This year’s Derby Festé was an absolute blast! After a year off, Derby Festé returned in spectacular style with more than 7,000 people enjoying performances the Cathedral Quarter, right in the heart of the city.
Derby Festé had it all, gravity-defying circus, high energy dance, powerful theatre and a whirlwind of roaming street acts!
From the skill of dancing on a giant parasol with Hikapee’s Everywhere’s a Beach, and the daredevil comedy antics of Spinsane and their Wheel of Death, to the mischievous Slinkies from Big Mob, and our glorious Carnival of Animals – it was pure, non-stop magic.
Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Leader of Derby City Council and Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Strategy and Policy, said:
It was absolutely fantastic to see our city centre buzzing for the return of Derby Festé! We were determined to bring this beloved event back for 2025, and it truly came back with a bang.
It was so special to see the joy on people’s faces - especially the many children that came along.
I want to say a huge thank you to the talented artists and performers, the dedicated team behind the scenes, and our cultural partners. We're proud to have delivered such an accessible, diverse, and spectacular event for Derby, and we intend to be back next year with something even bigger and better.
Leading UK and international artists descended on Derby on Saturday 27 September to provide audiences with a variety of captivating performances.
On the Market Place, the festival kicked off with Hikapee’s Everywhere’s a Beach, a dynamic, high-energy circus show on a giant, revolving parasol. Beach balls were bouncing around the audience as they were transported back to their summer holidays with eccentric beach loving characters.
2Faced Dance presented Fish Boy, young Tommy Minton’s ‘fin-tastic quest’ to save a river – a poignant yet joyful adventure that captivated audiences and had them cheering Tommy all the way.
Highly Sprung’s Accelerate combined dark humour, bold movement, aerial performance, and a conveyor belt dance that explored our toxic relationship with energy and the climate crisis.
Pirates of the Carabina bought live music, humour, and a mechanically ingenious set, based around an old London cab, in this extraordinary aerial circus performance with Pirate Taxi. Truly a unique remarkable sight.
At Cathedral Green, Crying Out Loud’s Taroo told the everyday story of what happens in streets across the world using parkour, circus, Chinese pole, and urban street moves to wow audiences with Human Flag.
Ascension: The Other Side had dancers sliding, crashing, and leaping, inspired by movement from parkour and free running, whilst tackling ideas of bridging divides. Children had a chance to get involved at the end of the show by travelling over the bridge they had come together to make with giant poles.
Vanhulle Dance Theatre’s ORB was a physically stunning duet that explored the tension between connection and distance with its martial arts-inspired movement, and emotive score.
Racehorse Company’s Spinsane was visually striking and breath-taking as their circus artists performed spectacular acrobatics on the wheel of death, even changing clothes mid performance!
Elsewhere on Cathedral Green, a giant street style doodle artwork, featuring hand drawn graphics by Scott Walker was coloured in by adults and children alike.
Derby-based Maison Foo performed Story Chefs, a "pop-up story kitchen" outside of Derby Cathedral, whilst Hubbub Theatre presented a selection of co-created contemporary dance pieces from their Dance Collective as well bringing their Agents of Kindness to the city’s streets, in the fabulous Hub-Mobile.
Bedlam Oz created a stir wherever they went with Big Mob, featuring giant slinkies with mini street shows at Derby Market Hall and Cornmarket. And The Fabularium: Carnival of the Animals bought a wondrous collection of woodland creatures with songs of celebration and friendship.
The Festé programme is designed to be accessible to audience members with additional needs, with many performances being completely non-verbal and some featuring British Sign Language and Makaton. Murmuration Arts: Nightlight Lullabies offered a BSL tour of the artworks of these installations and exhibitions at Derby Museums and outside Derby Cathedral.
Audiences also immersed themselves in Tom Dale Company’s Surge VR at Derby QUAD, entering a futuristic landscape and moving through the space physically and digitally.
As if all this wasn’t enough, the fun didn’t stop there! The Festé Fringe, a series of events by our cultural partners, kept the entertainment going into the evening.
Feste 25 was proudly presented by Derby City Council with project grant support from Arts Council England National Lottery funding. Festé was delivered in partnership with FABRIC, the Midlands strategic dance development organisation, with additional support from Cathedral Quarter Derby, Derby Museums and QUAD.