Step up budding Freds and Gingers

Oct 3 2008 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THE upcoming Festival of Dance in Perth and Kinross will offer a range of events for dance enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Running from tomorrow until Friday, October 17, the festival is designed to give budding Freds and Gingers the chance to put on their dancing shoes.

Organised by Perth and Kinross Council’s Arts Development Service, the festival events will be held at venues throughout this area.

The festival begins with the South American flavoured ‘Capoeira Hoda’ in Perth High Street outside Woolworths tomorrow, providing an opportunity to experience the music, humour and fun involved in this fluid, rhythmical movement form.

From Monday to Friday next week, Scotland’s number one break/street dance crew ‘Random Aspekts’ will be running a residency for 12 to 19-year-olds at St Matthew’s Church Hall, Tay Street, Perth. Young people will also be performing alongside Random Aspekts in the foyer at Perth Concert Hall foyer next Friday.

Anyone interested in trying out different dance styles should look out for the festival’s Adult Pick and Mix Dance Taster Day at the Dewars Centre and the Family Pick and Mix Dance Taster Day at Fairfield Neighbourhood Centre, Perth, both on Saturday, October 11.

The Birnam Institute will have a ‘hot’ two days next Friday and Saturday with the ‘Viva Flamenco Weekend’. Experience the power and grace of The Flamenco master class on Friday, October 10, For those who would rather watch, the performance by Jaleo Flamenco on the Saturday will unleash the raw energy and passionate rhythms inherent within Flamenco.

For the more mature, but still young at heart, dancer, the Over 50s Scottish Fusion Dance Workshop will be held in Kinross on Sunday, October 12, led by a tutor from the Scottish Traditions of Dance Trust.

Babies, toddlers, mini movers and junior jumpers are also being catered for with the festival’s Teenybopper Children’s Dance Project at Crieff Primary School from Monday, October 13, to Wednesday, October 15. Also taking place is the Twinkle Toes Make and Do dance and art workshop at the Community School of Auchterarder, designed for all potential princesses.

Whether you are a budding Degas or a professional artist, why not come along to the “Draw Dance” event on Wednesday 15 October at the Birnam Institute and work in collaboration with professional dancers and a life drawing tutor.

Lifelong Learning convener, Councillor Liz Grant said: “We are offering a variety of opportunities for local people of all ages to take part in dance and related activities over the two weeks of the festival. I am very pleased that we have the assistance in this of dance development consultant Emma Preston who set up the community and outreach programme at the Space dance centre in Dundee. We hope, based on the level of interest in the festival, to seek funding for future dance activities.”

For more information, including festival information leaflets, and to book places apart from the Viva Flamenco Weekend and the Capoeira Hoda, call 01738 477834.

To book the Viva Flamenco activities contact the box office at The Birnam Institute on 01350 727674. Anyone wishing to take part in the Capoeira Hoda can just turn up on the day.

Places for bookable activities are reserved on a first come first served basis.