Project
Our work with communities in Redditch told us that bringing an inspirational, inclusive and collaborative street performance to the borough would offer many people a new opportunity to experience ambitious, live, outdoor performance art in their own town for the first time.
Conversations with Redditch residents and our partners also made clear the same desire shared by many different groups and individuals – to be part of something big – a creative spectacle.
Autin Dance Theatre is an innovative touring dance company, established in 2013 under the helm of acclaimed French choreographer and Birmingham-based Artistic Director Johnny Autin. Its mission is to inspire, educate and instigate positive social changes by delivering relevant, highly responsive, multi-disciplinary arts activities to communities, in theatres, outdoors and in non-traditional spaces.
Autin Dance Theatre provides extensive learning and engagement programmes with a wide range of participants across several local communities. Autin Dance Theatre draws on contemporary social issues (environment, community, relationships, identities) to make engaging, highly accessible and relevant performance work.
The company is a collaborative ensemble of creatives who devise and produce socially engaged and mass participatory movement performance projects across the UK and internationally.
Working with the pupils and staff at St George’s CE First School.
Over the course of two days, the school children had the incredible opportunity to work with the acrobats, artists and street performers at Autin Dance Theatre.
Together, they created and learned a specially choreographed routine that they then performed in public as part of Autin Dance Theatre’s performance of Parade – The Giant Wheel.
The 50-minute act includes 3 still moments that celebrate the tension and fracture between our individual identities and our shared collective humanity. Ultimately, Parade is about celebrating different journeys whilst honouring our shared life struggles and collective journeys.
The Giant Wheel carries the performers high above the streets, spins them around ferociously, turning their worlds upside down, at times giving them momentum and speed, and at others rocking them gently back and forth imitating the laborious and repetitive cycle of life.
Parade is an ambitious street performance that has inclusivity and accessibility at its heart. As such, local people can join the movement of mass participation.
Autin Dance Theatre draws on contemporary social issues (environment, community, relationships, identities) to make engaging, highly accessible and relevant performance work.
They have built a strong reputation with high levels of engagement for their work with critically acclaimed productions including A Posi+ive Life, Dystopia, Square One, Street Games & Out of the Deep Blue. In 2023, they premiered their brand-new spectacle Parade – The Giant Wheel.
Find out more about Autin Dance Theatre by clicking this link: autindt.co.uk or this link: @AutinDT
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Johnny Autin (Artistic Director of Autin Dance Theatre)
Listen to a full description of Parade – The Giant Wheel by clicking the photo opposite or by clicking here.
Download the easy-to-read guide by clicking the image opposite or by clicking the link here.
“Redditch crowds wowed by street dance performance” says The Redditch Standard newspaper. Read the newspaper’s story in full by clicking here.
Claire Martin, Headteacher at St George’s CE First School, says: “This was part of a wonderful collaboration with Reimagine Redditch, aimed at bringing the community together and offering a positive experience for all.
“We believe this event was a fantastic showcase of what makes our community so special.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our children. They performed their routines with such confidence in front of the audience. It was a unique and memorable experience that I know will stay with them for years to come.”