For a second consecutive year, Coverdale Barclay delivered a spectacular evening street party with a twist on Friday 21st October to launch the weekend of this year’s Bloomsbury Festival. With a host of new entertainment in line with this year’s theme of Language, Step Out Store Street explored the language of dance, with the street transformed by more than 100 artists and dancers, becoming a vibrant public stage for different forms of dance, from Bollywood and Swing to B-boy and Line dancing.
In partnership with renowned dance company The Place, a new street dance was created by award-winning choreographer Tony Adigun with his Avant Garde Youth Company and was premiered at the event. Visitors had the chance to take part in the revelry by learning new dance styles or simply enjoy the show.
Store Street’s unique mix of independent shops and restaurants remained open later than usual and each was home to a specially selected ‘artist-in-residence’ offering a performance, talk or exhibition. Guests could ride a bike-powered smoothie maker, courtesy of Planet Organic, or take in floral-themed poetry at Orchidya.
Back by popular demand with an ‘echo’ of last year’s event, pyrotechnics specialists pa-BOOM’s returned with one of their mesmerising fire installations to mark the street’s entrance from Tottenham Court Road. There was plenty of food available from the street’s cafés and restaurants, as well as from street food stalls and pop-up bars throughout the evening.
Bloomsbury Festival, an annual celebration of arts, culture and science, brought over 150 unique events to Bloomsbury, between 19th and 23rd October. Now at a close, Bloomsbury Festival will continue to enhance lives through art with its pioneering project, Festival in a Box, which takes artists into the homes of people living with dementia.
