Clock the Tower

Local community arts charity Same Sky has been busy preparing to 'dress the city' to celebrate Rugby in Brighton & Hove in September 2015. This week the Clock Tower in central Brighton was adorned with flags as the artistic creations start to make an appearance on the city’s streets. 

Same Sky artist Bec Britain explained: “Continuing our continents’ flag theme which can be seen dressing the city in a variety of forms, I chose the four most commonly used flag colours and produced them en masse for a bright swirling effect around the Clock Tower. In total there was 710 metres of webbing with over 2000 flags.”

The flags went up during days of heavy summer rain. Bec added: “Despite the deluge, we were incredibly lucky to escape with two dry nights to put it all up, much to the delight of clubbers on West Street. When the wind gets going the flags start to whistle, and when they are really flapping it sounds like a huge crowd bursting into applause. How very appropriate!”

Check out some of Bec’s other decorations in our previous blog entry:

http://brightonandhoverugby2015.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/dressing-city.html

Pitch Perfect

Celebrate with Pitch Perfect, a two day music & dance festival, taking place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, midday to 6pm.

Come along to New Road in Brighton to watch a free two day festival of music and dance taking place on the street in the heart of the city’s theatre district. 

The Pitch Perfect (music & dance festival) will see local bands, musicians, dancers and performers take to an outdoor stage to bring a mix of live entertainment to audiences and passers-by as we celebrate Rugby in the city. 

The show has a dance focus on Saturday and a music theme on Sunday. Look out for vibrant dance troop Maracatu Cruzeiro do sul and the 600 strong choir of the Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band.

The very colourful Maracatu Cruzeiro do sul
Photo credit: Sofia Barbas (sofiabarbas.com)

Here’s what’s happening!

Line up for Saturday 19 September

12pm Caiçara

A four piece band of indigenous people from Brazil who live by the sea, Caiçara perform roots music with a funky wave that’s gets everyone up and dancing. Crowd participation and involvement is a must you can’t help but have fun.

 Caiçara in Brighton
Photo credit: Rafael Ribeiro

12.45 Southern Knights
The Southern Knights perform precision marching and dance displays to music using flags, imitation rifles, imitation sabres and pom poms.

2pm Project Zulu

A choir of 26 children aged 10 to 15 years, performing with just their voices and Zulu drums. The performance is a mixture of Zulu folk songs, gospel songs, gumboot and traditional Zulu drums and dances. Project Zulu arranges for choirs from the Madadeni Township schools in South Africa to tour the UK and share their incredible Zulu musical talents. 

3pm Amazona Arts
Performers of Capoeira dance - fusing acrobatic moves from dance, music and the martial arts into a skillful display. 

4pm Maracatu Cruzeiro do Sul 

A Brighton-based drumming, singing and dancing group performing styles from the North East of Brazil, including Maracatu, Coco, Baiao, Ciranda and Afoxe. The vibrant costumes and dynamic movement the atmosphere and bass-heavy sound never fail to get people dancing!

5pm Savoy Kicks Dance Troup

Savoy Kicks is a group of six dancers who will perform two sets and lead a mini dance lesson with the audience. Savoy Kicks is the professional performance troupe for local dance company I Charleston Brighton.

Line up for Sunday 20 September

12.15pm Unified Rhythm          

Unified Rhythm is an integrated carnival arts music group based in Brighton.

           

12.45pm  Shannon Dixon                      

At just 15, Shannon is a rising talent. A passionate and uplifting vocalist, singing pop favourites form the heart.

           

1.15pm The Wildest Way        

Banjo led folk from the Appalachian mountains and beyond.

           

1.45pm Brighton & Hove Youth Percussion Ensemble          

An exciting young percussion ensemble playing everything from drums to dustbins.

Brighton & Hove Youth Percussion Ensemble

2.15pm  Alternate Function                  

Razor sharp alternative rock from local boys on the verge of making a real noise on bigger stages.

                       

2.45pm Shining Brighter: Brighton & Hove Schools’ Massed Choir            

Shining Brighter celebrates the strength and resilience of our Rugby superheroes. An ensemble of more than 300 singers from primary and secondary schools along with The Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band will be united in a rowdy and uplifting celebration. Lyrics and melodies created by young composers from local schools, and arranged by James Redwood, also incorporate body percussion taking inspiration from the world of Rugby. 

           

3.15pm  Drive Up Jazz

Drive Up Jazz is made up of students from Cardinal Newman Catholic School & Newman College.

           

4.15pm Daniel Wakeford        

Daniel is a singer and songwriter from Brighton, heartfelt songs from a true entertainer.

4.45pm  Shining Brighter: James Redwood's Massed Choirs           

A new song-cycle celebrating the strength and resilience of our rugby superheroes. Performance of massed primary school choirs and The Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band.

5.15pm Beat Express

For more than a decade this boogie rock band has been crafting and performing heart felt, honest, catchy tracks that never fail to get an audience moving. The boogie train is coming!         

           

5.45pm Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band      

The Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band has an exciting programme, including performance opportunities, projects and international tours. The band performs some of the most exciting repertoire written for this medium.  

(Please note: While every effort will be taken to ensure the performances go ahead as planned, all timings and performers are subject to change)

Dressing the city

By Bec Britain from Same Sky 

Local community arts charity Same Sky has been charged with 'dressing the city' as we celebrate rugby in September 2015.  We hope to make it a riot of colour for visitors and teams as they explore Brighton & Hove.  We'll be hanging banners at the station, filling shop windows with rosettes, adorning the clock tower and lining Madeira Drive with flags.

Making a rosette

As inspiration, we've taken colours from the four visiting teams flags (USA, South Africa, Japan and Samoa). As these four teams also represent four continents, and us as the host nation the fifth, expect to see the shapes and colours of the continents featuring too.

Celebrating Rugby!

So to get ahead, we've started on the rosettes which will be displayed in shop windows from Queens Road to The Old Steine.  These larger than life rosettes feature oval centres (of course, because the world's not round, it's oval!), and 300 metres of ribbon to be pleated. Our first batch of red, white and blue are done, with two more colour combinations to come. 

Rosettes ready for the celebrations

They also feature a reminder of The Costume Games - the carnival that will accompany the Tournament weekend in Brighton & Hove, your chance to join in the dressing up!