Our new Postcards From feature is an ongoing series bringing you memories from Brighton Festival, so you can get a glimpse into all the exciting things that are happening around the city this month.
In our latest Postcards From, we’re sharing some of the highlights from A Weekend Without Walls @ British Airways i360, which saw Brighton Festival-goers take a trip to the seafront to enjoy awe-inspiring performances and witness some incredible talent.
Photography by Jamie MacMillan
On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 May, Brighton Festival’s second A Weekend Without Walls programme brought communities together to enjoy pop-up performances from some of the UK’s most innovative outdoor companies.
Here, you can get a glimpse at some of the outdoor performances, including Look Mum, No Hands! by Daryl Beeton Productions and Mimbre; Born to Protest by Just Us Dance Theatre and Joseph Toonga; and Scrum: Illegal Dance by Avant Garde Dance.
In Scrum: Illegal Dance, Avant Garde Dance skilfully wove together hip hop and contemporary dance to put on a dynamic and high energy show that brought the community together and captured the attention of beach-goers.
The performance used colourful smoke flares and VR headsets to tell the story of five rebellious young digital natives protesting a political regime that has outlawed freedom of creative expression.
Scrum overlaps live performance with virtual reality. Audiences were given the opportunity to use their phones to scan a QR code and experience a deeper virtual layer to the performance.
“Innovate never replicate” – Avant Garde Dance mantra
Look Mum, No Hands! is a story about friendship and growing up by Daryl Beeton Productions and Mimbre.
The performance explored a visually beautiful and physically surprising coming-of-age story about two friends testing their own boundaries.
Audiences were treated to a combination of theatre, movement and acrobatics, all used as narrative tools in this tender story.
The performance saw two friends playing and pushing the boundaries of what is possible, until they found the perfect balance of each of their limits.
One of the characters in Look Mum, No Hands! used their wheelchair to create new acrobatic shapes and movements that were original and unexpected.
Just Us Dance Theatre’s performance Born to Protest brought audiences together to witness a dance piece that challenged racial stigma.
The dance was an intense and thought-provoking performance set to a high-energy soundscape.
Just Us Dance Theatre took authentic subject matter and choreographed a dance routine that resonated with all audiences on the day.
Born to Protest combined hip-hop and contemporary dance for a unique performance piece.
The dance made for irresistible viewing on Brighton seafront this past weekend, with large crowds gathering to watch throughout the day.
A Weekend Without Walls is supported by Southern Water and Without Walls Consortium.
Click here for more outdoor events throughout Brighton Festival 2022.
Photography by Jamie MacMillan