Printworks dances to a new beat

The first heat of Dancing in the Street at Manchester’s Printworks was a roaring success on this Saturday, just passed. After the success of the inaugural Dancing in the Street last year, expectations for this year’s event were high.

The various acts performed their routines in front of a panel of four judges, cameras from local television station Channel M, Real Radio and a large audience in the Tiger Tiger nightclub. The standard looked really high and the audience showed their appreciation by cheering loudly and whooping in delight at every opportunity.

All of the acts who performed deserve a lot of credit for turning up and entertaining us all.

Kid Tyler won the Street Heat (pictured above). He impressed the judges with his high energy, athletic interpretation of various songs including Boom Boom. He is a rising star, or as one of the judges put it the ‘next George Samson’. The eleven year old will be joined in the final, on Saturday, August 21, by five year old Ria, who wowed the crowd with her dancing, too.

The Second Heat of Dancing in the Street featuring Ballroom dancers will take place this Saturday, August 1. The first act will take to the dancefloor at 14:00. For more information please click here.

Mancunians might not associate the Printworks with events like Dancing in the Street, but the entertainment complex – better known for its restaurants, bars, nightclubs and multi-screen cinema - regularly plays host to special events. For more information regarding what’s on at the Printworks please click here

The Printworks was once home to print presses where several of Robert Maxwell’s newspapers were published. After the disintegration of Maxwell’s media empire and the Manchester bomb in 1996, the site was in need of new life. After a £110m refurbishment "Europe's first urban entertainment centre," as the Printwork's website calls it, opened its doors in 2000.

The site on the corner of Corporation Street and Withy Grove is a short walk away from Cathedral Gardens where the Walk Talk Tour of Manchester concludes. The audio downloadable tour gives listeners the flexibility to explore Manchester on their own terms.

Visitors without the wherewithal to download the tour can hire the Manchester: Then & Nowe tour on a pre-loaded MP3 player from the Visitor Information Centre in the Town Hall Extension, on Lloyd Street, just off St Peter’s Square.

Image of the Printworks ©Creation.