A multi-media, choreographed performance took place in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the finale of East Bank's 2022 creative programme.

Danielle 'Rhimes' Lecointe acted as creative director for the performance on September 22 entitled Dystopia to Utopia: Reimagining our Future, which was co-produced by East Bank and East London Dance.

Rhimes said: "[The performance] is, I would say, a kind of creative, collective brain with professionals, myself as creative director, Dominic Hamilton as choreographer, Natasha Cox as an assistant and a whole wad of fantastic community dancers and artists as well.

"The journey is really about what it has been like going through pre-pandemic, post-pandemic and now being in a present that we get to create ourselves."

Tony Nwachukwu was musical director and, in a bid to foster young people's creativity, the performance was co-designed with East London Youth Dance Company (ELYDC) and London-based music organisation UD's Flames Collective.

ELYDC aims to support talented dancers across east London to develop their technique and choreography skills and Flames Collective works with young people from inner-city secondary schools who demonstrate musical potential.

Rhimes said: "I wanted to make sure, as a creative director, that it was about bringing [out] the voice of our community. I am born and bred east London; it is my home and it has my heart.

"But it was also about the next generation of people being able to input some of their creativity into it so we've taken different ideas from all of the different artists within this performance and we have meshed them together to make various different parts of this performance."

The performance looks ahead to the opening of East Bank, London's new cultural quarter in Stratford.

She continued: "I think that dance is a massive part of the culture of east London. I think that with east London comes creativity, an artistry, and a big part of that is dance and the freedom to be yourself, express free style, as well as tell stories and create shows. We've been doing that for two decades and I think that it's a staple to the culture within east London."

Rhimes added: "I definitely think that it is the beginning of what could be a very beautiful creative hub for east London."