Features
Feel the rhythm...with Woking Dance Festival
Discover your inner calm and prepare to be inspired when you visit Woking Town Centre on Saturday 25 July as Woking Dance Festival takes over the town centre with its family-focused, fun-filled annual mini-festival, Summer Shorts 2009.
Organised to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Open Weekend initiative, visitors to the town will be treated to a variety of dance performances at secret town centre locations throughout the day. The day-long event will start at 8am in Town Square with a free Tai Chi workshop, open to everyone, taught by professional Tai Chi instructors. The rest of the day becomes more mysterious and shoppers should expect the unexpected with impromptu dance routines performed by professional dancers, as well as performances by community groups and schoolchildren from the Borough, which will take place at undisclosed times across the day.
Nick Chapman, Executive Director of Woking Dance Festival, said: "The concept behind Summer Shorts is to create and present an engaging day of dance that is, inspiring, intriguing, entertaining and, most importantly, a fun day out for all the family.
"The theme of the event is to celebrate the rhythms of going about our daily lives, so with this in mind we set out to develop an exciting programme of dance that would surprise and excite people whilst they visit Woking. Dance professionals and groups will appear in random locations in the town centre across the day when visitors least expect it."
Summer Shorts will take place as part of the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 Open Weekend which runs from 24 - 26 July, where organisations across the UK are being invited to hold events over the course of the weekend. During last year's Open Weekend, 700,000 people enjoyed over 650 events across the UK and organisers hope to top that this year.
Nick adds: "The day promises to be exciting and full of surprises. Visitors sitting in a cafe or shopping in the town should be prepared for a Saturday in Woking with a twist!"
Woking Dance Festival is keeping the times of the performances under wraps but it has announced that more information will be available from its website as the event draws nearer. There are plans to create some sort of grand finale but we couldn't possibly tell you what, you'll just have to go and find out for yourselves.
Further information
Woking Dance Festival works in partnership with, and is funded by, Woking Borough Council and Arts Council England. For more information about Woking Dance Festival's Summer Shorts event on Saturday 25 July, telephone 01483 737830, email info@wokingdancefestival.co.uk or visit www.wokingdancefestival.co.uk for regular updates.
