What's on in London: Ensemble Festival
A celebration of circus, dance, physical theatre, and street art.
Certain Blacks returns to London's Royal Victoria Docks with the Ensemble Festival - taking place 26-27 July.
2025 is the sixth edition of the festival. A free event, Ensemble Festival is an outdoor celebration of circus, dance, physical theatre, and street art.
“Ensemble represents everything we're about at Certain Blacks..." says Clive Lyttle - artistic director of Certain Blacks. "Our aim is to bring diverse artists from the margins into the mainstream, and with a number of new commissions which include Vidya Productions and David Glass with Holy Dirt and Miss High Leg Kick with PALAIS DE DANSE along with Certain Blacks supported Without Walls Commissions Sadiq Ali Co’ - TELL ME, Mish Weaver – Waiting Song and Levantes Theatre - HUG, we hope to present a truly engaging, spectacular and entertaining festival to mark 10 years of Certain Blacks.”
The Ensemble Festival 2025 programme includes:
Artizani and Tenderfoot Theatre - Hydropunk
Outdoor arts veterans Artizani and sustainability-focused Tenderfoot Theatre come together in Hydropunk, an interactive water installation created with the public. A chaotic yet playful water machine cranks into motion in a striking environmental metaphor where everyone must work together to recycle water and keep the fun flowing.
Levantes Dance Theatre - HUG
HUG is a vibrant circus theatre performance that rediscovers the simple act of a hug. This work features an impressive sway pole that takes the artist high above the Royal Docks. Levantes Dance Theatre fuses aerial dance, physical theatre and bold visuals to explore our relationships with people, objects, and our surroundings.
Mish Weaver - Waiting Song
In Waiting Song, by circus director Mish Weaver, two trapeze artists suspended in mid-air engage in a melodic conversation about their hopes for the future. Dressed in sumptuous circus costumes and set to live music, they sway and sing in duet in a lyrical exploration of how anticipation shapes our emotions and actions.
Miss High Leg Kick - PALAIS DE DANSE
This year sees the return of Olivier-winning live artist Francesca Baglione (aka, Miss High Leg Kick) with PALAIS DE DANSE, a multi-sensory flashback (with a modern ‘Twist’) to a night out in late 1950s British dance halls. The offbeat, interactive show with multi-generational appeal celebrates the collective excitement of teenage nights then and now.
Nandita Shankardass - Roots to Rise
A dance-theatre show by Nandita Shankardass, Roots to Rise brings together three women, each absorbed in the chaos of their own world. Blending folk and contemporary movement with Indian classical dance, this new work follows their journey back to the land, the soil, and the stories written in the stars. Set to polyrhythmic musical scores and guided by embodied memory, they confront personal and collective histories, learning from one another and from those who came before.
Tiago Fonseca - NoMo
The acclaimed physical comedian Tiago Fonseca comes to Ensemble Festival with NoMo, a clown show about the contemporary addiction to screens. With dazzling juggling and laugh-out-loud moments, Tiago explores how using smartphones affects our body language and real-life encounters.
Sadiq Ali Company - TELL ME
Produced by Turtle Key Arts, TELL ME is Sadiq Ali Company’s brand new circus theatre show. Blending breathtaking Chinese pole, acrobatics, and physical storytelling, the piece explores a narrative around HIV and overcoming stigma.
Thirunarayan Productions - HOLY DIRT
This year’s festival features HOLY DIRT, a new collaboration between physical theatre legend and director David Glass and internationally renowned Vidya Thirunarayan. Set to live percussion, the show bridges Indian performance styles, particularly Bharatanatyam and Kathakali, with modern physical theatre forms like bouffon and melodrama. Clay, stones, water and sand erupt across the space in a visually startling performance where the rawness of earth converges with myth and ritual.
Tilly Ingram - The Hide
An audio piece driven by live birdwatching, The Hide is both an installation and an audio experience led by artist Tilly Ingram that reflects on hidden disabilities. The piece offers a space to sit—binoculars and a bird ID spotting at the ready—and consider what might not be immediately evident to the eye while listening to Tilly’s own story with an invisible disability.
Ramshacklicious and Hijinx - TRUTH
Performing exclusively on Sunday 27th July and taking the Royal Docks in a joyful street revolution, outdoor artists Ramshacklicious and inclusive theatre company Hijinx challenge societal norms in TRUTH. Featuring a mixed cast of disabled and non-disabled performers, this riotous performance blends clowning, physical theatre, and original music. Interactive and partly improvised, this theatrical revolution leaves audiences united and with a fresh sense of hope.
For full details of all the events, including performance times and precise locations, visit www.certainblacks.com.
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