‘Best in the fest’ preview of this weekend’s Streets of… festivals

This weekend will see Millennium Place and Walkergate burst into life with the Streets of… festivals – and we’re giving you a sneak preview of the best activities and performances that you can see over the three days.

First up on Saturday 28^th August we have Streets of…Play. Streets of Play; Durham International Buskers Festival is jam packed with juggling, comedy, parkour and more. It’s hard to choose a highlight from such a great programme but we highly recommend you check out African acrobatics, The Black Eagles of Tanzania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKTF1GRFQ8

There’s also loads of participatory activities for the kids including the latest craze, straight from the US, Crate Building: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGMjYn5CTM&feature=related

At Streets of…Folk on Sunday you can enjoy an afternoon of the best in contemporary folk from the UK and US. Here’s an example of the brilliant Adrienne Young Ramsey.

Adrienne Young-Ramsey’s My Love Will Keep Forever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-1nWzAzlU0

Finally, spend your Bank Holiday Monday doing and viewing at Streets of Dance. The Streets of Dance features a range of dancing styles both contemporary and traditional from the UK and across the globe. Most of them need to be seen to be believed including the fantastic Carnival Crew Tees Valley.

Newcastle Kingsmen’s infamous Rapper Dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCFPIPdasKs

Nick Malyan – Festival Durham

Find out more about Durham by logging on to thisisdurham.com or visit us on Facebook.

Busking – value for money entertainment?

In my last post I mentioned that Streets of Play is Durham’s official ‘International Buskers Festival’. For most people the word ‘busking’ tends to conjure an image of a local musician on a street corner playing popular songs on a guitar, but actually busking is one of the oldest professions going and it comes in many forms.

Busking is probably the fairest form of entertainment in the world, it doesn’t matter who you are with a busker, everyone’s welcome to enjoy the show. After the performance the busker will more than likely pass their hat and you pay only what you feel the performance was worth. You might say that as an industry it has at its heart some amazing principles – democracy, fairness, and most importantly trust – the buskers trust that if they entertain you, you will support them and if you support them they can keep travelling the world to entertain people. It’s a formula that’s worked for hundreds if not thousands of years and with the Streets of Play Durham is lucky enough each year to welcome some of the very best from across the globe. So if you’re bringing the kids into town to enjoy the show bring some gold or something to fold because hat’s off to the buskers – your donations keep them on the streets.

Nick Malyan – Festival Durham

Find out more about Durham by logging on to thisisdurham.com or visit us on Facebook.

Get some summer street life this August Bank Holiday Weekend

Freerunning, dancing, singing and strumming, the Streets of… Summer Festival programme is back and this time it’s jam-packed into three fabulous days of bank holiday fun. 

Writing this I find myself struggling to work out how to fit it all in, kicking off with the Streets of Play (Durham’s international buskers festival) we welcome acrobats from Africa, Jugglers from Japan and an awesome Australian. There’s loads to see and do as Millennium Place and Walkergate take on a carnival atmosphere that promises to last all weekend. Don’t forget at the end of the day to head down to Walkergate to see the brilliant Parkour show, ‘Urban Playground’ which combines Parkour with various contemporary dance forms.

Following Saturday’s buskers comes Sunday’s Streets of Folk; a lively day of folk music from across the UK and US in Millennium Place ending with the very special guest headliners The Peatbog Faeries – a rare chance to see the UK’s hottest contemporary folk act totally FREE!

Oh and just because the peatbogs finish at 5 doesn’t mean an end to the festivities! Some of the acts will be busking in bars around Walkergate giving you the perfect excuse to go for a bank holiday drink…

Finally we have Streets of Dance, a combo of brilliant high-energy dance sessions to do and view! There’s something for everyone this bank holiday Monday as we see new and edgy takes on some traditional dance styles, activities for kids and the popular return of both the Quiet Riot and the Durham Dance Off. Quiet Riot is a unique disco for the i-pod generation and Durham Dance Off promises to showcase the best dance acts from the region competing against each other for a big cash prize! The Streets of Dance really is the perfect way to round off a fantastic bank holiday weekend of fun for everyone.

Nick Malyan – Festival Durham

Find out more about Durham by logging on to thisisdurham.com or visit us on Facebook.