The Trafalgar Square Blog

PROTEST

Once again, a very busy day, not just at Trafalgar Square though. A mass demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon, passed by the square on its way towards Parliament Square. Traffic around Trafalgar was immense. The Strand was so jammed with traffic in fact, that I saw drivers getting out of their cars with looks on their faces of the quiet sort of disgust that only the English can do.

Some protesters took a timeout from the march to drop in to TS. In there they could have seen 'Mass Carib' by Nitro, performing for the penultimate time their story about African slaves taken to the West Indies. The other acts were all one-offs: 'Tmesis' by Momentum, 'Cultural Collision' by Chi 2 and 'Lizzie's Beat' by Avant Garde.


'Tmesis' by Momentum was quite a peculiar take on Plato's Symposium. Apparently it's all about 'the origin of love and the constant searching for our other half'. No words, just music as a man and woman performed some very impressive yet rather odd acrobatics in front of Nelson's Column. They started out in some weird skin-like overwear, until this came off to leave just their underwear and then it finished with the man in trousers and the woman in a dress... fair enough.


Next up was 'Cultural Collision' by Chi 2. I think I remember them being at the Croydon Summer Festival in July, so they've kept themselves busy. 2 girls performing classical music with a twist, as they used some funky instruments like the electric and Chinese violins. I don't know if the backstage guys were having technical difficulties or what because the sound wasn't perhaps as loud as it could've been. Anyway, it made for a nice change from the norm when it comes to classical music, I suppose.















The final act, 'Lizzie's Beat' by Avant Garde, also used classical music and mixed it up with some 21st century hip-hop. It was a nice idea of theirs to start at one end of the square (at the column) and then about a quarter of a way in, dance their way to the other side (at the steps).




I got the impression that it was a take on the Romeo and Juliet story, with one family being all classical and the other being all hip-hop. It was a nice idea and the young dancers showed a lot of talent. A great variety of dance styles that they must have worked very hard on in rehearsals, if I had a hat it would go off to them.

Plus,what a great opportunity for them to be able to perform in Trafalgar Square. Nice one.

Keep checking the blog out, there will be an interview soon with one of next week's performers whom I shall be revealing tomorrow and naturally a summary of all of Sunday's action. Yeah!