First acts announced for 2022 Greenwich and Docklands International Festival

The initial line-up has been announced for this year's Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF). Running from 26 August to 11 September, the free festival of outdoor arts will run under the theme 'common ground'.

Highlights include shows from dance specialists House of Suarez; German artist Stephanie Lüning, who will create a "tidal wave of foam" at Greenwich Peninsula; and Peter Hudson's Charon, a giant zoetrope artwork that will inaugurate a new GDIF festival site in the Royal Docks.

Participatory theatre company Fevered Sleep will premiere The Sky is Filled with Thunder, an audio promenade in Thamesmead; the Royal Ballet in collaboration with disabled dancer Joe Powell-Main will present Sleepwalker at Canary Wharf; and Spanish company Cia Maduixa will tell the story of female migrants in Migrare, a UK premiere. CROWD_CTRL is a dance and digital collaboration between choreographer AndroidX (AKA Malick Bright), scenographers MHz and London's Dragonsquad busking crew.

GDIF's full programme of outdoor theatre, installations, dance and circus includes a total of 25 premieres (12 UK premieres and 13 new to London) and a "spectacular opening headline event" which will be revealed in June.

Last year GDIF attracted over 75,000 visitors to the festival, which takes place in a range of public spaces across Greenwich and East London.

Artistic director Bradley Hemmings said: "As we emerge from the pandemic, with growing economic challenges at home and terrifying events on our doorstep in Europe, I want this year's festival to offer audiences a moment of sanctuary from the anxious times that we've been living through. It's heartening that many of the incredible artists we're working with this year are using the outdoors to offer us a glimpse of collective possibility and purpose."

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