UK Visa officials in India are tiresome no doubt, but there is truly no lovelier, more energised and more welcoming global capital than London — when the sun comes out, which, believe me, does happen here in the summer.
It gives us magnificent days and endless evenings, a nicely chilled glass of rosé, and the arts al fresco, all kinds of them, strutting their stuff in street, park and square fiestas. Forget that quiet stroll in the “Japanese garden” or the book of verse by the Serpentine.
London’s culture bosses want that art experience excludes no one, allows the widest participation, and reaches the masses — visitors too. The mild English summer is a great time to do this easily, outdoors, to catch the public where they gather anyway. Summer art celebrations take over London’s famous parks and the one true square; they aim to fill the senses and gladden the soul of the ‘average person’ on the street who would otherwise have to be dragged or seduced into a theatre or gallery or ‘exotic’ restaurant.
For its inclusiveness, participation and accessibility, and the manic magic of numbers, by far the biggest and the best of these summer events is the Big Dance in Trafalgar Square, promoted by the Mayor of London. As the music fills the air and the lights illuminate one of the world’s best known and most-visited open public spaces, enormous numbers of dancers heave, move and beat out rhythms in a specially choreographed and amazingly produced spectacle for one dazzling summer evening.
The maiden 2006 event is the world record-holder for featuring 762 performers performing together to the same piece of music in 44 different styles. From Chinese dancers to ballet, tap, salsa, street, English folk, flamenco, bhangra, bollywood and kathak dancers, they included synchronised swimmers splashing in Trafalgar Square’s fountains. This was broadcast live as part of a BBC1 show, Dancing in the Street, a special 80-minute dance extravaganza. The lions remained stoned facedly majestic, for no one climbed over them.
The Big Dance takes place again on July 12. This year will see more than 2008 dancers “get down to some cool new moves by award winning choreographer Aletta Collins,” according to a release. “Come and book your place and learn the moves for the Big Dance!” the public website calls out to everyone encouragingly, with a you can-do-it reassurance and online lessons.
“Dance is about the most important art form for a world city like London right now,” says Alistair Spalding, artistic director and CEO of the world renowned Sadler’s Wells.
But how is it that we have so many dancers here? The ruling theory is that anyone and everyone can dance. It sure works. The public policy position taps deep and visceral: the human urge to move to rhythm, and the unspoken dreams of shy multitudes to perform before others. In the Big Dance, they can all fulfil their dreams. It offers hundreds the opportunity to dance just for the sheer pleasure of it; to lose, and find, oneself in the larger piece; to create something worthwhile, beautiful, joy ous and shared, not for evaluation of technique or a publicity quote from an allknowing dance critic. And this goes for the participating professional performers as well as amateur or “community” dance groups. And the range is, well, quite something to behold. “London provides the widest variety on offer — shapes, sizes, cultures, races,” observes the Chennai-born British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh.
The participating groups, all officially tagged with ID cards, work for weeks on end honing their pieces, getting together for an all groups rehearsal just before the show. There are no prizes. Just the sheer delight of the crush and the roar like in a sports stadium and the shrieks and applause of the participants and the teeming audiences all around, themselves shaking a leg or more, showing up on giant screens.
Mira Kaushik, Director of Akademi and a mistress of the spectacle herself, who orchestrated several Indian Dance groups to participate in the Big Dance last time round proclaims, “London is the greatest place to dance.” Fielding a massive team of project managers, administrators, coordinators, ushers and volunteers, the Big Dance is a major security operation as well as a mammoth, mind-boggling resource and skill intensive management and technical enterprise.
Labels: BBC1, Big Dance, choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh, Dancers, India, Mayor of London, music, participation, performers, salsa, security, show, summer event, Trafalgar Square, UK, Visa
