The Manchester International Festival (MIF) invites 160 Greater Manchester residents to take part in Sea Change, an extraordinary new dance event taking place in Deansgate on Thursday 1st July, the first day of the festival.
Together with the French choreographer Boris Charmatz and his team of professional dancers, each participant learns a series of dance moves that are performed on site. Audiences will experience the performance walking past, or even walking past waves of dancers to animate the action in their own living flip book.
Participants must take part in eight trial sessions over ten days between Saturday, June 19 and the world premiere on Thursday, July 1. No dance experience is required and all fitness and mobility levels are welcome.
Greater Manchester residents are the focus of many other events in this year’s festival program. Portrait of Black Britain features 100 portraits of Black Britons, including many from Manchester, on display across Manchester Arndale and the city. Over 100 Greater Manchester residents are participating in I Love You Too, sharing their love stories for a new book by eleven Manchester-based writers.
Following a public call for Manchester-based artists, Festival Square, which this year will take place in a new location in Cathedral Gardens, will feature a rich program of food, drink and free entertainment from Manchester artists as well as international artists and Jamz curated evenings Offer Supernova, Homoelectric, Mr Scruff and DJ Paulette.
And for the first time, Manchester residents will curate the festival’s series of lectures and discussions. With a range of speakers including artists, activists, key workers, activists and members of the Greater Manchester Community, Looking Forward to Tomorrow will explore some of the big issues of the day, including the climate emergency and racism against blacks.
In addition to the hundreds of residents hosting and attending world premiere events this summer, the dedicated MIF team of volunteers from across the region will help ensure that every stage of the festival experience from helping the artists behind the scenes to welcoming the public at festival events becomes possible.
John McGrath, MIF Artistic Director, says, “At MIF, we have a proud tradition of organizing large-scale participatory events that bring the city together – from MIF17’s neighborhood catwalk celebration, What is the City but the People, to Together in One voice, the joyful mass doorstep singalong during the lockdown. Whether you’re dancing in the streets of Deansgate, sharing love stories, performing in Festival Square, or just enjoying the many free events and activities in town, we hope Greater Manchester residents will be inspired to attend and participate in the Creating another feast moment for the city. “
This year’s Manchester International Festival runs from July 1st to 18th and features a vibrant program of original new work from across the visual and performing arts and music by artists from over 20 countries. The events are safely held both indoors and outdoors in Greater Manchester. An extensive online offering offers a glimpse of the festival wherever the audience is, including live streams and work specially created for the digital domain.
