Now Northwich, the town's annual free dance and street arts spectacular, has revealed performance times ahead of this weekend's free family friendly event.
For the fifth year, a world of performers will animate the streets and stop you in your tracks at locations across the town centre and Barons Quay.
Performances and activities for all ages will run from 12pm into the evening and feature a host of dance and performance artists who have toured internationally.
Contemporary circus artists Gorilla Circus will launch the festival with a bang at noon, with a visual spectacle called UNITY. It will take place at The Meadow, near H&M.
Prepare to be amazed, as hair-hanging artists, high wire walkers and dance trapeze acrobats perform in the air on a series of cables strung between masts. Merging theatre, circus and community stories, UNITY features a community dance cast who are part of the show.
If you can't make the first performance, there will be another chance to catch Gorilla Circus at 6pm. Both shows will be British Sign Language interpreted.
From 12-2pm, and again from 4-6pm, families are invited to experience a brand new performance for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).
A multi-sensory experience with live dance and music, explore the sensory wonderland of ancient dreams with Persephone, Demeter and Hades.
Called The Garden, The Styx and the Underworld, it was created by Matthew Rawcliffe and will be at Apple Market Place.
Booking is essential and to ensure the performance reaches the audience it was created for, the creators have asked that you only book a ticket if your party includes someone with PMLD.
Don’t miss the Tap Dancing Taps as they explore the Witton Street area from 12:45pm and then Barons Quay from 3pm.
No need to call a plumber as this walkabout performance will bring humour, dance and fun to the streets. With tap-dancing beats, bubble blowing fun and costumes that light up, Sole Rebel's tap duo will brighten your day as they boogie away.
Company Chameleon will perform a contemporary dance piece called UMBRA at 1pm, at Barons Quay Square (repeated at 5.15pm.)
UMBRA features three dancers, and explores what we hide and what we reveal, and how behaviour changes depending on who we are with. Highly physical and theatrical, Umbra is an invitation to pause and understand ourselves better.
Ben Wilson is a professional male dancer with Down Syndrome. His dance show, Step Ahead, explores themes of friendship and relationships and you can watch it at Barons Quay Square at 1.30pm and 4.30pm. Step Ahead brings together contemporary dance, hip hop elements and poetry into a moving and inspiring performance, commissioned by Cheshire Dance, Now Northwich and TIN Arts.
It's time for tea at 2pm, as Tea Club (Ruth Jones and Claire Fildes) present a comical walkabout performance celebrating Britain’s passion for tea and all things vintage. Taking place around Barons Quay area at 2pm and then later in the day in the Witton Street area (from 4.30pm) Tea Club is a strolling piece of dance theatre, featuringTrixie and Tilly, two eccentric tea ladies, who serve their fine leaf tea from their special musical trolley.
Sole Rebel’s Jazz Tap Jam combines the joy of tap dancing with live music, as their highly skilled tap dancers jam it out with the musicians to create music inspired by swing, latin, funk and blues. Catch them at Weaver Point at 2pm and 4.30pm.
Make way for the Carnival at 2.30pm, when international Carnival artists Global Grooves' 100m long parade makes its way from the library on Witton Street to Apple Market Place.
A visual feast featuring giant puppets, gigantic flags, colourful costumes and a huge percussion band, this bright and beautiful carnival was created with local young people and community groups, including Darnhall Primary, Winsford Academy and 1st Hartford Scouts.
Convergence brings together dance groups and artists from across the north west in a celebration of community dance. Developed and produced by the Now Northwich Young Producers of 2025, catch local talent at Weaver Point at 3.30pm.
Throughout the day, from 12-5pm, join the friendly Northwich Library team in the gazebo outside the building on Witton Street for drop in arts and crafts and storytelling.
Adam Holloway, director of Cheshire Dance, who produces the Festival, said: "Now Northwich has been bringing the very highest quality of dance and street theatre to the town since 2018.
“This year we have jaw-dropping aerial arts, Brazilian-style Carnival, the world premiere of an immersive experience for people living with profound and multiple learning disabilities and so much more.
"The weather forecast is on our side, and it's predicted to be a beautiful sunny day. And what better way is there to spend the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend than with friends and family enjoying a host of free-to-attend performances and the best of Northwich hospitality?"
Now Northwich is delivered with the support of Arts Council England, Chester West and Chester Council, Northwich Town Council, Northwich BID and Barons Quay - Legat Owen.
Now Northwich is a Touring Network Partner of Without Walls, a network of organisations bringing innovative outdoor arts to towns and cities across England.
Now Northwich 2025 has also received funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, administered by Cheshire West and Chester Council.
Now Northwich
Saturday 3 May 2025 from 12pm
Northwich town centre and Barons Quay