Summer extravaganza of music and dance

---

Host of events at the Lyric for Performing Arts Week

A week of music and dance performances - ranging from school bands and the borough youth orchestra to some of the most exciting local dance groups - kicks off at the Lyric Hammersmith on Monday, 20 June.

The annual Performing Arts Week begins with a showcase of the borough's thriving music groups, made up of children and young people who live or go to school in Hammersmith & Fulham.The Borough Music Celebration will take place at the Lyric at 7.00pm on Monday, 20 June. It will feature the borough youth choir; youth ensemble and youth orchestra, which are all run by the council's music service.

On Tuesday, 21 June children from 25 local primary, secondary and special school choirs, bands and orchestras will perform throughout the day at the Lyric as part of the annual Schools' Music Festival. There will also be a Rock School Festival at 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 June to showcase school rock bands set up through the council's music service initiative Music Skillz.

All three events have been organised by the council's music service, which also runs a Saturday music school, four after-school music clubs as well as other school-based initiatives, including steel and samba
bands. The music service has dramatically expanded the range of opportunities on offer to young people and has established a partnership with the BBC, enabling local children to perform alongside BBC singers and musicians at high-profile concerts both in and outside the borough.

At 7.30pm on 22 and 23 June the Lyric stage will be taken over by dancers from an exciting and diverse range of groups which are either based or working in Hammersmith & Fulham. There will also be dance performances at the Bhavan Centre, in Castletown Road, West Kensington, at 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 June. All three nights are part of the annual Lyrical Dance celebration, organised by the council's arts team. Tickets for each night are only £2.

Among the locally-based groups taking part in this year's Lyrical Dance are Amici, who bring together able-bodied and disabled artists and performers aged eight to 80 and are this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut performance. Amici, now based at the Lyric Hammersmith, are holding their own 25th anniversary performances at the Lyric from 10 to 13 June and will perform as part of the council's Lyrical Dance celebration at the Bhavan Centre on 21 June.

Local children who have taken part in the education programme Chance to Dance, run by the Royal Opera House and the council, will be among the other groups performing in Lyrical Dance at the Lyric Hammersmith on 22 and 23 June.

At 11am on 23 June children from five local primary and special schools will also have the chance to showcase the work they have been developing during the Dance Challenge programme. This involves the council's arts team working with pupils and teachers to develop creative dance in schools. Dance Challenge is funded by John Lyon's Charity. The participating schools are Canberra, Brackenbury and St John's primary schools and Cambridge and Queensmill special schools.

The borough's mayor, Cllr Charlie Treloggan, who will attend Lyrical Dance on 23 June, said: "This week is a great opportunity for the talented people who live, work or go to school in Hammersmith & Fulham to show what they can do. It is also a testament to the excellent work being carried out by our music service and arts team in encouraging people of all ages and abilities to perform in a professional theatre."

He went on to thank the Lyric for the work they do with schools and the community and congratulated Amici on their 25th anniversary.

June 3, 2005