21 November 2007
‘Cancan Boheme’ are a talented group of local dancers who will be offering a workshop and performance at the first Eastbourne Festival which takes place in March 2008. Feathers frills and petticoats will be available for a four hour Cancan workshop, with an emphasis on frolics, fun and glamour. In the four hours they will teach personas, basic cancan steps, skirt play and a short routine, just for fun. There will be the option to perform that evening at the Café Chat Noir, a Parisian café style evening, along with expert dance instructors.
Plans for the Eastbourne Festival are well under way with nearly 100 events pencilled in. Events will take place at venues all around the town from 15th – 30th March 2008 at this Art & Culture Festival which is the first of it’s kind to be held in Eastbourne.
All events must be registered with the Festival Office to become part of this. Registration of events is currently underway, with plans for Music, Drama, Choral works, Workshops, Tours, Exhibitions, Children’s entertainment and Comedy.
The artists’ ‘Open House’ event looks set to be a great success. Over 50 artists have expressed an interest in taking part, so a wide variety of arts including contemporary and traditional art, ceramics, pottery and sculpture will be available to view in artist’s houses in and around the town. A networking event took place on Wednesday evening, organized by the Blue Monkey Studio’s ‘Artists’ Professional Development ‘ team. All Eastbourne artists were invited to come along to hear how artists in other regions have successfully opened their homes to display their art.
Lots of new events have been added to the Festival line-up, including:
A proposed Music Festival is planned in pubs around Old Town and will feature the best of Eastbourne’s local musical talent. The Festival will be held over a weekend and is being steered by Eastbourne Music Live – a council backed initiative that supports the development and provision of live music in the town, together with local musician David Ford.
Eastbourne Primary schools are joining forces to stage a two night variety show, featuring children from most of the local schools. The best of Eastbourne’s young musicians, singers and dancers will perform their talents on stage at the Congress Theatre.
Art Exhibition in the District General Hospital entitled ‘Sussex Printmakers’ organised by Arts in Healthcare in partnership with Emma Mason of British Prints. A display of work by the renowned Eastbourne printmaker Robert Tavener (1920 – 2004) and other printmakers who either worked or studied at the Eastbourne School of Art, including Trevor Kemp and Charles Bartlett will be on display in various public areas. The common theme of the exhibition is the sense of place and the artists’ personal response to the landscape around them.
Eastbourne Choral Society will sing The Brahms Requiem at All Saints Church, Carlisle Road, Eastbourne. This beautiful piece written in 1866/67 was claimed to be a tribute to both the composer Schumann, and Brahms’s mother. Today it is still regarded as one of the great choral works which conveys a powerful message through wonderful music. The choir will be joined by an orchestra and two excellent soloists – Baritone David Butt Phillp, an award winner at The Royal Academy of Music and the Sri Lanken soprano Kashani Jayasinghe, who now sings at Covent Garden and Eastbourne Choral Society are delighted that she is able to sing with them again.
St Mary’s Parish Church in Old Town are holding a whole week of Festival events headed by Victor Potter, Organist and Director of Music. Before taking up his job at St Mary’s, Victor lived and worked in Brighton where he organized events for the Brighton Festival Fringe for a number of years. Events being held at the church are a number of lunchtime recitals, a choral evening on Good Friday, an exhibition of work from the Eastbourne Photographic Society, a Flower exhibition, and tours of the church.
The Abertillery Orpheus Male Choir will appear at the Winter Garden for the Festival, organized by the Eastbourne Lions Club. Celebrating their centenary year in 2008, Abertillery Orpheus is now one of the top male choirs in Wales and have appeared on television. Since performing in Rome in 1992, the choir has toured The United States of America, Germany, Holland, Spain and France, with home tours to Eastbourne, Hastings and Scotland.
Councillor Margaret Bannister said: “We are delighted that the community has embraced this exciting new event. We have been advised of over 100 activities taking place across the town from the Old Town Music Festival, the ‘Big Book Read’, a Film Festival and the Artists’ Open Houses.”
The Festival Co-ordinator Marie Thompson is asking the community for more events, particularly by and for the young people in the town. The Festival website offers information on ideas for events, venues contacts, and hints and tips on how to run a successful event.
