Beautiful views on Greenham Common as Corn Exchange and 101 present Bel Horizon

Renowned French performance company Le G. Bistaki returned to Newbury on Saturday with their promenade outdoor performance Bel Horizon - the latest instalment in the Corn Exchange and 101 Outdoor Arts’ free outdoor arts programme.

Mixing circus, dance and physical theatre, the company guided their audience of more than 250 people on a journey across Greenham Common, encouraging them into a whimsical world of exaggerated movement, visual surrealism and humorous encounters.

Set against the backdrop of Greenham Common’s varied landscapes, the ‘Bel Horizons’ or ‘beautiful views’ along the route helped set each scene, with the dried grassland in some areas evoking scenes from old Western films. Against these backdrops, performers in long black skirts and cowboy hats danced, juggled china vases, flew down zip lines and fought with fencing swords, tracking the evolving, wordless relationships of the characters.

Praise from the audience included: “The choreography was excellent…The posing was excellent. The costumes, everything. We thought it was sort of reminiscent of those ‘spaghetti Westerns’, it very much felt like it had that theme.”

Le G. Bistaki are hailed as one of France’s most inventive performance companies and last visited Newbury in 2018 with their performance La Baina Trampa Fritz Fallen. Prior to presenting Bel Horizon they also led a residential training course at 101 for outdoor arts professionals to explore creating site specific performance.

See the video from the event here: https://vimeo.com/738656651

The next event in the Corn Exchange and 101’s free outdoor arts programme is a dance double bill, Lives of Clay and Bonded, on Sunday 18 September 2022. To find out more visit www.cornexchangenew.com or call 01635 522733.