Bishop Auckland’s highly successful Kynren promises to be bigger and better than ever next year after the event organisers announced that Steve Boyd, has been enlisted to join the Eleven Arches team as Creative Director.
A specialist in mass choreography for ceremonies and live events, Steve has been involved in 13 Olympic Games, spanning Barcelona ’92 to Rio 2016, and led the volunteer performers in the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies of London 2012.
He will be driving the artistic evolution of the show, and overseeing the recruitment, casting and training of the volunteers, whose numbers the organisers aim to increase by a further 500 individuals next year.
Steve said: “My favourite thing about my job is working with regular people with no prior performance experience. I love developing teaching methods that move people beyond their notions of what is possible.
“Once you cover the basics, mass casts produce their own magic and can achieve the extraordinary.
“The astonishing success Kynren achieved in the first season is just the tip of the iceberg.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with this warm and ‘up-for-it’ community to build on their successes and leap into the next stage of the Kynren journey.”
Anne-Isabelle Daulon, Chief Executive Office, added: “We are challenging the community – and Steve – to increase volunteer participation rate and deliver a show that is even bigger and even better. This is a very exciting time in the evolution of Kynren; in 2017 you can expect more pageantry, more combat, more amazing choreography and more visual delight – on an even greater scale. In our first season, our performers proved they learn very fast and are capable of great things – so we need to keep challenging them! Details of the latest volunteer recruitment programme will be announced in November.”
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
