Speed of Light reimagined as Ghost Peloton
29/01/2014Ghost Peloton is a collaboration between NVA and Leeds based Phoenix Dance Theatre, in partnership with the national cycling advocacy charity, Sustrans. It is one of the main commissions for the Yorkshire Festival 2014, marking the build-up to the Grand Départ, with the opening two stages of the Tour de France coming to British shores this summer.
Ghost Peloton takes NVA’s Speed of Light into a new creative territory, drawing on the spirit of the Tour de France, it uses cycling as the core of mass communal movement.
A new Film work will fuse performance cycling with extraordinarily athletic choreography inspired by the wheel in motion and performed by Phoenix’s dancers. Each ghost rider, bike and performer will be illuminated with a bespoke LED light suit which can instantaneously change colour, flash-rate and luminosity. The combined results produce mesmeric light patterns as the cyclists interact with their passing surroundings.
Ghost Peloton will culminate in an international film broadcast linked to the Grand Départ, and a monumental performance and live film projection in Waides Yard (by the former Tetley Brewery), central Leeds, 16 & 17 May at 9.30pm. Since 2012, NVA’s Speed of Light has choreographed massed endurance runners in sites as diverse as Arthur’s Seat, Yokohama docks and the entire Ruhr valley. Building on this worldwide success, the landscape of Yorkshire now becomes an open canvas carrying a new visual language of light in motion.
The live event is free but ticketed. Please keep visiting the Speed of Light website to register for further updates on when tickets can be booked: www.nvaspeedoflight.org.uk/ghostpeloton