Hundreds of participants from all walks of life came together at South West Water’s Meldon Dam in Dartmoor National Park recently for a unique and stunning event for Green Space Dark Skies.
Developed by outdoor art experts Walk the Plank, Green Space Dark Skies is part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK running from April to September 2022.
Circus arts company Extraordinary Bodies worked with local community groups and artists to create the project that ran over two nights.
Artists Jamie Beddard and Billy Alwen directed the project which featured circus aerialists and a 170 strong choir.
Colin Rea, a local choirmaster from Big Noise created the choir with voices from Plymouth, Dorset, Exeter, Okehampton and Torbay.
Emerging local composer Ally Bryan has composed the original music and Dave Young, The Shouting Mute’s words have been created into arrangements for the choir to sing.
The gathering was choreographed by Natasha Player, Plymouth Theatre Royal and Plymouth-based collective of Disabled and non-disabled artists Far Flung Dance Theatre.
Margo Wicks from who participated as a ‘Lumenator’ said: ‘What I found special about being in this particular place is that the area is outstandingly beautiful. It is very wide very open and it’s open to everybody. It’s wheelchair friendly, and I’ve noticed that there are ways of getting round. I’m visually impaired and I coped really well today, so yeah, its been excellent.’
Carrying a low impact Geolight developed by Siemens onto Meldon Dam, Lumenators helped create a large-scale artwork, celebrating nature and everyone’s right to explore the countryside.
The Geolights have built-in GPS technology that changes the colours and intensity of the lights and enables the creation of patterns in the landscape. There was no live audience and the exact location was kept secret to protect the landscape. The event was captured on film and a specially created short film will be available to view for free on the Green Space Dark Skies website soon.
Jamie Beddard co-director of Extraordinary Bodies said during the event: ‘I’ve been here three days and we’ve been working with different people every day. Everyone’s so into it — the enthusiasm, the energy and the excitement, in a beautiful place...for me, it’s been completely magical.
‘Everyone’s been really motivated and a lot of people have met new friends. I’ve always liked being outside, I’ve always liked being in beautiful places the idea of animating these amazing places like Meldon Dam in Dartmoor, It’s an amazing place to animate. There’s been a really good creative team and all the local teams have been amazingly supportive. I want to do it again!’