Trafalgar Square Festival 2007 inspired by India

This year's Trafalgar Square Festival takes inspiration from the Mayor of London's India Now season, with three weeks of breathtaking outdoor dance, theatre and spectacle, designed to illustrate the creative connections between London and India.

The programme of free events will feature new collaborations and pioneering outdoor commissions from London based, Indian and other international companies and is a key event in the three-month India Now season.

Trafalgar Square Festival highlights include Dreaming Now, an entrancing dance extravaganza combining ballet with Bharatanatyam from Akademi South Asian Dance UK and Shiva Dance, a newly commissioned, poetic, aerial dance piece directed by Vena Ramphal inspired by sacred geometry and evoking the Chola bronze sculptures of Southern India.

There will be a stunning collaboration between leading installation artist Naresh Kapuria, working with London-based Kathak dancers and the Belgian Theater Tol, featuring hundreds of Indian bells and entrancing performers suspended from a crane.

Juggernaut – Tara in the Sky! a new outdoor performance from Tara Arts, one of the UK's leading South Asian theatre companies, will create a powerful theatrical ritual celebrating the relationship between London and India, with a spectacle of dance and music soaring into the sky, and Nagarantharan, a major new commission from the Bangalore-based Attakkalari Centre, will evoke the sights and sounds of Indian streets – including choreography on motor scooters.

In the final week of the festival, Namastey Trafalgar Square, a specially commissioned Bollywood spectacle will see a giant canvas painted live by Mumbai poster painters, who will re-imagine London as an Indian city at the foot of Nelson's Column. This exciting collaboration between the poster painters, London-based choreographer Joan Pires, composer Niraj Chag and the French aerial company Les Passagers, will include a spectacular vertical Bollywood dance extravaganza performed by a team of fearless aerialists, which will be played out each day against the background of this extraordinary vividly painted giant poster.

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: 'Throughout the summer, London is proud to be hosting India Now, a citywide season celebrating the riches of this diverse and dazzling culture. The sixth Trafalgar Square Festival is very much a highlight and guarantees to be nothing short of spectacular. This year's programme reflects and celebrates the distinctive Indian culture through dance, theatre, music and visual art offering a fantastic way to spend summer evenings, for Londoners and the capital's visitors alike.'

This year the Trafalgar Square Festival is also working with, X.trax Manchester, which has resulted in Platform 4 Piccadilly, a project that will bring music, dance, circus and theatre from British and international artists to that city's Piccadilly Gardens. Platform 4 will feature a number of shows originally commissioned for Trafalgar Square Festival including Dreaming Now by Akademi - with more shared events planned for 2008.

Event: Trafalgar Square Festival
Location: Trafalgar Square, London
Dates: Every Thursday to Sunday for three weeks, Thursday 2 – Sunday 19 August 2007
Times: Thursdays 6pm / Fridays 8pm / Saturday & Sundays 3pm
Entry: FREE – ALL WELCOME
Information: London.gov.uk/trafalgarsquare / Visitlondon.com/india