Invitation to the Sea Rowing community
of Wales
From Wales Millennium Centre, the Welsh Government and its Major
Events Unit and Walk the Plank.
We would like Welsh Sea Rowing to be part of a major celebration linked to Wales
Millennium Centre’s 10th anniversary programme : Ar Waith Ar Daith - a Welsh journey of
myth and magic which will culminate in Cardiff on the 12th September
The audience of many thousands are invited to gather in Roald Dahl Plass for a spectacular outdoor
performance that mixes song and storytelling, music, dance and video animation on and around the
Centre. Weaving tradition and contemporary culture together, the performance is the culmination
of six months of journeys…beginning with a fishing boat setting sail from north Wales, and ending,
we hope, with a fiery finale of boats rowing across Cardiff Bay, illuminated by fireworks.
Ceridwen, the enchantress, calls up images from the story in the Mabinogion of the birth of Taliesin,
the great bard, and mixes them with gifts brought from around Wales. When the inspiration of the
cultural horizons of Wales today is mixed with the artistic excellence found within the furnace of
Wales Millennium Centre, new visions and new words are seared onto the side of the building.
Hundreds of participants will be involved in the processions that move through the audience, and
there will be an opportunity to feature the Sea Rowers in one procession, along with the coracle
men of Cardigan, and children different parts of Wales.
The whole show is shaped by the contribution of creative practitioners involved in the Awen training
schools and the Awen bus tour that take place throughout the summer. Earlier, several live events
linked to training schools take place around Wales – The Riches of the Sea in Caernarfon, Spinning a
Yarn in Castell-y-Bere, and The Earth beneath our Feet in Newport – which put the work of the next
generation of Welsh artists into the public realm, part of the legacy of this project.
The event is likely to be filmed by both S4C for live broadcast and for a BBC documentary. The
performance will begin as dusk settles, and takes place outdoors whatever the weather.
Created by internationally acclaimed outdoor arts specialists Walk the Plank, working with
artists from Wales, Ar Waith Ar Daith has been commissioned by Wales Millennium
Centre as part of its tenth anniversary programme of high profile events. .