Everything you shouldn’t miss at the Cratère Surfaces festival in Alès

Des majorettes Freddie Mercury pour lancer la première soirée. Jean-Michel Gilbert

La 25e édition du festival international des arts de rue, porté par le Cratère, débute ce jeudi 4 juillet dans les rues d’Alès. Sélection et coups de cœur parmi les 25 représentations annoncées sur trois jours.

A symbolic number: 25 shows to celebrate the 25 years of existence of Cratère Surfaces. The Cratère street arts festival opens this Thursday in the streets of Alès, with its unmissable events and seemingly unmissable events.

1.Picnic with Freddie Mercury

Shortly after the inauguration, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, with a first show by Gérald Rigaud, outdoor actor, self-proclaimed public crier of the Croix-Rousse, on the square in front of the Cratère, place at shared picnic, at 7 p.m., on Boulevard Louis-Blanc. A moment popular with many Alésiens, where everyone is invited to come and bring their food and have set tables. The meal will take place, this year, in a rock and crazy atmosphere with the Queen-a-man formation: a male team of majorettes, where each member is dressed up as Freddie Mercury, for a choreographic and musical tribute to the legendary singer by Queen.

2. Sport and thrills

The festival obviously aims to be a mirror to the strong sporting news this summer in France, with Euro football and the Olympic Games at the forefront. The nine Rodeo dancers will offer a living tribute to hip-hop, now an Olympic discipline (Thursday, 9 p.m., and Friday, 8:45 p.m., square at Cratère). Paul Molina, freestyle football prodigy, will demonstrate a stunning dance with the football (Mouton noir, Friday, 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ;h 15, Fort Vauban). Friday and Saturday (at 8 p.m.), the Mouvements Perpetuels company takes over the Place de Belgique where dancers and boxers will bring to life the show A nos combats, on and around the ring.
Sidney Spin, giant swing world champion, awaits the public on Friday, 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., in the parking lot of the dovecote museum for aerobatics at 12 meters high. Aerobatics will also be found in Thomas and Ward, duo from Be Flat, who will offer a spectacular stroll. Between acrobatics and parkour, they will jump and cling, several meters above the ground, between several Alesian buildings (Friday and Saturday, departure 11 rue Marcel-Paul).

3.Water lilies on the Gardon

The essential, under no circumstances, for festival-goers, certainly remains Nénuphars, a unique and secret creation by Franz Clochard. With orchestra, light shows and choristers from the Fous chantants deployed in the middle of the river, the artist will offer a "visual and emotional odyssey" along the water and the flowers. The show, which will be a world first here, will be visible on both sides of the Cévennes river, between the Pont-Neuf and the Pont-Vieux in Alès. Be careful, taking steps to have a good view is more than recommended.

Crater Surfaces is a completely free festival. Info and complete programming: cratere-surfaces.com