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In the Studio: Danny Boyle: Launching Aviva Studios

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Danny Boyle: Launching Aviva Studios

28/11/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Danny Boyle: Launching Aviva Studios

Creating a dance spectacular to launch Manchester’s new venue

Danny Boyle returns to his home town of Manchester in the north west of England to direct a hip-hop dance spectacular to open a breathtaking new venue, Aviva Studios.

Danny Boyle, the visionary behind the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony and the Oscar-winning director of films like Slumdog Millionaire, Yesterday and Trainspotting, returns to his home town of Manchester in the north west of England to direct a hip-hop dance spectacular to open a breathtaking new venue, Aviva Studios. The show, called Free Your Mind, is based on the Wachowskis’ Matrix franchise and updates the concept of a dystopian future to reflect recent developments in artificial intelligence. 

We go behind the scenes to eavesdrop on rehearsals and meet Danny and his creative team. We discover that unlike a film, where the director can have complete control, the creation of Free Your Mind is a collaborative effort. We hear from other members of the team including composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE and choreographer Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy MBE, co-founders of hip-hop dance group Boy Blue, who worked with Danny on the Olympics opening ceremony. 

There is huge pressure on the team to deliver an opening event that will match the scale and ambition of the new venue, which is run by Factory International and cost £240m to build, the largest cultural investment in the UK since Tate Modern over 20 years ago.

(Image: Danny Boyle. Credit: Tim P Whitby/Getty Images)

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