Luca Silvestrini’s Protein will take to the streets of London for the first time with (In)visible Dancing in July and August 2019.
The company will take over the streets of Woolwich with seemingly impromptu bursts of dance on the streets over two weeks, culminating in a flash-mob-style finale of more than 200 dancers, six live musicians and any passers-by who have learned the steps. The two-week immersive event has been seen across the UK and Dublin and is unique to every area it visits. It, "aims to bring together different strands of the community, from apprentices to local performers to everyday people who call Woolwich home, and reconnect them with their high street and each other."
It will also mark the opening of the new Woolwich Creative District, a £31.59m investment aimed at transforming the area into a new destination for the arts by 2020. Woolwich will be the new home of Protein, which has been based in Greenwich since 2012, although The Royal Borough of Greenwich will be funding Protein over the next four years to continue its work in the local community and with local organisations.
Councillor Miranda Williams, Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and the Third Sector, said, “we have a strong commitment to arts and culture in Royal Greenwich. We are proud to support events such as (In)visible Dancing which bring our communities together and showcase our local talent. These cultural activities make Royal Greenwich a great place to be and provide access and opportunities into arts and culture employment for local residents. (In)visible Dancing is a great addition to our programme of events and we’re looking forward to seeing Protein take over Woolwich Town Centre this summer.”
Silvestrini said, “we are really excited to connect more actively with communities in Greenwich and we look forward to impact people’s everyday life through dance. We are going to work with individuals, groups, with our newly recruited dance apprentices, and with the next generation of dance professionals. (In)visible Dancing will animate Woolwich Town Centre as never seen before. We’re thrilled to involve the people who live in, work in and visit Woolwich and together create a performance to be remembered.”
First commissioned by the International Dance Festival Birmingham in 2010, (In)visible Dancing was most recently in Stockton-on-Tees as part of Stockton International Riverside Festival in 2018 and in Hull as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations in 2017.