Ensemble Festival returning to Royal Victoria Docks in July

Ensemble Festival, produced by east London art development organisation Certain Blacks, will be held on July 20 and 21 along the Royal Victoria Docks, Western Gateway.

The event will feature performances including circus acts, street theatre, live music, dance routines - and is completely free to the public.

Attendees at this year's Ensemble Festival can expect to see the NoFit State Circus, a UK contemporary circus company.

They will be performing their acts on towering structures made completely of bamboo.

Gorilla Circus is returning to the festival after performing last year (Image: Rosie Powell)

The Gorilla Circus will return with a fresh show that blends acrobatics, street dance and roller skating on a giant moving treadmill.

Theatre company Cardboard Citizens is set to present Cardboard Citizens - Cardboard Collective, their youth programme, as the festival opener while JW3 will honour an east London working-class tradition with the Great Yiddish Parade.

These, along with performances from commissioned emerging artists from the UK and beyond, form part of Ensemble's outdoor show.

This year's festival will be the fifth of its kind, having started as part of Newham’s Join the Docks Festival in 2019.

With continued support from the Royal Docks and as part of the Without Walls consortium, Certain Blacks has expanded and diversified the Ensemble Festival every year - including a Covid-safe event in 2021.

Also at this year's festival is Head Over Wheels, with their debut work Anchored in Air (Image: Hugo Glendinning)

Clive Lyttle, artistic director of Certain Blacks, said: "Ensemble represents everything we're about at Certain Blacks.

"Our aim is to bring diverse artists from the margins into the mainstream, and we're wowed by the imagination, diversity and sheer artistry of this year's line-up, including new work commissioned especially for Ensemble 24.

"I think the range and ingenuity of artists creating work for the public realm is only matched by the appetite of audiences for these often transformative experiences."

He added: "We are grateful to the Royal Docks team for their continued support and for sharing our vision for Ensemble, and to the very many agencies and individuals who make the festival possible.

"Everyone on the ground (and in the air!) is gearing up for Ensemble; we are so excited to meet the audience."

For full details about the Ensemble Festival, including performance times and precise locations, visit www.certainblacks.com.