A lively street parade features people in costume, including two large illuminated deer puppets and a performer leading a wooden cart, while crowds line the street and watch the spectacle.A lively street parade features people in costume, including two large illuminated deer puppets and a performer leading a wooden cart, while crowds line the street and watch the spectacle.

XTRAX Artist Spotlight: City of Wings 2020

Spotlight on UK outdoor arts at Ypres

XTRAX remains committed to maintaining our strong relationships with international festivals for the benefit of artists at home and abroad.

We caught up with City of Wings Festival Director, Jan Victoor, to present a curated selection of work that was due to be performed at this year’s festival. We want to share with our international colleagues the opportunity to discover high-quality work that is being made in the UK, and to introduce UK creatives to some of the fantastic work being produced on the continent.

We asked Jan Victoor to select 10 shows that show the diversity, ambition and scale of the City of Wings festival. You can explore the selected shows in the related content section.

  • Cie Les Invendus – Accroche-toi si tu peux: a new approach of juggling in combination with acrobatics and a kind of dance
  • Cirkus trlochu jinak, z.s.: the only indoor show in the selection. In 2019 they came with a small group (3 persons), now they applied with a big group (11 persons in total). The east-European circus is still new for me
  • Compagnie du Courcirkoui: acrobatics and music, very visual, with nice images, with an original special structure
  • Compagnie Monad: dance and “juggling”, movement and control with the skirts as an additional value.
  • Double V: our first group from Taiwan
  • INO Kollektiv – INO: a group with only women (7 female artists), coming from different countries.
  • Joshua Monten – Kill Your Darlings: when I think about groups from Switzerland, I would not immediately think about a dance performance.  I think that there is a lot of energy in the show.
  • Maor Fine Skywalker: highland walking, but also a lot more… also the mix with live music and video art!
  • Mumusic Circus – Flou Papagayo: I saw this performance in Manresa (Spain) and I was really touched by the circus skills of the man, the voice of the first woman en the energy and expression of the second woman.
  • UpArte Cia.: the acrobatics on a high technical level and how they use and integrate the objects of their scenery. Very dynamic and entertaining.

Jan’s international artist highlights complement our selection of the eight UK artists who would have performed at our UK Showcase at City of Wing. The artists and shows are:

This forms part of XTRAX’s Platform 4: UK strategic programme of work, an Arts Council England funded project designed to support the international promotion and export of UK outdoor artists.

*Featured image Ghost Caribou by Thingumajig Theatre © Adrienne Photography

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Project information:

As Director of a festival which presents hundreds of fantastic artists every year, I normally refrain from picking a smaller selection of shows from the programme. Nevertheless, I hope my small selection gives you a taste of what makes City of Wings special in 2020.

From companies that were completely new to me before they applied and all-female groups, to new international artists we would have welcomed for the first time and companies who are using new approaches to specific skills.  Enjoy! 
Jan Victoor, Festival Director

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