Light It Up at the Ignite Fire Festival this Weekend
This weekend Rochdale is about to light up the sky, literally, for Ignite Fire Festival 2025.
Things kick off on Friday with some of our Skylight participants joining the walk through the newly reopened Broadfield Slopes. More than one hundred local people will take part and walk the planks together. It is a beautiful celebration of place, creativity, community and of course, plenty of fire.
Saturday and Sunday | 5 – 8pm | Rochdale Town Hall Square
Saturday and Sunday are packed with fiery magic. Think fire performers, glowing sculptures, Drum Machine shaking the town and even a visit from Father Christmas himself on Sunday.
Skylight’s Fire Performances | 6 – 7pm | Main Stage
From Skylight you’ll see our brand new adult Fireflies Beginners groups, Embers and Sparks. They chose the names themselves after a very in- depth discussion on the group chat. In just eight weeks of training with the incredible Dan and Shona from Travelling Light Circus they’ve gone from absolute beginners to confident fire torch spinners who are ready for a mesmerising performance.
Next up is our Spotlight Youth Performing Troupe, fourteen brilliant young people with a passion for circus. They train weekly with us and they’ve been working with choreographer and circus performer Gil Burns and our very own Mick, who many of you know as Circus Fudge.
Together they’ve co-created a beautiful fire torch spinning performance in only a couple of weeks. Their commitment, creativity and professionalism has blown us away, we can’t wait for you to see what they’ve created.
“It’s been so fun making the routine and now we get to perform it at the Fire Festival, we want to do more!!”
Spotlight Youth Participant
Finally, if you joined us at Ignite last year you’ll remember our original Fireflies group. Last year they made their fire debut right in front of the Town Hall.
This year they’re back with new skills, more confidence and a freestyle fire spinning section that they’ve created themselves for both nights.
We’re so proud of every performer. The courage, the skill, the commitment and the willingness to push themselves out of their comfort zones is inspiring. They’re more ready than ever and this is one you definitely don’t want to miss.
Voices From Our Fireflies
To give you a little glimpse into the journey, here are a few words from our adult beginners who’ve been training with us for the festival. These quotes say everything about what makes community fire arts so special.
Kayleigh, Adult Fireflies Participant:
“I’m so grateful for my friend Caroline, who shared with me a post from Facebook about learning fire spinning for the ignite festival. We asked for places a week before the first practice and got our spots.
I was nervous because I have wanted to try something like this before because I enjoy poi and have seen beautiful fire poi displays. Yet always too doubtful of myself to try. This group has helped me grow the confidence to work with fire and in 8 short weeks we have created a wonderful performance.
I have also learned another skill, I joined the compere workshop to get a new skill expecting there would be enough people interested I wouldn’t be actually needed yet here I am one of the compere’s for the fantastic Embers and Sparks and I got to use my crafting skills to add Embers and Sparks to our compere outfits.
It has been a brilliant experience and I have met some lovely new people. Some to learn from and some to perform with. I can’t wait to knock everyone’s socks off at the festival.”
Louisa – Adult Fireflies Participant:
“As a single parent, life can feel like a constant balancing act – working full-time, keeping the household running, and making sure my daughter gets to her Skylight sessions twice a week. There’s rarely a moment to spare, and after some recent health challenges, I found myself stuck in a rut.
Then one day, I saw Skylight looking for volunteers to try fire-spinning. My first thought? Why not! It sounded exciting, something completely different from my usual routine.
Joining the rehearsals has been an absolute blast – learning new skills, meeting amazing people, and stepping outside my comfort zone. It’s given me a much-needed distraction and, more importantly, something that’s just for me.
Sometimes, saying “yes” to something unexpected can spark a little joy when you need it most.”
Jade, Adult Fireflies Participant:
“It’s been illuminating to say the least: It’s been such a pleasure to make the acquaintance of like-minded people from such a varied walk of life. It’s lit a fire within me to keep enjoying my circus hijinks and that’s very much connected to the warm and light-hearted tutelage of Dan and Shona.
They have lit up my evenings and given me such a fun-filled creative and vibrant activity and I, and I’m sure everyone else here, would agree that they have been nothing short of radiant.”
Partnerships and Thanks
Our Fireflies project’s been made possible through our wonderful partnership with Culture Co Op, who have supported Skylight in bringing fire performance and workshops to the Rochdale community. Huge thanks to Greg and the whole Culture Coop team.
A special thank you also goes to Dan and Shona from Travelling Light Circus. Not only are they professional fire performers dazzling the crowds this weekend, they’re also incredible teachers who’ve brought so much experience, encouragement and fiery magic to our Skylight family.
Our Spotlight youth rehearsals and programme have been made possible with thanks to the generous support from The Foyle Foundation.
