus, one of the UK’s most treasured contemporary circus companies, set to create and perform on towering structures made from bamboo. Following a dazzling aerial display last year, Gorilla Circus are back for 2024, their new show combining acrobatics, street dance and roller skating, performed on a giant moving treadmill.
Renowned theatre company Cardboard Citizens present Cardboard Citizens Collective Youth Programme and as a festival opener and JW3 pay homage to an East London working class tradition via the Great Yiddish Parade. All of this and more at Ensemble’s outdoor extravaganza including commissioned emerging artists from the UK and beyond.
This year marks the fifth Ensemble Festival, which first took to the streets in 2019 as part of Newham’s Join the Docks Festival. With ongoing support from the Royal Docks, and as part of the Without Walls consortium, Certain Blacks have grown and diversified Ensemble year on year, including a Covid-safe event in 2021. Clive Lyttle, Artistic Director of Certain Blacks, says:
'Ensemble represents everything we're about at Certain Blacks. Our aim is to bring diverse artists from the margins into the mainstream, and we're wowed by the imagination, diversity and sheer artistry of this year's line-up, including new work commissioned especially for Ensemble 24. I think the range and ingenuity of artists creating work for the public realm is only matched by the appetite of audiences for these often transformative experiences. The arts are increasingly integral to how we connect with where we live, or to the places we visit, and there is nothing quite like the thrill of a shared, live performance to bring people together.
We are grateful to the Royal Docks team for their continued support and for sharing our vision for Ensemble, and to the very many agencies and individuals who make the festival possible. Everyone on the ground (and in the air!) is gearing up for Ensemble; we are so excited to meet the audience.'
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Royal Victoria Docks, London, United Kingdom
