Lakes Alive have announced their plans to once again transform spaces in Kendal and invite residents and visitors to either ‘dip a toe in’ or ‘dive head first’ into a vibrant programme of contemporary work and happenings - all presented and performed by artists from home and abroad.
This year Lakes Alive offers a programme inspired by the living landscape and the elements.
Phillippa Haynes, Festival Director said:
“We hope that our diverse program of art, dance, music , performance and merriment – will be a festival for you to see, listen, watch, make, take part in and be amazed by.
We want Lakes Alive to stimulate the senses and create time and space to pause for thought. Come along, dip your toe in or dive in head first. Bring the family, bring a friend and bring a sense of fun.”
The scene for a vibrant weekend is set by Jacob’s Join, the now annual community dining experience along the River Kent which has become a festival highlight. This year music and dancing is provided by the exuberant Cut a Shine, a troupe of musicians, dynamic Ceilidh dancers and crazy callers determined to spread the word that the Hoe Down is a’happening. After dark, a specially commissioned community performance brings together over 80 drummers in a colossal meeting of the elements Thunder, leading everyone up to Kendal Castle for this year’s extraordinary installation created by award-winning artist and British Composer of the Year, Ray Lee. Chorus is a monumental installation of giant kinetic sculptures and celestial choir of spinning sound machines. And the first evening doesn’t end there. As the cosmos calls, you can join Shirley Pegna's Star Walks by Star Light on a journey through the nightscape of Scouts Scar to listen to the sounds from the stars - amplified and explained.
The tsunami of entertainment continues throughout the weekend with a ‘promenade trail’ of spectacular moments through Kendal – at times fast paced, joyous and lively and at other times gentle, quiet and reflective.
Some will get you moving. With Harvest, a high energy, fast paced introduction to Bhangra, one of the world’s fastest growing dance forms, it will be difficult not to. Equally difficult to avoid is Laundry XL, a collision of dance, theatre and visual art: the Laundry Ladies are transforming Abbot Hall Park into a world of white linen and mayhem and you could find yourself emerged in their enthusiasm - washing powder and just a little water! Or sing along with a massed Virtual Reality Choir on the summit of Great Gable, without walking a step.
Some are more thought provoking. You’ll find a lone boatman All at Sea as he rows gently through the tides of the world around us accompanied by his own personal storm; take an empathetic and physical journey with the award winning A Mile in My Shoes, part giant shoe-shop, part audio-portrait, this fascinating installation invites you to walk in the shoes of a stranger - from a Syrian refugee to a neurosurgeon - whilst listening to their story; Join in with this years new dance commission Walking Watling Street, as it celebrates women’s suffrage and the little known achievement of 50,000 Cumbrian women who marched from Carlisle to London in 1913.
It’s a journey through Kendal designed to excite, enthrall and delight, and a ‘trail’ that may take you further afield into the Lakes if you wish.
Venture in to the heart of Grasmere, where the landscape is suffused with literary and walking history. Dutch composers Strijbos & Van Rijswijk along with award winning poet Jacob Polley have created a contemporary walking sound installation, a powerful fusing music, sound and voices. To Travel and To Matter a digital app for phones, moves you at your own pace through a glorious landscape to create a unique and dramatic experience as it guide you along the route.
Discover Wolves, a piece that allows everyone to track and document the life of a ‘pack of wolves’. They can be tracked digitally as they travel through their habitat or they can be spotted in the landscape. By uploading images to the website, people can add their pictures to the game map. Check out the game website at wolves.live where you can find out more about the project, sign up for a guided encounter with the ‘pack’ and ‘track the wolves’ online once the system goes live on 7th September.
