Watford’s annual open-air performance festival returned with dance performances and circus acts for all to enjoy.

Held on Saturday, July 16, crowds were treated to a day of free entertainment when Watford Palace Theatre presented Imagine Watford.

Artistic director and chief executive of Watford Palace, Brigid Lamour, said: “Imagine Watford is one of our favourite times of year, when the whole Palace team is out on the streets, making weird and wonderful things happen.

Read More

“There’s a rich range of spectacle and experiences, some of it created right here in Watford. It’s fun for everyone.”

There was something for everyone at the festival with a range of outdoor performance art, diverse stand-up, and a much-loved traditional pantomime.

Watford Observer: Imagine WatfordImagine Watford

It reflects its diverse communities, representing women, both onstage and behind the scenes, while celebrating and developing creativity and skill in the community and with young people.

One of the performances, Last Orders, is a dance act that explored the vulnerability beneath male bravado.

Watford Observer: Lasting Orders. Picture: Imagine WatfordLasting Orders. Picture: Imagine Watford

The 30-minute show, by 2Faced Dance, is about four strangers who meet in their local pub forced to confront their differences and explore a future where those difference do not cause division.  

Another performance, Timeless, looked at the passing of time and the fear that we as humanity are running out of it.

Watford Observer: Timeless. Picture: Imagine WatfordTimeless. Picture: Imagine Watford

Joli Vyann used their unique and dynamic style of dance, circus and theatre on a seven-metre-high rotating hourglass, to tell the story of civilisation as we know it and its fragile relationship with time and nature.

Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

To receive breaking news alerts or newsletters sign up here.