Dandy

Yesterday my cousin Kate and I snuck into the International Children’s Theatre and Dance Festival at the Lakeside, sans children. We weren’t looking to dance with little people, but to take a wander through the rather huge luminarium sitting on the lawn out front. After taking our shoes off, we were ushered into the first chamber, where a woman gently informed us that today was the luminarium’s last day in service. She (she?) was getting on a bit and tomorrow she’d be retiring – so please don’t run about and clamber up the walls. Um, ok. Inside, the big inflatable walls sigh and roll a little as you take your bare feet around the curvy chambers, or slouch in the pods around the sides. Although the whole structure looks like a giant, silver egg box from the outside, on the inside it’s flooded with blues and greens, reds and purples, and the whole thing feels sort of organic, like you’re inside something living and, very possibly, breathing. Calm and lovely, even with the hoards of gleeful toddlers bounding along with us. If you spot one near you this summer, don’t miss it. More colourful pics on our Flickr site.