June 2009

The news that Blackpool’s Winter Gardens complex faces an uncertain future (see page 6) comes at a particularly important time for the venue, which last month hosted the 84th Blackpool Dance Festival – the largest of the five dance events held there every year. The Festival dates back to 1920, and this year while a new set of champions were crowned beneath the sparkling chandeliers of the Empress Ballroom, the other elements that make up the unique “Blackpool experience” spilled right out into the town itself. Dance clothing and merchandise flew off the shelves at the exhibition in Olympia Hall and further afield at the Imperial Hotel, while shops around the venue became temporary couture houses for nine days only, and windows of local Bed and Breakfasts were decorated with competition dresses in a rainbow of colours. Restaurants in the vicinity became prime sites for spotting familiar faces, and the promenade itself provided a great chance to play “spot the dancer”, with the addition of an outdoor dance festival completing the transformation of this seaside town into a hive of dance activity. Our cover stars this month, Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova, have themselves been crowned champions at the venue, so it’s a timely date for the London opening of their new show, Latin Fever, over a decade since they first appeared on the competitive scene. We catch up with them in rehearsals on page 18, and await full reports from Blackpool itself – and any updates on the status of the Winter Gardens – in next month’s issue.
Katie Gregory