Carnival comes to Camp Bestival

Roll up, roll up it’s carnival time at Camp Bestival. Prepare to be dazzled and amazed, for in among all the intergalactic action and Outer Space adventures, team CB’s roustabouts have once again teamed up with Arts Council England to gather together a whole galaxy of eye-popping amusements for your delight on the Shadylady Stage which will be making its debut at Lulworth Castle, this July!

Cosmic Ringmaster Rob da Bank says: “We all love a good carnival and last year’s show was honestly one of the best spectacles I’ve witnessed EVER at Camp Bestival – a madcap cornucopia of colour, flamboyance and artistic excellence – some truly great costumes… cannot wait to see it in action again!”

Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said: “We’re really pleased to be supporting Carnival at Camp Bestival. Carnival is a participatory public celebration and has the ability to engage a depth and breadth of audiences, bringing people together in a shared and uplifting experience”.

 There will be bounteous colourful collaborations, costumes and chaos featuring the Isle of Wight’s Shademakers, kaleidoscopic umbrella troupe Cirque Bijou, hula-hooping marvels Marawa’s Majorettes, musical mash-up merchants Kinetika Bloco and storytellers Metamorphosis, whose giant butterflies and caterpillar are not to be missed.

There will be fire shows and stilt action from Area 51, drum madness from Batala Portsmouth, skanking workouts from Reggae Aerobics, body moving from Isle of Wight dance school Dance Vibez, steel pan joy from The Steelers, proto-rock n roll from The Happy Skifflers, gala Dimanche Gras style behaviour from the Shademakers Show, disco planets from the Energizer Space Base and dance and aerial shenanigans from LBV Dance.

Plus, we will have performances from Gork and Gimble, Urban Astronaut, Junior Jungle and Ryde Extreme Performers.

And that’s not all, as there will be sideshows and walkabouts all weekend long from Jurassic CSI, Igor Rasputin’s Caravan of Lost Souls, Kapow, Horns of Plenty, Pelican Post, Ladies of The Lawn, Virevolante and the Skip Team.

Don’t miss the enormous Day Parade on Sunday or our luminous Night Parades on Friday and Saturday evening. If you do, don’t worry because you can head to the Shadylady Stage every day to catch a bit of the action! This year’s Carnival line-up has been produced by Kirsty Henderson in collaboration with Camp Bestival and one of Europe’s leading and most original carnival groups, Shademakers.