Leap Dance Festival returns to Liverpool

Peter Anderson • Apr 21, 2024

From 26th April - 10th May 2024, Liverpool will come alive with dance, with performances taking place in theatres, cultural venues and public spaces on the streets of the city centre. Leap Dance Festival will present two weeks of dance events showcasing Liverpool City Region talent across seven key venues this spring.


After a successful crowdfunding campaign, organisers are delighted to announce a packed programme of events. Established local dance artists and companies perform alongside young people and community groups, in a range of styles from burlesque and breakdance to contemporary dance and a ceilidh, with tickets ranging from £0-£25. Paul Doyle, the festival's Artistic Director says: “We are so excited to bring dance to audiences across Liverpool. From Breakdance to Vogue, contemporary to tap, there’s something for everyone”.


The festival launches on Friday 26th April at The Black-E with a night of cabaret, burlesque and circus performances, later taking over venues from The Capstone Theatre to National Museums Liverpool, with a schools showcase on International Dance Day. The festival closes on Friday 10th May with a House of Suarez spectacular, featuring vogue artists alongside performers from all dance disciplines from across the festival.


Programme

Ooh La La Cabaret
Friday 26th April, 7pm, The Black-E, £25/22

Ooh La La Cabaret presents a night of circus, cabaret and burlesque. Expect high camp entertainment and death defying stunts from world class performers.

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Dancing at the Museum
Saturday 27th April, 12pm, National Museums Liverpool, Free

Experience pop-up performances happening in museums and galleries across Liverpool.

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Schools Dance Platform
Monday 29th April, 7pm, Archbishop Blanch, £8/6

Schools and colleges from across Liverpool City Region have been invited to share performances based on countries and cultures from around the world, for International Dance Day.

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Liverpool Dance Prize
Thursday 2nd May, 7pm, The Capstone Theatre , £12/10

The North West’s emerging artists and choreographers share new work in a chance to win £1000 development fund. In partnership with Liverpool Hope University and Dance Consortia North West.

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Youth Dance Showcase
Saturday 4th May, 7pm, The Capstone Theatre, £10/8 

An evening of performances by and for youth dance companies from across Liverpool City Region.

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Dockside Breakers: Boss Breaking
Sunday 5th May, 1pm The Black-E, £15

Dockside Breakers take over the Black E in a celebration of hip hop and breakdance culture. This jam will be a competition for over and under 16s, with competitors battling it out for prize monies.

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Dancing in the Streets
Monday 6th May, 12pm, Liverpool City Centre, Free

Enjoy outdoor performances from some of the region’s leading artists. Sponsored by Liverpool BID Company and Liverpool One.

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Sole Rebel: Ceilidh
Tuesday 7th May, 7.30pm, Liverpool Arts Bar, £10/8

Sole Rebel CIC brings their community Ceilidh event to Leap Dance Festival. Dust off your shoes and get ready to take part in an evening of dancing and live music.

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Triple Bill: Rowena Gander/Taciturn(above)/TMC Collective
Wednesday 8th May, 7.30pm, Unity Theatre, £15/£12

A triple bill of new work commissioned by Culture Liverpool from female choreographers based in Liverpool. 

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Higher Education Showcase
Thursday 9th May, 1.30pm, The Capstone Theatre, Free (tickets required)

A selection of new work by emerging talent from the North West, selected from universities and training schools.

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House of Suarez vs Leap
Friday 10th May, 7pm, The Black-E, £25/22

Worlds collide, as performers from across the festival take to the runway in a range of categories, with iconic voguing from House of Suarez. Hosted by Rikki Beadle Blair.


Tickets are on sale now via leapfestival.co.uk
 

OFFICIAL ALTERNATIVE GREAT ESCAPE STAGE

By Peter Anderson • 15 May, 2024
Impressive PR take over Brighton's Secret Comedy Club 42 Brighton Square, tomorrow to showcase music acts from all over the world. As part of The Great Escape, a festival for new music, showcasing 500 emerging artists from all over the world in 30+ walkable venues across the city and a pop-up festival site on Brighton Beach. It’s the first place to discover your new favourite artist and see them in an intimate setting before they go on to headline major festival stages. 12:00-12:25 Marissa Burwell (Canada) It doesn’t take long to get to know Marissa. In her blindingly personal work, Burwell writes about childhood, love, vertigo, and snow. With her captivating warm vocals and sharp prose, she effortlessly weaves an enchanting indie sound that flows between folk and rock, traversing sensuous melodies to exhilaratingly raucous moments. Hailing from the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, she made her remarkable debut with a self-titled EP in 2019. The overwhelmingly positive response to her EP opened doors to international opportunities and in 2022 Marissa proudly unveiled her debut full-length album, “Bittersweet”, which showcased her warm, summery voice and wry wit beneath its indie-folk exterior. She has graced the stage at renowned events like Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival, the New Colossus Festival in NYC, and multiple Canadian festivals including Breakout West, NXNE, Pop Montreal and SXSW. Burwell’s latest EP Either Way, released via Devil Duck Records features the clearest synthesis of Burwell’s spectrum of musical sensibilities yet with moments of warm musical tones featuring thick harmonies wrapped around guitars and gentle drumbeats while other moments showcase cathartic bursts of alternative rock, erupting in dizzying crescendos of hammering pianos. https://marissaburwell.com/ https://www.facebook.com/marissaburwellmusic 12:40 - 1:05 No Windows (Scotland) No Windows:The award-winning Edinburgh-based duo comprised of Verity Blossom (vocals/songwriting) and Morgan Morris (production/songwriting) fuse DIY, folk and classic pop on their second EP Point Nemo released on Fat Possum. Taking its name from the location farthest away from land in the world, the five track EP evokes wintry isolation, and marks a significant step forward for the duo, taking inspiration from the expansive sound-worlds of Elliott Smith and Cocteau Twins, their Scottish peers Cloth and Jacob Alon, and a shared musical curiosity that is all their own. The effortless musical chemistry comes from the tight relationship at its core as Verity and Morgan – now 19 and 18 – met as young teenagers at school in Edinburgh, after Morgan came across Verity – in the year above – who shared videos online of her singing. They quickly established a friendship and an artistic bond, with Verity adding her emotionally charged lyrics to Morgan’s bedroom recordings. https://fatpossum.com/collections/no-windows 1:20 - 1:45 HMS Morris (Wales) HMS Morris: are a bilingual, award-winning, female-fronted art-rock four-piece from Cardiff, Wales. Supported by the esteemed Bubblewrap Collective (Georgia Ruth, Boy Azooga, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzzard, Sweet Baboo), they've already released two critically acclaimed albums, Interior Design and Inspirational Talks, both Welsh Music Prize nominees and variously described as ‘Innovative, forward thinking pop music’ (Earthly Pleasures), ‘strange and beautiful music’ (Electronic Sound) and a 'multi-dimensional sound that traipses across hitherto unexplored regions of sound' (Clash)’. https://hmsmorris.com/ 2:00 - 2:25 Hotel Mira (Canada) Hotel Mira: is a Canadian alt-rock band who are fresh from a string of stellar shows at SXSW. The band released their new single “Waste Away at the end of April via Light Organ Records. The quartet comprises of LA based charismatic front man and songwriter Charlie Kerr, guitarist Clark Grieve, Mike Noble on bass and drummer Cole George. While building off the sharp, indie pop hooks, Hotel Mira are exploring their widest set of sounds yet, vaulting from neon-trashy garage rock to festival-sized pop hooks and glam-bop balladry. Live Charlie performs in a way that feels uniquely part Iggy Pop, part go-go dancer, and part fourth wall breaking experimental theatre. He tells a story to the crowd through his masterful lyrics, hip-swaying melodies, and attentiveness to his audience that makes each person in the venue feel special. Mike, Cole and Clark provide a sweeping soundscape that makes it impossible not to be swept away in the melodrama and passion of each song they play. The band has supported many acts including Billy Talent, Fizzy Blood, The Beaches and Frank Lero (My Chemical Romance), and carried out multiple headlining tours of their own. https://www.facebook.com/hotelmiramusic/ https://www.instagram.com/hotelmiramusic/?hl=en https://www.tiktok.com/@hotelmira https://www.hotelmiramusic.com/ 2:40 - 3:05 Asha Jefferies (Australia) Asha Jefferies: Hails from the Northern Rivers in Australia but raised in Brisbane, her debut album Ego Ride released in April this year, through Nettwerk Music Group. The album speaks to an audience of listeners searching for moments of self-reflection and authenticity. To date, Asha Jefferies has toured with and supported acts including Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly, and has played notable Australian festival slots at BIGSOUND, Icebreaker Festival, Against the Grain, Bluesfest, Woodford Folk and Mullum Music Festivals. 3:20 - 3:45 My Life Story (England) My Life Story: are epic pop pioneers headed up by charismatic frontman, Jake Shillingford who released their fifth studio album ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’ in February via Exilophone Records/Republic Of Music. This follows their last critically acclaimed album ‘World Citizen’ released in 2019. The new album discusses themes of empathy, profaneness, vaingloriousness, coercive behaviour and naturism. The record, published by Mute Song, has been written and produced by Jake alongside Nick Evans and mixed by Ben Hillier who produced two Depeche Mode albums as well as working with Blur, Patrick Wolf, Nadine Shah and Peter Perrett. The record features this year’s singles: ‘Numb Numb Numb’, ‘Tits & Attitude’ and ‘I Am God’. The band became a pioneering force in the Britpop movement scoring 6 UK top 40 singles and a top 40 album inspiring the era's orchestral identity. Combining playful lyrics with epic pop, MLS formed in Southend in 1984. By the early 90s, Shillingford had grown the band into a flamboyant orchestral 11 piece with string and brass section. Their passionate, often chaotic live shows lead to Giles Martin (The Beatles) recording tracks for their debut album ‘Mornington Crescent’ after discovering them at the Marquee. Signed to Parlophone in 1996, the band released ‘The Golden Mile’ which spawned most hit singles including ‘12 Reasons Why I Love Her’, ‘Strumpet’ and ‘Sparkle’. ‘Joined Up Talking’ followed on Andrew Lloyd Webber's It Records in 2000, featuring sixth hit single, ‘It's A Girl Thing’. Many collaborations followed including Morrissey, The Pogues and Marc Almond. MLS performed Glastonbury Pyramid stage and Reading Festival 4 times. They supported Blur & Pulp and are one of the only bands to headline over Oasis. https://mylifestory.band/ Image above HMS Morris (c) Rhiannon Holland

Scotty McCreery releases "Rise and Fall"

By Peter Anderson • 14 May, 2024
“ …after more than a decade of successes, experimentation and growth in the genre’s top tier - the multi-faceted singer-songwriter has zeroed in on his truest sound with Rise and Fall. ” – Holler On the heels of his sixth No. 1 hit on the U.S. Country Aircheck/Mediabase Chart with lead single 'Cab in a Solo', Triple Tigers recording artist Scotty McCreery released his fifth studio album "Rise and Fall" last Friday. The North Carolina native knows all too well there’s a rhythm to life and a cycle of ups and downs. And right now, he’s on the upswing. “ I feel like we’re on the rise now, but I’ve fallen pretty low as well, ” McCreery admits. “I learned from every little part of that, and it helped me to know who I was as a person – let alone an artist. The rises and the falls helped craft these songs. They made this album what it is. I’ve been living with this record for months…it is more me than any I’ve ever made, and I’m so excited for the world to finally hear it,” added McCreery. “ Across the 13-track collection, McCreery exhibits his continued growth as a vocalist and songwriter, ” notes Holler , while Country Now calls it “ his best record yet, ” as Rise and Fall finds him exploring not only heartbreak but rowdy nights, nostalgia, faith, newfound joy, fatherhood and enduring love, resulting in a project full of insightful storytelling. The album was produced by McCreery’s longtime production team of Frank Rogers, Derek Wells and Aaron Eshuis. McCreery co-wrote 12 of the 13 songs on the album, which Billboard observes, “ Light-hearted fare such as ‘Stuck Behind a Tractor’ and ‘And Countin’’ mesh with heartbreak brushoffs such as ‘Lonely,’ the bluegrass-inflected album-closer ‘Porch’ and the faith-filled ‘Red Letter Blueprint. ’” It is available digitally as well as on CD and vinyl. In addition, Amazon is releasing a limited-edition forest green vinyl version of the album. “ I know every artist says it, but this is truly my favourite album I’ve made so far ,” shares McCreery. “ I wanted to create an album that reflected the music I grew up on and wasn’t chasing trends. So, I brought several of my songwriting buddies to the mountains of North Carolina to sit down and write a full-on country album that told a story, start to finish, and spoke to my soul. We’ve been performing most of the album live on the road and the response from the audiences has been overwhelming. I’m excited for everyone to finally hear Rise and Fall.” Now 30 years old and a seasoned country music veteran selling out concerts across the globe with six No. 1 hits under his belt, McCreery is also a dedicated husband and father, welcoming a son named Avery in 2022, whose impact on the singer is highlighted in several songs on the album. Recently, he even celebrated the milestone of all milestones for a guy who grew up on Randy Travis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Ronnie Milsap; he was invited by his musical hero Garth Brooks to become the newest member of the iconic Grand Ole Opry. McCreery was just welcomed into the Opry family last month by two more of his heroes, Josh Turner and Randy Travis. For more information on the album and Scotty, please check out his website & socials: - ScottyMcCreery.com | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok Image above (c) Jeff Ray
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