Press Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE24 June 2014 |
International historical dance festival comes to East Lothian
Haddington, 24 June 2014 – The Fly Right Dance Company is excited to announce that world-renowned dance historian, Richard Powers, will be presenting a week-long programme of historical dance workshops from 3-9 August 2014 in Haddington, entitled The Last Hurrah. This is a first for Scotland – Richard is sought-after to teach all over the world at dance festivals from Japan to Russia, Alaska to Paris, and we’re thrilled to welcome him and other dance history enthusiasts to East Lothian. Participants from Europe and the US, as well as from UK, will be learning about dances popular at the time of the start of WW1, as well as other new dance material which will encompass some of Richard’s latest research findings.
The programme of workshops will span a week, with cultural activities for international guests. The week is punctuated by some public events:
- Welcoming ceilidh at the Maitlandfield House Hotel on Sunday 3 August, to introduce our international guests to real ceilidh!
- A splendid tea dance in the Spiegeltent at Fringe-by-the-Sea on Wednesday 6 August, featuring live music and costumed dancers
- A grand WWI-themed costumed ball at Gosford House on Saturday 9 August, with live music from New Phoenix Jazz Band – a chance to get that Downton Abbey feeling!
All of these events will be open to the public who are not on the course itself, to give an insight into the fascinating world of historical dance to a wider audience. And, of course, to share the fun!
BACKGROUND
The Fly Right Dance Company is an East Lothian-based performance company, specialising in vintage social dance – styles like 19th century ballroom dances, Ragtime, Charleston, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug and other traditional Afro-American Jazz Dances and original dances of the ballroom and dance hall. The company is committed to preserving old dance styles and keeping them alive – and exposing a wider audience to them to demonstrate how much fun our forebears had on the dance floor!
Richard Powers is one of the world’s foremost experts in American social dance, noted for his choreographies for dozens of stage productions and films, and his workshops in Paris, Rome, Prague, London, Venice, Geneva, St. Petersburg, and Tokyo – and now, Haddington – as well as across the United States and Canada. Richard has been researching and reconstructing historic social dances for thirty years and is currently a full-time instructor at Stanford’s Dance Division.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Susan McDonald at 01620 829988, 07808 173185 or email at mail@flyrightdanceco.com.