Glow Illuminates The Lightbox

Musicians and dancers began the colourful multi-faceted performance in the gardens and led an audience of more than 150 across the threshold of the new gallery and museum into different areas of the building.

The dancers then split into four individual groups and danced to different music in various areas of the building so the sounds filled the place. The audience stood and watched the groups in turn while looking around, clearly relishing the opportunity to take a long-awaited look inside.

The DeVyne dancers performed dances around the theme of Breaths using picture frames, while 13 performers aged from eight years and upwards, who had attended community dance events, performed a movement entitled Soul Candles that involved weaving small portable lights.  They wore glamorous silver and gold costumes made by people attending the community fashion workshops from clothing donated to The Woking Hospice to designs from Davina Hawthorne, a designer renowned for her eco-friendly work.

Elsewhere Cloth Memories evoked memories of Victorian costumes and the Chorus of Stones a stone building dance was inspired by sculptures.

The production culminated in all the dancers performing on the triple-storey staircase with the audience lining the long balconies and looking down on the colourful spectacle to catch a glimpse of the musicians at the bottom.

Speaking about the event, The Lightbox Director Marilyn Scott said:” This is a fantastic undertaking by everyone involved. What Topos began, Glow has continued and taken us to another dimension. Integrating such a large and varied group of people in such a unique and creative event should fill the community with great expectations of what is to come when we open the doors for good later this year.”

Glow represents the culmination of the award-winning Radiance project, a two-year joint collaboration between Woking Dance Festival and The Lightbox charting the construction of the Lightbox through a series of performance events and educational programmes.

Glow was choreographed by Carol Brown, hailed as one of Britain’s most exciting site-specific choreographers and the music was composed by Russell Scoones with Planet People musicians who created sounds to represent their feelings of light. In addition, Russell integrated words and phrases used in the Woking Living Words project into the music.

Two performances were held on Tuesday 3 April and Wednesday 4 April. Tuesday evening’s production was preceded by a reception attended by the Mayor Cllr John Kingsbury, the Deputy Mayor Cllr Bryan Cross as well as members of Woking Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Patrons and members of arts organisations who have made grants and donations.

The Radiance project is funded by Arts Council England and SEEDA. Please follow the link below for information about our previous Radiance performance, Radiance Topos, which was performed on The Lightbox site last year.