News
Utopia in Victoria Square Birmingham
SSE Hire provide a distributed system of L-acoustics and Meyer at a free extravaganza of music, song and dance as part of the International Dance Festival Birmingham.
Throughout the May Bank Holiday weekend, over 6000 people experienced ‘Utopia’, a mass dance piece by 50 dancers from four countries performing alongside Birmingham-based folk band The Destroyers. As the centre piece of the festival, Utopia was a visual extravaganza that included an enormous turquoise and gold stage placed over the city’s central fountain in Victoria Square. The festival even got special permission to wrap the famous “floozy in the jacuzzi” in gold.
Utopia was a riotous celebration of different cultures, with Russian, Spanish, Indian and African dancers joining with local contemporary dancers to create a relentless stampede of colourful dances and frenzied songs. The dance groups worked alongside director Arthur Pita and assistant choreographer Yann Seabra to create a brand new piece with The Destroyers, who composed new music drawing on their eclectic, turbo-folk style and Balkan influences.
The distributed sound provided 270º coverage around the stage in Victoria Square. The show was mixed by Andy Pink on a Soundcraft Vi6, with Kevin Sparkes on monitors, also on a Vi6. Mark Pantlin headed up the SSE crew and the project was managed by Dan Bennett.
Released on 14th May 2010 (Ref. GP/DB)
