27th April 2011

LYME REGIS: Lyme Regis Fossil Festival this weekend

Two fantastic shows to take place at the Marine Theatre as part of festival

Jurassic Coast partners pair up for UNESCO World Dance Day celebrations

DANCE inspired by Dorset and East Devon’s Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site will be performed at the start of this year’s Lyme Regis Fossil Festival on April 29th to mark the South West’s celebration of UNESCO World Dance Day.

Inspired by the similarities between the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site on England’s south coast and the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, this new work is an exploration and reflection on two very different places, united through a shared history of the rocks on which they stand. Once a single continent with a desert environment called Pangaea, our world was gradually torn apart through 250 million years of history.

The project is part of Creative Coast, the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site’s Arts Programme, and through this has the backing of UNESCO. The Creative Coast team aims to make England’s only natural World Heritage Site the most creative coast in the world and to increase people’s understanding of this globally important coastline.

This cross-cultural performance is a collaboration between UK based producers, State of Emergency and South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma of Vuyani Dance Theatre, performed by a company of five dancers from different cultural backgrounds, with an original score by Steve Marshall.The show will be followed by a Q&A session with founder Deborah Baddoo and the dancers.

Tickets cost £10 for adults and £8 for under 12s, and can be purchased from Lyme Regis TIC or by calling 01297 442138.

Forkbeard Fantasy bring their ‘All at Sea’ magic to the Fossil Festival

With Forkbeard’s magical blend of film, animation, delicious visuals, quasi-scientific imaginative leaps and their delectable jet-setter alter-ego presenters the famed Brittonioni Brothers, the Fossil Festival bring you this specially commissioned Maritime Medley in Top, Middle & Bottom Sea – with a dash of 3D for good measure. The show will be live from the Marine Theatre on Sunday, May 1st, at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets cost £5 for adults and £3 for unders 12s.

The show features Live Links with the Dark Zone Bathyscape, extraordinary footage of shoals of hypodermic syringes and shower gel containers cavorting off Charmouth Bay, and exclusive undersea reportage from 7yr old ocean-floor hiker Dolly Blurt in Lyme’s very own Lost Atlantis.

Special guests Emerald Antic’s amazing Pliosaur will be live on stage, along with Seasquirt, Boxmanship and the Carbon Weevils, all brought to a stupendous finale by the welcome return of the amazing Blue Woman – this year’s Goddess of the Seas.

A delight for young and old, constant good humour and wild Forkbeard invention.

Tickets are available from www.fossilfestival.org, or from Lyme Regis Tourist Information Centre, 01297 442138.