REHEARSALS are at full throttle for P.A.R.A.D.E., a large-scale, multi-platform re-imagining of Les Ballets Russes’ original ‘Parade,’ featuring dance, music, bilingual dialogue and a renegade aerial robot. 

The event will be performed outside and inside Pontio in Bangor this October, and will honour some of the revolutionary figures in Welsh history.

The original Parade was a radical ballet, first performed on May 18, 1917, and created by European artists including Ballets Russes; Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, Leonide Massine and Pablo Picasso. 

Parade subverted many of the artform’s conventions; the setting was a fairground and the ordinary streets of Paris, and the characters included clowns, acrobats, fire-eaters, and carnival acts.

Tthe score was inspired by music hall, ragtime, and fairground music; the orchestra’s instruments included a typewriter, a gun, a siren, milk bottles and a foghorn; and the dancers’ costumes were made of cardboard. 

National Dance Company Wales’ P.A.R.A.D.E. will see a supergroup of world-class Welsh artists, companies and venues – Marc Rees, writer Branwen Davies, aerialist Kate Lawrence, BAFTA-nominated actress Eiry Thomas, architectural designer Jenny Hall, composer Jack White,and north-west Wales-based Dawns i Bawb, Pontio, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and a community cast – plus internationally renowned choreographer Marcos Morau and graffiti artist Pure Evil,joining forces to bring a spark of revolution to Wales.

The action will begin in the open air (outside Pontio's Level 2) where a call-to-arms for a political revolution will gather momentum and a giant sculpture brought to life.

Audiences will be swept into the foyer, passing a dance loop inspired by the 1975 film The Stepford Wives, before settling in the auditorium to watch the event’s two core performances.

A  pre-recorded track of BBC National Orchestra of Wales performing Satie’s score will be played; followed byTundra, a new dance piece by Marcos Morau. 

Both dance pieces will be performed by NDCWales’ core dancers; Àngela Boix Duran, Ed Myhill, Elena Thomas, Robert Bridger, Camille Giraudeau, Cyril Durand-Gasselin, Evan Schwarz, and two student apprentice dancers, Marine Tournet and Mathew Prichard.

P.A.R.A.D.E. will be a flagship event in Wales’ Russia ’17 programme, which marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution.

NDCWales’ Artistic Director, Caroline Finn, said: "It's an honour and challenge to be taking on such an iconic piece as Parade - completely reimagining it and making it relevant for our audiences here in Wales.”

P.A.R.A.D.E. is presented by National Dance Company Wales and Marc Rees, in collaboration with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Rubicon Dance and Dawns i Bawb, and will be at Pontio, Bangor, on at 7.30pm on Saturday, October 28, and at 3pm, on Sunday, October 29.

Box Office: www.pontio.co.uk Tel: 01248 382828 Tickets: £14.50, £12.50 conc. Running Time: approx. 2hrs inc. an interval. Age guidance: 8+ (no under 2s)