Retail Birmingham supports ‘Six Summer Saturdays’

Retail Birmingham, the Business Improvement District for the city’s central shopping area, has signed up as co-sponsors of an exiting new initiative from Birmingham Hippodrome.

Six Summer Saturdays runs from Saturday 24 July-28 August and sees a range of performances, including theatre, mime, acrobatics and puppetry, across four city centre locations.  Shoppers, tourists, families, visitors and office workers will have their city centre lunchtimes and evenings livened up with a series of funny, outrageous, moving and plain weird attractions and shows. Even better… it’s all FREE.

Inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games, and part of the Cultural Olympiad Open Weekend, “Come on, Vogue” opens the new season on Saturday 24 July in the Arcadian Centre. It promises to be a colourful and breathtaking afternoon of ‘being seen, showing off and celebrating the performer in everyone’.

Hosted by the hilarious Barbara Nice, and the outrageous Twiggy and friends, “Come on, Vogue” will be a fun-filled spectacle with theatrical and dance performances in a range of styles.   Performers include the award winning Birmingham hip hop dance crew Smash Bro’z (last seen at Birmingham Hippodrome in Breakin’ Convention); Stafford’s House of Nuvo (who recently performed on the Hippodrome’s stage as part of U Dance England); and House of Wunderbar, a comical theatrical duo from Newcastle, who play out the contemporary love story of Top Gun!

Each act will be very different, competing for the title of ‘Most Inspiring Vogue’ to win a glittering £100 cash prize. Originating in the 1980’s New York disco scene, “Come on, Vogue” is a hybrid outdoor street party blending live performance with a high-low fashion dance-off.

Sarah Allen, Birmingham Hippodrome’s Creative Programme Manager said:
“We are delighted to be presenting Six Summer Saturdays in Birmingham for the first time.   We have some fantastic performers with a huge variety of styles.  It’s going to be a very exciting summer and we hope that lots of people will enjoy and be inspired by these spectacular and  imaginative outdoor performances.”

Alan Chatham, Chairman of co-sponsors Retail Birmingham added:
“Come On, Vogue kicks off the fantastic Six Summer Saturdays programme from Birmingham Hippodrome, which will see shoppers enjoying a host of exciting, and sometimes unexpected, outdoor performances across the city centre. 

“As the Business Improvement District for the central shopping area, Retail Birmingham recognises the importance of creating a lively atmosphere for retailers, residents and visitors, and we’re proud to be supporting Birmingham Hippodrome in this exciting new venture.

“Birmingham has a fantastic array of arts and culture and we’re delighted that we can help bring it to the city’s busy shopping streets this summer.”

Other highlights include: Grannie Tourismo, the raving grannies on souped-up shopping trolleys (High St., Sat 31 July); Rock a Hula! a vintage Hawiian beach party on the Hippodrome Piazza (Sat 7 Aug); ‘88’ by George Orange featuring music, slack-rope, and hand-balancing (Cathedral Gardens, Sat 14 Aug); Full Twist, a blend of clowning, physical theatre and contemporary circus (Arcadian Centre, 21 Aug); and the acclaimed The Spurting Man by Avanti Display played to a soundtrack of Ravel’s Bolero (Arcadian Centre Sat 28 Aug) which brings the Six Summer Saturdays to a hilarious and fascinating close.  Full listings and times www.sixsummersaturdays.com