Inaugural Light Up Lancaster event
11/09/2012 00:00:00
As night fell, the city’s beautiful buildings and squares were illuminated and animated by music, film, dance and art.
Light Up Lancaster was a First Friday event organised to promote Lancaster Arts City, which is a collection of professional arts organisations from across the district including Live at LICA, The Dukes, Grand Theatre, More Music, Ludus Dance, Litfest, Green Close Studios, The Platform and Storey Gallery.
Every First Friday of the month, local arts organisations will be offering special events to enjoy for free, to encourage more people to experience the wide variety of arts activities available in the district.
Lancaster-based theatre company, imitating the dog, produced a specially commissioned film which saw the historic Music Room in Sun Square become ivyclad, attracting giant butterflys and the odd spider crawling up the wall.
Sun Square was also the setting for Against The Wall, as crowds watched Ludus Dance unveil the history of Lancaster through contemporary dance, haunting cello compositions performed live and film projections.
Meanwhile, in Market Square, Dem Bones featured art works from the Recuerdos De Mexico exhibition by Sue and Pete Flowers of Melling’s Green Close Studios apparently escaping through the windows of the City Museum while giant skeleton lanterns paraded outside and the Northern Lights Orchestra played.
Music of a more improvised kind could be heard in Dalton Square which hosted More Music’s illuminated instrumental Bell Tower accompanied by Flying Colours fire poi performers.
Also in the city centre, The Long Walk Chinese Orchestra lit by Chinese lanterns played in Marketgate, dance flashmobs strutted their stuff and some empty shop windows were transformed to recreate stories from Lancaster’s past.