Urban Moves

The Urban Moves festival came to Manchester this weekend (which happened to coincide with a dozen or so other festivals taking in or around the city) and I made a point of seeing at least two performances.  I'm not sure whether this was that well advertised (which might be a budget problem rather than anything else) because aside from a couple of web links and the odd newspaper article it hadn't settled in my conscience like other events taking place (certainly the Jazz Festival and the Mela festival in Rusholme)...which was a shame really as the events I saw were fantastic: first off was Liz Lea performing a singular dance routine in the large expense of Albert Square.  With the music system piped up somewhat and a small crowd gathering, the audience soon swelled to a pretty healthy size given the time (8:00 in the evening).  The weather was fantastic, all blue skies and magic hour with the beautiful back drop of the Town Hall and the European looking Albert Square doing what it does best.  So Liz (makes her sound quite anglified, but she looked quite Spanish to me) set about with her routine.  Her routine revolved pretty much solely around a 40 odd metre blue dress which she arranged and took off occasionally (much to the delight of the males in the crowd) – flowing around Albert Square like an amalgam of a peacock and flamenco dancer, with such an assertive and, it has to be said, sexy manner I felt that little bit smaller sat gawping in the audience.  My daughters certainly enjoyed this dance – I guess they were inspired somehow to perhaps one day take dancing up  - something I'd encourage – what better way to express your freedom and confidence in yourself?

Next up were Provisional Danza – a group from Madrid I've seen perform before in Manchester.

Now if the the previous routine was mildly flirting with the erotic then this bunch were leaving little for the imagination to run off with and have fun (they occasionally peform naked, although on this occasion they kept they're clothes on – it was, after all outdoors...and we aren't very 'Holland' over here are we?).  They looked like they were having fun – this is the more artistic side of dance rather than the established waltz et al moves you see on the likes of 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

Again I really enjoyed this...perhaps I've missed my muse all these years...?

The, ahem, climax of this show was the letting off of 4 huge hose pipes (and not your garden variety but as used by the local Fire Service – in this case Stockport Fire Department).  I'm sure you can guess what they were meant to represent...suffice to say a drenched set of dancing 'girls' (I'm sure one was pushing into her fifties – still she was a fit as a fiddle) on a balmy evening in a glorious public space made my weekend.

Right...now off to perform some funky Spanish moves on my kitchen floor downstairs...