Cirque Bijou are all set to make waves at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Parade

Bristol’s world renowned contemporary circus company Cirque Bijou have been invited to create a bespoke section of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant parade, taking place in central London on June 5.

Rehearsals have been taking place in the Brabazon Hangar, Filton, which is one of the few local venues large enough to accommodate a performance of this scale.

A diverse cast of around 120 circus artists, street dancers and urban athletes will be performing in and around a specially adapted and sustainably powered float, devised by co-artistic director Julian Bracey and built by HMS Engineering.

Cirque Bijou – trials mtb – rehearsals for Platinum Jubilee Pageant – photo: Elmar Rubio

The design of this mobile stage, which is sustainably powered, incorporates trampolines and walls from which to do jaw-dropping tricks while on the move.

Overhead, an aerialist will be suspended beneath the Dream Engine’s Heliosphere, a stunning helium-filled balloon.

90 dancers aged 6-18 from Tottenham community street dance outfit Steppaz will be joining the spectacle, as well as wheelchair basketballers, elite stunt bikers headed up by multiple British and European Bike Trials champion Danny Butler, UK Pole Champion Andrew Gregory, and world record holder Backflip Ben’s team of trampolinists.

Painted float for Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant parade – photo: Cirque Bijou

Also featuring are Dergin ‘Stix’ Tokmak, cyr wheel artists Nadia Lumley and Lil Rice, aerial performer Leo Hedman, and circus performer and unicyclist Sam Goodburn, who won the hearts of audiences at the recent Revel Puck Circus.

Zero-waste costumes for the event come from London-based fashion house Teatum Jones, and design input across the entire spectacle is provided by acclaimed Bristol street artist, Zoe Power.

To learn more about how preparations are taking shape, Bristol24/7 spoke to Cirque Bijou senior producer, Geraldine Giddings, Julian Bracey, and performers Ben Brason and Lil Rice:

As a company who have performed internationally for many years, what does it mean for Cirque Bijou to be part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee parade show?

GG: “It’s a privilege, and a hugely exciting opportunity to be creating something celebratory, that will be seen by millions. We’ve performed all over the world – memorably on tour with Muse, with our own stadium show at Taichung Lantern Festival in 2020, and opening Bristol Green Capital year here in 2015 – but arguably this is our highest profile performance yet.

“Our artistic director Julian Bracey was approached by the Pageant Master Adrian Evans to create something exciting, dynamic and energetic. He wanted the float to have a very diverse cast and to showcase a wide range of circus and urban sports talent, both disabled and non-disabled.

“Diversity in casting has always been so important to us at Cirque Bijou, and this opportunity is really giving us a chance to show how far things have changed in circus, outdoor arts – in live performance in general.

“We have a really exciting range of artists in the company for this performance; to see them working together will be brilliant. And whilst what we are making is highly ambitious – with a technical build and the challenge of coordinating over 100 performers of varying experience together in a very short space of time – it’ll be a huge amount of fun too – it’s a carnival parade after all.”

Cirque Bijou – float – rehearsals for Platinum Jubilee Pageant – photo: Elmar Rubio

How much can you share about what you will be staging?

GG: “Our section is called Unity and it’s all about presenting a colourful, energetic and diverse celebration of performance, choreographed to music played from the in-built DJ booth. We’ll have over 100 artists, with a trampoline wall on a truck, six trampolinists bouncing up and down on it, bikes bouncing on and off it – acrobats, aerialists,  street dancers, unicyclists, bouncy stilts, wheelchair basketballers, and the section is led by a huge helium filled balloon beneath which an aerialist tumbles and turns.

“There are so many exciting artists involved. For the 90 young dancers joining us from Steppaz, ranging from very young to elite, the chance to dance together as a company, as well as performing with the other artists and in central London, for the Queen, could be life changing.

“Steppaz CEO Stacey McKnight remembers taking part in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee as a young dancer herself. This is one of the reasons why she set up the organisation – namely, to offer life changing opportunities to young people like herself.”

Steppaz in rehearsals for Cirque Bijou, Platinum Jubilee Pageant – photo: Elmar Rubio

What are the unique challenges and exciting moments of this particular performance?

JB: “One of the key challenges that I’ve set myself is to make the show with such a diverse cast of performers; in terms of age, experience and performance styles. It’s important that they all get a chance to shine – I want everyone to have their moment and we are working hard on choreographing the performance elements together to ensure this is able to happen.

“In terms of exciting moments, we’re going to have young dancers giving their all; aerialists and trampolinists flying through the air in front of Buckingham Palace; there are really too many to mention.”

BB (trampolinist): “We’re having to tighten up our performance, to make sure we’re very strong on the bed of the trampoline, so that we don’t ping off as we move along – especially on corners…”

LR (cyr wheel artist): “When we perform cyr wheel, we are moving around in a big circle whilst turning little circles – doing this on a moving platform, with your points of reference constantly changing, can definitely be challenging!”

Cirque Bijou – rehearsals for Platinum Jubilee Pageant – photo: Elmar Rubio

How have rehearsals been going so far?

GG: “We struggled initially to find a space big enough to house us for our first rehearsal and then we were given the tipoff to Brabazon Hangar at YTL Arena. In early April our float arrived from where it had been built in Herefordshire, and we brought the key elements of the performance together for the first time to enable us to try out some of the technical elements – like demonstrating the speed at which the float would be travelling for Steppaz – and allowing the trampolinists and other artists on the float to practice whilst the truck drove along.

“We also had a chance for Danny and Ash Butler, trials mtb riders, to practice their choreographed bike stunts on and off driving Land Rovers. They weren’t fazed at all!

“It all went really well and set us up for the next phase of the project – where each artistic element rehearse and create their own section, ready to be brought together as a whole performance by our choreographer Odilia Egyiawan during a rehearsal week at the end of May, leading up to the event on June 5.”

Beyond the parade, Cirque Bijou have a summer of exciting performances in store, not least the upcoming 50th Bristol Harbour Festival, which also marks 20 years of the company curating and producing the Circus Playground.

For all upcoming Cirque Bijou events, visit www.cirquebijou.co.uk. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Parade takes place on June 5. For more information, visit www.platinumpageant.com.

Main photo: Elmar Rubio

Read more: Twenty years of Cirque Bijou

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: