In 1917, a supergroup of world-famous European artists - Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, Leonide Massine and Pablo Picasso. collaborated on Parade, a radical new ballet from Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.
Parade subverted many of the artform’s conventions; the setting was a fairground and the ordinary streets of Paris, and the characters included clowns, acrobats, fire-eaters, and carnival acts to attract an audience; the score was inspired by music hall, ragtime, and fairground music; the orchestra’s instruments included a typewriter, a gun, a siren, milk bottles and a foghorn; and some of the dancers’ costumes were made of cardboard.
The modern reimagining of the original Parade features a live score – including all of Satie’s extraordinary instruments - played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and highlights of the action captured outside the Wales Millennium Centre where a call to arms in a political rally sets the scene for the on-stage action.