Unexpected festival closes with something Extraordinary

The Unexpected festival comes to a close this Sunday with an acrobatic performance from Extraordinary Bodies.

Extraordinary Bodies are eight artists and athletes from Diverse City and Cirque Bijou making their premiere on Exeter cathedral green this Sunday.

The show called Weighting will feature a host of incredible circus performance as well as live music from the Unexpected choir.

The Unexpected choir is a 100 strong intergrated choir of Exeter based performers from The Deaf Academy, The Big Noise Chorus, Newtown Community Choir and Magic Carpet Choir.

Some will use voice, others sign language, while others work with the body in unison to create a one off show.

The Company contains leading disabled and non-disabled dancers, actors and circus performers, including highly skilled Paralympians new to the world of performance.

A spokesman for the Paralympian association said:"Extraordinary Bodies is a really positive initiative, aiming to showcase the incredible skills of disabled and non-disabled people alike.

“Challenging perceptions and showing what disabled people are capable of is at the heart of our vision and to see this replicated outside of sport, in the world of artistic and theatrical performance, is fantastic.

“We wish the project the best of luck and hope it helps to build on the positive perception of disabled people that was inspired by the London 2012 Paralympic Games."

Diverse City Chief Executive Clare Hodgson wrote:“It's scary stuff but circus and integration go well together. Working in participatory inclusive arts, as I do, you spend a reasonable amount of time with people telling you that your plans are over ambitious for the groups involved and rather risky.

“But circus artists are great at risk: they deal with it everyday; they assess it swiftly and effectively; they are also used to making the impossible possible.”

Extraordinary Bodies is at 5pm on Exeter Catherdral Green this Sunday (22 September).

Click here to find out about this and all the other Unexpected events taking place this weekend.