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The Flying Dragon Circus

As London prepares for the Olympic Games in Beijing and looks forward to becoming the next Olympic host city, sport and the arts will come together at the Trafalgar Square Festival, which has kicked off.

A giant screen has been installed at the foot of Nelson's Column, which will broadcast coverage of the Beijing Games, each day from 8am-9pm, starting with the opening ceremony on Friday 8 August at 1245.

Visitors to the square will be able to keep up to date with how the Games are progressing and cheer on Team GB.

The coverage of the Games will be complemented by a free programme of outdoor spectacles each Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with specially commissionedΜύ street performance inspired by a different theme each week.

Artists will use digital imagery transmitted onto the giant screen as part of their performances. The screen will remain on Trafalgar Square for the Olympic handover ceremony on Sunday 24 August, so Londoners can watch asΜύ the Mayor of London receives the Olympic flag on behalf of London and the rest of the UK.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson says: 'The Trafalgar Square Festival will capture the excitement and anticipation during the Olympic Games and celebrate the relationship between sport and culture as London prepares to stage the Cultural Olympiad.'

Zoo Nation

The first week (7-9 August), China Inspires, will focus on Beijing, with live performance from collaborating UK and international artists, including The Flying Dragon Circus, directed by Pierrot Bidon, whose previous circus creations include the legendary Archaos.

This new production celebrates the world's great circus traditions as East meets West, boy meets girl and Chinese and European circus artists, musicians and Kung Fu performers take to the air.

Yellow Earth Theatre, the UK’s leading East Asian theatre company, are creating a ritualistic retelling of Chinese creation myths with shadow puppetry and inventive stagecraft. Fusing ancient and modern, the performance evokes the story of Pangu the Giant, who created the world and divided the earth from the heavens.

Week Two (14-16 August), Olympic Aspirations, captures the visionary spirit of the Olympics, as fresh new artistic voices put sport and young people at the heart of the Festival.

With their current production 'Into the Hoods' taking the West End by storm, the Festival has commissioned Zoo Nation, one of the capital’s hottest dance companies to create a new show which looks back to the last time London hosted the Olympic Games in 1948.

Hip hop will meet Lindy Hop in a high energy collision between the dance styles and post-war optimism of the 1940s and the cutting edge contemporary energy of London today.

The other performance in the second week, Aqua, will capture the drama and exhilaration of Olympic aquatic sports as well as the spirit of playful fun which is always associated with water.

Inspired by great Olympic swimmers, this newly created performance fuses contemporary circus, street theatre and breathtaking screen imagery, whilst audiences dive into a watery world of freestyle, butterfly, relay, back stroke and synchronised swimming!

Miss High Leg Kick

As the Beijing Olympic Games draw to a close and the capital prepares to become host city, the final week (21-23 August), Images of London, will examine the city in a new light.

Miss High Leg Kick is presenting 'Fashion Bus on the Square', a journey through an A – Z of famous London landmarks, as well as a parodic celebration of fashion, from Zones 1 to 6. Acclaimed Spanish dance theatre company Factoria Mascaro are returning to the Trafalgar Square Festival with 'The Garden of Wonders'.

Revealing London's public open spaces in a new light, this new show is a playful romp through classical garden settings. Featuring living statues, entrancing pools, Father Thames and even London's very own Eros.