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Shipley’s skies burst into Bloom for spectacular Bradford 2025 circus performance

Published October 29, 2025

Bloom is the latest part of the year-long programme celebrating Bradford’s reign as 2025 UK City of Culture. Performances were on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 September at 7.30pm, with thousands attending over the two nights.

Co-produced by award-winning contemporary circus company Upswing, the performance features Upswing’s acrobats and aerial performers, alongside opera singer Heather Lowe, and a large community choir of 150 local people, aged from 5 to 80. The choir includes members of The Bolton Woods Centre Choir, Cullingworth Community Choir, Cottingley Community Choir, Great Yorkshire Chorus, Denholme Voices, and Love Pop Choir Saltaire, conducted by musical director and composer Tayo Akinbode.

They are joined on stage by 14 local emerging artists, who have undergone a training programme with Upswing to develop specialist professional skills in aerial movement and performance.

The show is directed by Upswing’s Artistic Director Vicki Dela Amedume, with dramaturgy by Theresa Heskins, following their joint nomination in the Best Director category at the upcoming UK Theatre Awards for their production of Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves (New Vic Theatre).

Designed especially for this outdoor location, with lighting by Craig West, sound design by Dan Steele and set and costumes by Becky Minto, the production takes place across and in the skies above the market square. It’s a show about connection, possibility and what people can build when they work together.

Bloom is about creating a magical communal experience that shows what’s possible when we work together — using circus performance and the collaboration with local choirs, the show aims to create a metaphor of how people can be extraordinary when they act collectively.

Staging it in Shipley Market Square at this moment is especially meaningful, as we come together to celebrate the square’s revival. The production transforms this renewed space into a stage for collaboration and joy, marking its new chapter with a shared sense of possibility.
Vicki Dela Amedume Artistic Director and CEO, Upswing
We are celebrating 2025 UK City of Culture right across Bradford district, showcasing incredible performances and events in the heart of people’s neighbourhoods, and demonstrating that brilliant and beautiful things grow and bloom from tiny seeds wherever they are nurtured.

With the jaw-dropping artistry of Upswing’s team of aerialists and acrobats, and music shared by a choir of 150 local people raising their voices together in song, Bloom will bring Shipley’s newly renovated Market Square to joyous life in these two unforgettable performances.
Shanaz Gulzar Creative Director for Bradford 2025