The Norfolk & Norwich Festival

Steering away from the UK’s capital, the arts are hugely well represented in the diverse dance and physical theatre programme at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2016. It is the flagship arts festival for the East of England, running from 13–29 May and providing audiences with an eclectic mix of performance art. Often arts away from capital cities are under-represented, particularly in the UK, however this year’s Norfolk & Norwich Festival looks set to delight.

Despite its location and proximity to London, the Norfolk & Norwich Festival is one of the biggest arts festivals in the UK. Highlights for this year’s programme include Sans Objet from celebrated director Aurélien Bory, the site-responsive BeLONGING(s) created by Maresa von Stockert of Tilted Productions, and H2DANCE’s intergenerational Staging Ages, in addition to work from the acclaimed Candoco Dance Company.

BeLONGING(s) has been created in collaboration with a local and international cast of  performers, as a site-responsive piece that makes use of local spaces and involves the community as it takes place along the local promenade. The performance explores migration, belonging and the fleeting nature of our surroundings through a combination of contemporary dance, physical theatre, sound and an unusual use of objects and locality.

H2DANCE’s latest piece for the festival mixes movement and text, and is an intergenerational project created in collaboration with five dancers aged 9–65. With H2DANCE’s distinctive charm and humour, Staging Ages explores the generation gap and how we feel about our public and private selves at different stages.

Legendary choreographer Arlene Phillips has collaborated with disabled and non-disabled dancers from Candoco Dance Company in order to to disrupt the structure of the traditional love duet. Named New Duet, it explores how we fall in and out of love over and over again.

Sans Objet presents enormous robotic arms, alongside acrobats Olivier Alenda and Olivier Boyer in a spectacular dance between man and machine. In this futuristic show, an industrial robot transported from factory line to live stage comes to life, and definitions of humanity are tested through a game.