Night of Wondrous Stories marks start of festival
There were lights, flying performers and a feeling of joy as the first performance of a half-year-long festival took place.
A mass cast of hundreds transformed Birmingham’s Centenary Square on Thursday into the stage for Wondrous Stories, a free large-scale production to mark the opening of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.
Featuring performers from across the region, the show combined immersive magical action, aerial displays, acrobatics and dance to celebrate the West Midlands’ connection to stories and storytelling, as characters tumbled out of a giant flying book into the night sky.
The show brought a range of performances, from the tightly choreographed dancers on the ground at Centenary Square to the more dynamic aerial performers flying around high above the square.
Live spoken word from artists Raza Hussain and Sebbie Mudhai, actor Leon Finnan, digital projections from Logela Multimedia and an uplifting soundtrack from Birmingham’s Choir With No Name also featured.
Different stories were told about Birmingham and the region, spelling out the importance of the stories people in the region have and how they should be told to everyone.
The opening night of the production by dance-circus company Motionhouse marked the end of a long journey for those performing, with many having taken part in months of rehearsals to be ready for opening night.
Alongside the dancers from Motionhouse were aerialist LJ Marles and a mass cast of hundreds from Critical Mass, a collective of dancers from across Birmingham and beyond.
They had been put together as part of a project to represent the region’s diversity and ethnicity and give young people the chance to dance together on a world stage, with a third self-identifying as deaf or disabled.
There were also performers from wheelchair dance group Freewheelin’, Motionhouse Youth, Sampad and DanceXchange.
Wondrous Stories will run each day until Sunday, March 20 with free performances and is the first of more than 200 events taking place surrounding the Commonwealth Games.
For more information on Birmingham 2022 Festival and to find out more about Wondrous Stories, go to birmingham2022.com/festival
