Appetite and Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID are thrilled to be celebrating the platinum Jubilee with Dancing through the Decades in Stoke-on-Trent City Centre!
Information on transport and access available here.
See our Saturday schedule here.
See our event map here.
Friday 3 June
1950s area
Rock n’ Roll hula hoop workshop!
by Spinsonic Circus
When? 11.30am to 12pm; 12.30pm to 1pm; 2pm to 2.30pm; 3.30pm to 4pm & 4.30pm to 5pm
You can also drop-in at any time throughout the day for hula hoop freeplay!
Learn Dance Through the Decades 1950s: Swing, Jive and The Rock and Roll Stroll
by Dorothy Shoes Presents
When? 12pm to 12.20pm
Dance Through the Decades is a four-person three-hour roving performance and immersive dance event that will bring five decades of dancing to life, animating the streets of Stoke and drawing everyone into the dance. We will take your from the 1950s to the year 2000 with short performances, our trademark ’instant dance classes’ and and party-dances to keep the ball rolling. No previous dance experience needed – our expert team of DJs and dancers will guide you through a few basic steps and keep you dancing as the years roll by!
Topiary Trauma
by Kitsch ‘N’ Sync
When? 1pm to 1.30pm, 2.30pm to 3pm; 4pm to 4.30pm
Meet Judy, our glamorous 1950s housewife in sunny suburbia. She enjoys baking brownies and a quiet bit of gardening on a Sunday. Judy enjoys trimming her bushes regularly but recently she has been having some trouble with her topiary…they seem to have a mind of their own!? Is she losing her marbles or does the flora and fauna have a mind of its own…who knows!? A comedy performance for all the family.
1960s area
Become a piece of Art: Andy Warhol
When? 11am to 5pm
Have your picture in an iconic Andy Warhol artwork.
Become a piece of Art: Bridget Riley
When? 11am to 5pm
Have your picture in an iconic Bridget Riley artwork. Bridget Riley an artist whose vibrant optical pattern paintings were central to the Op art movement of the 1960s.
Make your own Keep the Faith Badge
by Appetite
When? 12pm to 4pm
A distinctive clenched fist emblem has come to represent the Northern Soul genre for many and it was born in Stoke-on-Trent. Chris Burton commissioned a man in Hartshill to create a logo and there the Keep The Faith emblem was born. No-one can remember his name but recall it was inspired by the two black American athletes who raised their fists during the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Come join the workshop to make your own badge replica.
Groovy Bubble Popping Madness
by Spinsonic Circus
When? 12.30pm to 12.55pm; 2.45pm to 3.10pm & 4.35pm to 5pm
Learn Dance Through the Decades 1960s: Twist, Locomotion, Mambo & The Madison
by Dorothy Shoes Presents
When? 12.40pm to 1pm
No previous dance experience needed – our expert team of DJs and dancers will guide you through a few basic steps and keep you dancing as the years roll by!
Knot
by Motionhouse
When? 1pm to 1.40pm; 3.30pm to 3.40pm
Knot sees two female dancers using extreme physicality, complex lifts and contact choreography, to explore the many facets of human relationships through physical expression. Twisting and turning, the balance shifts from one dancer to the other as they use their physicality to express their emotions
Motionhouse is supported by Arts Council England with additional support from Warwick District Council and is a Hippodrome Associate Artist.
1970s area
Make your own Flower Crown
by Cushy Paws
When? 12pm to 4pm
Be royalty for the day and create your own flower crown with artist Cushy Paws.
Baad Mutha Funkas
by Artemis
When? 2pm to 2.30pm; 4.15pm to 4.45pm
With their giant flares and massive hair, Stag, Randy and Kid Velcro never get lost in a crowd. Straight out of the swinging sixties and seventies, with their cheesy one-liners and chat-up lines in full flow, they stilt walk through the streets interacting with the crowds.
1980s area
Geek Retreat Stoke
When? 11am to 5pm
We are hosting your favourite Retro games from the 80’s. Come and join in with our family games events and we’ll teach you those you don’t know. We’ll also be holding a Rubiks cube race! Whoever can get the fastest time will be Crowned Greatest Geek of the Jubilee!
Learn Dance Through the Decades 1980s: Jazz Latin, Lounge, Lambada and Agadoo
by Dorothy Shoes Presents
When? 2.10pm to 2.30pm
No previous dance experience needed – our expert team of DJs and dancers will guide you through a few basic steps and keep you dancing as the years roll by!
1990s area
B-Boys
by Joy Magnet
When? 12.30pm to 1pm; 2.30pm to 3pm & 4.30pm to 5pm
These big, bouncing, b-boy breakers and their beat blasting boom box are sure to bring out the funk in everyone.
Feeling Fabulous Workshop and Demo
by Guetto Fabulous
When? 2pm to 2.20pm & 4.20pm to 4.40pm
Through the exploration of queer movement you will learn to werk a runway whether you sissy that walk or turn out the trade. Alongside walking we will explore finding your own picture perfect poses and style. To a killa soundtrack you will tap into the fierce fabulousness that we all have inside just screaming to get out.
Learn Dance Through the Decades 1990s: Vogue, Macarena, Hip Hop and Running Man
by Dorothy Shoes Presents
When? 2.50pm to 3.10pm
No previous dance experience needed – our expert team of DJs and dancers will guide you through a few basic steps and keep you dancing as the years roll by!
2000s area
The Big Harley Davidson Rev
by Stoke Chapter UK
When? 12pm to 12.01pm; 2pm to 2.01pm; 4pm to 4.01pm
We are a small chapter from Stoke on Trent that love riding Harleys. We enjoy showing our bikes off and get involved in lots of charity work and occassionally we get the chance to be apart of something special like Dancing Through the Decades. We have recently been apart of opening night with the Regent Theatre for the Bat out of Hell Musical too!
We are now 10yrs old and hope to go from strength to strenght. Queling the stigma that bikers are bad. Looking forward to meeting everyone!
Raw Meats
by the Heavy Smokers
When? 1pm to 1.30pm
The heavy smokers are known for bringing raw energy and flavour to to the floor for over a decade. Their showcase “Raw Meat” will make heads spin and jaws drop as they showcase the essence of pure hip hop culture.
Bombay Baja Brass: 90s to 00s Covers
by Bombay Baja Brass Band
When? 3.30pm to 4pm
Bombay Baja are Europe’s Leading Indian brass band, they specialise in performing at festivals, carnivals, street processions, workshops and other high profile events! The concept behind the band is based on traditional brass bands from the Indian sub-continent called Band Baja’s. Bombay Baja perform all the top Bollywood, Bhangra and Punjabi tunes as well as Indian wedding songs. Bombay Baja have been entertaining crowds at events all over the Europe and guarantee to create a carnival atmosphere every where they go!
2010s area
Make your own Queen Bee Seeds
by Ladybird Su
When? 12pm to 4pm
At Dancing Through the Decades, Ladybird Su will be on hand to show visitors how to print their own plantable postcards with special paper with flower seeds in it.
Grow
by Kapow
When? 12.15pm to 12.40pm
Through order and chaos, humans transforming into weeds, seeds and beautiful sunflowers, Grow looks at the relationships we form with one another and the natural world and explores what we all need to thrive.
Borneo Again
by Creature Encounters
When? 2pm to 2.30pm; 4pm to 4.30pm
Direct from the Sumatran rainforest peddles the explorer Captain Jon Voyage on his tropical tricycle, complete with looted temple fragments and jungle specimens. Stowed away amongst the vegetation is the banana smuggling orangutan, Mr Business. Having given up the wildlife, Mr Business plans to accompany the captain as his feverish wanderlust drives him ever onward!
