Wayne McGregor today announced plans for Big Dance 2012. The world’s largest dance festival will take place over nine days from 7 to 15 July next year.

The Royal Ballet Choreographer and Artistic Director will lead a mass participation dance in Trafalgar Square as part of the festival.

McGregor – who started maypole dancing at school, before moving onto Latin, ballroom and amateur dramatics, and finally becoming a choreographer – hopes to encourage people “who don’t often dance but maybe danced in the past or want to give it a go”.

“What we’re interested in is activating hundreds of choreographers to make their own piece. What’s important is that everyone has the chance to make their own choreography,” he explained.

“There will be about 50 groups from London, from all different styles, all different ages. I’ll start to borrow and repurpose material to make a larger piece.”

Big Dance will be part of the London 2012 Festival, the finale of London’s Cultural Olympiad.

Ruth Mackenzie, Director of the Cultural Olympiad, said, “Big Dance is one of my best, most-loved projects in the Cultural Olympiad.

“It encourages people not just to watch but to do, whether you just go to the cinema and watch Pina Bausch, or whether you want to be the next Pina Bausch.”

Big Dance, a London-wide celebration of dance, launched today at the London Palladium.

Legally Blonde star Sheridan Smith and Jerry Mitchell, choreographer of Hairspray and Legally Blonde, took to the stage for a special performance of Hairspray number You Can’t Stop The Beat.

An audience of hundreds of school children joined in with the routine from their seats.

Strictly Come Dancing’s Camilla Dallerup also made an appearance, as did the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who treated us to a Bollywood dance demonstration.

“London is the greatest dance, musical and cultural city on Earth,” said the Mayor. “Get down on it and strut your funky stuff in Big Dance 2010.”

Big Dance runs from 3 to 11 July 2010, with flagship event The Big World Dance on 10 July.

I popped down to Potters Field Park this afternoon for the launch of Portavilion – a portable tent that’s coming to an open space in London near you this summer.

Rosy (the ballerina) is the semi-opaque tent’s name. Appropriately, the opening event inside Rosy was a Big Dance performance by the Siobhan Davies Dance Group in association with Sadler’s Wells. (Read about the launch of Big Dance this morning.)

Although the show was aimed at kids aged 3-7, I really enjoyed the 10-minute performance, which incorporated rubber balls, a cello and lots of bouncing and sliding.

To see Rosy for yourself this summer, check out her locations and performance times (you can visit and enter even if nothing’s on) at www.portavilion.com

Celebrity choreographer and TV talent show judge Arlene Phillips joined 50 young dancers at Sadler’s Wells this morning to launch the Big Dance Bus.

The bus is touring London in the run-up to Big Dance, a nine-day festival of dance at unusual venues across London in July.

“I love the words Big Dance,” says Phillips. “People, I’m sure, from all over the country will join this big event. Everyone can get up and dance.”

The bus will roll out its mobile dance floor at 16 locations around London, with performances and a chance to have a go at various dance styles, from ballet to waltz, tango to contemporary.

You’ll also be able to learn the Big World Dance routine, which will be performed by thousands of people on the streets of London on 10 July, culminating in a huge event in Trafalgar Square.

The Big Dance Bus tours London from 21 May until Big Dance week (3-11 July 2010). Find out more at www.bigdance2010.com

Thousands of dancers will take to the streets this summer, as part of the London-wide Big Dance festival. Plans were announced today for dance performances, special events and workshops across the capital.

• 10,000 people will dance together in Trafalgar Square
• English National Ballet will perform with Harlequins Rugby League at Twickenham Stoop Stadium
• 100 dancers and a 50-strong orchestra will appear on the roof of Stratford Shopping Centre
• Hip-hop dance company Avant Garde Dance will take over an underground bunker in Dalston

Perhaps thanks to the popularity of TV shows like Strictly Come Dancing, Big Dance has really taken off since its launch in 2006.

Big Dance director Jacqueline Rose said, “The vision is big. It will be the ultimate dance experience the world has ever known. 2010 is limbering up to be the year of leg warmers.”

Even the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, is “really looking forward to strutting his funky stuff,” according to his cultural advisor, Munira Murza.

Organisers also revealed that Wayne McGregor will head up the Big Dance festival in 2012, in the lead-up to the London Olympics.

Described by the New York Times as “the closest thing to a rock star” in ballet, McGregor is the first resident choreographer of The Royal Ballet to have a contemporary dance background.

“Whether you like to choreograph, perform or watch sensational dancing, Big Dance has opportunities for you to get involved, get moving and share your passion,” said McGregor.

“Big Dance 2012 will be no different except, in the Olympic year, it will be more ambitious, totally reliant on your powers of creativity and individualism to make sure that it’s the most adventurous Big Dance yet.”

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