This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour is invited to share and review productions with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Hippodrome and DanceXchange throughout the year.

Via Helen Annetts, featuring content by Diane Parkes

Spring into a summer of dance with
Birmingham Hippodrome,
DanceXchange and
Birmingham Royal Ballet

Birmingham Hippodrome, DanceXchange and Birmingham Royal Ballet are joining forces this June with an exhilarating month of dance festivals to spring into summer.

B-SIDE, Birmingham International Dance Festival – BIDF and Curated by Carlos run from 29th May to 27th June featuring a range of dance styles from hip-hop to contemporary to classical ballet.

BIDF 2020. LOStheULTRAMAR photo by Foco Al Aire archive

Fiona Allan, Birmingham Hippodrome Artistic Director and Chief Executive as well as Chair for the new West Midlands Regional Board for Tourism said:

This year there’s a lot more cross-over planned between these festivals which demonstrates the partnership between ourselves, DanceXchange and Birmingham Royal Ballet. A great example is that B-SIDE will be performing during the opening night of BIDF as part of a large-scale outdoor programme that kick-starts BIDF’s exciting ten-day takeover of Centenary Square. And Birmingham Royal Ballet will perform Carlos Acosta’s stunning production of Don Quixote at the Birmingham Hippodrome as part of the final weekend of BIDF,
There are more than 100 festivals taking place in Birmingham each year and it is a fact that cultural tourism is really going to drive tourism in coming years. What we all need to be focussing on now is not just the fact we have Coventry as City of Culture in 2021 and the Commonwealth Games the year after but what we want to have as a legacy project out of that.

What do we want those events to deliver for the region? As we continue to grow arts and dance festivals, both for and through the Commonwealth Games period, they can become part of the legacy place-making for the region.”

B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival (29th May to 7th June)

Now in its fifth year Birmingham Hippodrome’s B-SIDE Festival, has grown to become the UK’s biggest free hip-hop festival, and one of the largest in Europe. This year’s event between 29th May to 7th June features dance battles, live music, graffiti, theatre and spoken word, street sports, films, talks and workshops.

Check out the festival details here: birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/b-side-hip-hop-festival-2020

Birmingham International Dance Festival – BIDF 2020 (5th to 21st June)

Launched in 2008, and produced by DanceXchange the city’s dance development agency, BIDF is Birmingham’s biennial signature festival. BIDF 2020 will take place from 15th to 21st June, bringing world-class dance and choreography to venues and public spaces across the city. This will include a substantial free outdoor programme taking over Birmingham’s Centenary Square, showcasing some of the best dance performances currently touring from across the world, as well as social dance activity, workshops and lots of opportunities for everyone to take part.

BIDF 2020. Nora Chipaumire – #Punk photo by Ian Douglas

Find out more about Birmingham International Dance Festival here: bidf.co.uk

Curated by Carlos featuring Don Quixote (19th to 27th June)

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s festival Curated by Carlos marks the ballet superstar Carlos Acosta becoming the company’s new artistic director.

Audiences will have the chance to see Carlos Acosta’s huge production of Don Quixote, only ever seen in the UK before at the Royal Opera House, enjoy an exhibition by acclaimed visual artist Conrad Shawcross inspired by Victorian mathematician Ada Lovelace, complete with a robot and live musicians, hear talks by artists and writers who inspire Carlos Acosta, all culminating in a Family Day packed full of free activities taking over Birmingham Hippodrome on Saturday 27th June.