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Water-way to launch a dance festival!

Subscribe to RSS RSSTuesday, 13th April, 2010

WHAT: A canal boat will be the unlikely stage for a dance performance, as the second International Dance Festival Birmingham is very literally launched from Brindleyplace in Birmingham.
DATE: Monday 19 April
TIME: 12:30-1.30pm
VENUE: Brindleyplace Waters Edge, central Birmingham (by the bandstand and on the towpath
by the bridge from the ICC)

The second International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) will be launched, very literally, on Monday 19 April as four dancers set off from Brindleyplace in a canal barge to travel the region’s waterways, delivering dance performances and workshops as they go.

The official opening of the Festival will be celebrated with the traditional breaking of a bottle of champagne over the boat, before the dancers perform a farewell performance for the crowds. The boat will then set off on the Birmingham Canal Main Line, through Wolverhampton to Brewood in Staffordshire, before turning back to return to Birmingham on Saturday 8 May.

IDFB’s Dancing the Waterways has been granted the prestigious London 2012 Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises exceptional and innovative projects inspired by the 2012 Games.

On Saturday 24 April the boat will pass through the famous 21 locks of Wolverhampton, and families are invited to come and cheer the boat along as it makes its mammoth descent. Extra activities, treasure trails and performances will keep people of all ages entertained, as IDFB heads out from Birmingham into the wider region.

The dancers will be performing a new, specially-commissioned piece by Australian-born choreographer Paul Gazzola who works with Lone Twin Theatre.

Paul said, “I’m interested in the links between art, architecture and performance, and will be taking inspiration from the incredible engineering feat of canal construction. I want to celebrate the canal builders and the surrounding architecture of bridges, locks and buildings that interlink with the rhythm of the waterways.”

For more information on the Festival, and to buy tickets, go to www.idfb.co.uk

Paul Kaynes, West Midlands Creative Programmer said, “IDFB 2010 is working in partnership with the West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012 which, drawing on the excitement of the 2012 Games and our heritage of innovation and invention, will show the world just what a creative and energetic place the West Midlands is. It is fantastic that Dancing the Waterways has been awarded the Inspire Mark in recognition of this.”

Find out more about the Inspire Programme at www.london2012.com/beinspired.

IDFB is produced by DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome and will see some of the world’s most exciting companies and choreographers perform in Birmingham. Representing over 20 countries from six continents, the festival will feature over 70 performances, as well as a number of free public events and plenty of chances for people to get involved.

IDFB is one of the world’s largest dance festivals and is funded by Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council England West Midlands and Birmingham City Council.

ENDS

High res images available on request.

For all press enquiries, please contact: Emily Malcolm, Press Manager for IDFB 0121 689 1082 or emily.malcolm@dancexchange.org.uk