BRADFORD is gearing up for a packed festival weekend of arts, culture and entertainment.

The action is due to kick off in City Park today, drawing on Britain’s rich cultural talent and featuring award-winning and highly acclaimed street theatre, music and dance.

“This year’s Bradford Festival is packed with lots of fun and interesting things to see and do,” said Councillor Sarah Ferriby, portfolio holder for Environment, Sport and Culture.

“As well as providing an important economic boost to Bradford city centre, the festival gives local artists a platform to show their work and meet leading practitioners from across the UK.

“The Bradford Festival also brings people from different backgrounds and communities together to enjoy a celebration of diversity, arts and culture.”

Music buffs will be able to revel in the festival’s rich and varied programme, which stretches from rock, ska, pop and folk to contemporary fusion, opera and Chinese classical music.

Delhi sensation The Ska Vengers will drop into Bradford from their UK tour to perform ska rhythms mashed with elements of dub, punk, jazz and rap.

And there will also be an chance to catch Ice Cream: The Opera, penned by Yorkshire writer Ian McMillan. Bradford-based Freedom Studios, with Skipton Building Society Camerata, will premiere the innovative piece, which tells the story of star-crossed lovers Romano and Geetha, who hail from different sides of two warring ice cream van families.

Lovers of Northern Soul will not want to miss authentic renditions by The Signatures Northern Soul, while those with a taste for world music can experience the soulful harmonies of the ancient erhu or Chinese violin, played by master virtuoso Ling Peng.

Colourful, energetic and entertaining street theatre will burst into life in City Park with celebrated women’s street theatre company Circo Rum Ba Ba. They bring The Crow House, a silent movie-inspired show using acrobatics, silks trapeze artistry, hat juggling, puppetry and slapstick comedy.

Audiences will be able to catch a glimpse of a possible future where air pollution hits crisis point in Urban Astronaut, by innovative British street theatre company Highy Sprung. And Cardiff’s Kitsch & Sync Collective will stage Bedraggled, where a trio of bold and brash mermaids shock and entertain onlookers with their feisty antics.

Meanwhile, internationally acclaimed Bradford-based theatre company Mind the Gap have worked with cutting-edge Liverpool theatre company The Kazimier to stage Mirror Mirror, which shines a spotlight on the experiences of people who are considered ‘different’ in today’s society.

Award-winning local street performance company Same Difference bring their ‘walkabout, much-talked-about, splendorous, spectacular, scientific discovery machine’ in Sense-O-Matic, which explores how we use our senses to discover our environment. And dance lovers will be treated to a piece telling the story of British WW1 soldiers though South Asian dance and poems by Wilfred Owen and Thomas Hardy in War – a scourge of hearts, by Bradford dancers Shrikant Jyoti and Gayathri.

Three of the ‘planet earth’s greatest superheroes’ will battle it out for the title of ‘Most Supreme Superhero Ever’ in KAPOW, a dynamic act by 2Faced Dance Company.

On top of an impressive line-up across the weekend, the Bradford Festival is also offering a host of workshops and interactive activities.

Bradford-based arts group 154 Collective will stage Cardboard Joe and The Book of Mysteries, a pop-up music and storytelling animation tent, where young adventurers and their families decide how the adventure unfolds.

Bollywood lovers can learn colourful and energetic routines with celebrated choreographer Jay Kumar and his Dance Asia troupe.

People will also get an opportunity to learn how to make sensational sand sculptures with master sculptors Sand In Your Eye, and the Bradford School of Rock and Media will help young people to unlock their inner rock star with drumming, guitar, bass, DJ and recording sessions.

There will also be a chance to browse a food, drink and craft market.

The festival runs from this afternoon to Sunday evening. Entry is free.

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