Press Release

For immediate release 12 May

Hip hop to Bullring for Festival finale

The second International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) comes to an end this Saturday 15
May with the Put Your Foot Down event, and hundreds of people are expected to take part in the
large-scale hip hop dance in St Martin’s Square, Bullring.

A whole afternoon of free performances, demonstrations and classes will start at midday and continue
throughout the afternoon until the mass dance at 6pm. Acclaimed French hip hop star Salah has
choreographed a routine that has been taught to hundreds of people across the region over the last four
weeks, and they will all come together to dance in the grand finale.

Louise Hamer-Brown, Marketing Controller at Bullring, commented: “It’s great to be a part of the grand
finale event of IDFB, Put Your Foot Down at Bullring. We feel it’s important to celebrate and support the
local arts, and anyone who attends the event can upload their own photos and videos to
lifefeelsbetter.co.uk, which is part of the Bullring Art Project.”

In the evening the closing performance of the Festival will take place, with Companhia de Dança
Deborah Colker performing Cruel at Birmingham Hippodrome. This outstanding piece sees Colker’s
athletic yet graceful dancers perform around an enormous revolving table, throw knives and get
entangled in giant revolving mirrors, exploring the different forms that cruelty can take in a relationship.

The four week Festival began on 19 April, and since then tens of thousands of people have watched,
taken part in, or experienced dance in Birmingham and across the West Midlands. Performances have
happened in theatres, foyers, on the streets, in shops and even on a canal barge.

World-class dancers and companies from across the globe have taken part in the Festival, from Shaolin
monks and Ballet Nacional de Cuba, to Mark Morris Dance Group, Strictly Come Dancing – The
Professionals and Akram Khan.

Produced by DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome, IDFB 2010 is one of the world’s largest
dance festivals. Representing over 20 countries from six continents, the Festival is funded by Advantage

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West Midlands, Arts Council England West Midlands and Birmingham City Council, with sponsorship
from Brewin Dolphin. IDFB is also working in partnership with the West Midlands Culture Programme for
London 2012.

ENDS
For all press enquiries, please contact:
Emily Malcolm, Press Manager for IDFB
0121 689 1082 or emily.malcolm@dancexchange.org.uk

For any Bullring enquires, please contact:

Emma Roberts, PR Manager at Bullring
0121 632 1545 or emma.roberts@bullring.co.uk
For more information on Bullring please visit www.bullring.co.uk

Press registration – please register with Emily Malcolm to arrange a press pass for this event.

LISTINGS:

IDFB and sampad South Asian Arts present:

Thresh Dance Company – The Absent Lover, Thursday 13 May
Abhimanyu & Vidha Lal – Kathak Duet, Friday 14 May
Two very different works showcasing a range of Indian dance and performance, in celebration of the 60th
anniversary of the Indian Republic.

Xavier Le Roy - Self Unfinished

Thursday 13 & Friday 14 May, 8pm
Ikon Eastside
Drawing on diverse influences from the worlds of science, performance art and contemporary dance, Xavier Le Roy
welcomes us to a white stage resembling a research lab, and gradually starts to transform into different kinds of
creatures, some recognisable and others rather indeterminable.

Dance Consortium presents Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker

Cruel
Friday 14 & Saturday 15 May, 8pm
Birmingham Hippodrome
Renowned across the world for the incredible skill and concentration she demands of her Brazilian dancers, Colker
explores the many different forms that cruelty can take in a relationship. Her dancers move with feather-light grace
and precision, but also with a touch of daring acrobatics and athleticism that leaves audiences astounded and
exhilarated.

Put Your Foot Down: The Finale

Saturday 15 May 12-6:30pm
St Martin’s Square, Bullring
The grand finale of IDFB 2010 - a whole afternoon of dance performances will be staged within St Martin’s Square,
Bullring, then all participants will come together at the end to dance the synchronised routine choreographed by
French hip hop star Salah.
Free

Classes – learn the PYFD routine

Lower level outside Debenhams, Bullring
12:45, 2:45 & 4:45
Classes last approximately 1 hour
Classes are free, £2.50 registration fee to take part in the mass dance

Tickets: 0844 338 5000 or visit www.idfb.co.uk

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 NOTES TO EDITORS:
- IDFB 2010 is produced by DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome.
- DanceXchange (dx) is a powerhouse of dance with excellence, innovation, education and inclusion at its heart
– and, together with Birmingham Hippodrome and Birmingham Royal Ballet, is part of the largest dance
partnership in Britain. dx takes the best British dance to a worldwide stage, and brings outstanding talent from
across the world to Birmingham. dx also engages people from all backgrounds in healthy dance activity, and
nurtures gifted young people to help shape the dance artists of the future.
- Birmingham Hippodrome is the busiest single theatre in the UK, welcoming c500,000 paying visitors every
year. It is unique in being the home of a classical ballet company, Birmingham Royal Ballet and a national
dance development agency, DanceXchange. Birmingham Hippodrome sells more seats for dance than any
other theatre outside London.
- Bullring: The Birmingham Alliance is a partnership between three property developers and investors:
Hammerson plc, Future Fund and Henderson Global Investors Ltd. The partnership was formed in 1999 to take
forward the development of the Bullring Estate, incorporating the 110,000m2 Bullring shopping destination
which opened in September 2003, the 6,600m2 Bullring Link shopping mall which opened in November 2004,
and the twenty-storey Rotunda building. The Birmingham Alliance has invested over £600 million on the
schemes completed to date.
- IDFB 2010 is funded by Advantage West Midlands, Arts Council England West Midlands and Birmingham City
Council. The corporate sponsor for the 2010 festival is Brewin Dolphin.
- Advantage West Midlands is the Regional Development Agency (RDA) for the West Midlands region – one of
nine RDAs in England established to transform English regions through sustainable economic development.
Advantage West Midlands takes the lead role in setting the strategy and focus for regional economic
improvement; building the partnerships needed to achieve the region’s vision; and ensuring that public money
is targeted to those activities and projects best placed to make a real difference.
- Brewin Dolphin is one of the UK's largest independent private client investment managers. The investment
management firm is supporting the event to further build a bridge between the city’s thriving professional
community and its innovative arts offering.
- Additional partners for the festival include media partner BBC WM and accommodations partner Crowne Plaza
Birmingham.
- Venues hosting IDFB 2010 include Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The Patrick
Centre, Town Hall Birmingham and Ikon Eastside, as well as a number of specialist and outdoor spaces.
- IDFB first took place in 2008 and generated almost 25,000 audience and participatory experiences.
- IDFB 2010 is working in partnership with the West Midlands Culture Programme for London 2012, along with a
range of other exciting programmes including People Dancing, to celebrate and engage people with the
region’s world-class cultural offer. www.wmfor2012.com

PRODUCERS FUNDERS PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

PARTNER

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