In March 2020, 400+ children and young people took to the stage at Broadway Theatre, Catford for Live Dance. Little did we know that only a week later the UK would enter a full lockdown and all further events would need to be cancelled.
Fast forward two years and Lewisham was London Borough of Culture 2022. This meant that LEAN was busy acting as the official education partner for the year, whilst all of our partners were busy delivering even more brilliant artistic activity across the borough. The Lewisham Live partnership collectively decided that our focus for 2022 should be on Borough of Culture, and that we would wait for 2023 to relaunch the festival...and that's what we did!
So on the 7 and 8 March 2023, we were back, with Trinity Laban, in a newly renovated Broadway Theatre, with another bumper year of Live Dance performances. 11 school groups performed across two nights to massive audiences made up of friends and family members. It was nearly like nothing had changed. The technical and stage management teams were back, Trinity Laban staff took the reigns again and LEAN staff, as always, joined in the fun. Nat hosted both shows as she had done for the last 4 years, and many of the teaching staff were familiar faces.
So much had happened in this borough in the past 3 years, but for two nights at the Broadway Theatre, Catford, it felt as if Lewisham Live had finally come home.