NEWS: Juice Festival

Image: Just Jam Intl

Providing entertainment and inspiration for under 25s, Juice Festival returns to venues in Newcastle and Gateshead between Friday 21^st and Saturday 29^th October, offering up a varied and interesting line-up of events.

The migrant crisis is tackled in dance piece Stateless, looking at journeys, humanity and tolerance at Dance City (Friday 28^th-Saturday 29^th); ¡VAMOS! Social present a Latin American-themed Day of the Dead celebration, complete with live music, costumes, performances, food and crafts (Saturday 29^th) and the psychedelic world of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory comes into blurry focus at Northumbria University Student’s Union (Friday 28^th).

A major highlight of the annual festival is Just Jam Intl’s celebration of break dance and hip-hop culture at Dance City. B-girls and B-boys go head to head in a battle of skills, there are workshops on breaking, popping and krumping, and a host of international dancers travel to the region to showcase their immense skills (Friday 21^st & Sunday 23^rd). A musical focal point of the festival comes in the form of Frequencies at Sage Gateshead, where emerging musicians are given the opportunity to work with professional artists to broaden their skills, culminating in an evening showcase of exciting new music (Monday 24^th).

For younger festival goers, the Big Juice Read celebrates the works of Roald Dahl at Gateshead Central Library; there’s craft activities on offer at Shipley Art Gallery (both Thursday 27^th) and options to try out aerial dance at Northern Stage thanks to Bare Toed Dance’s Downside Up (Monday 24^th-Tuesday 25^th). Live music, theatre and hip-hop fuses in Lawnmower Theatre Company’s event (Thursday 27^th); while Windibops look at the science of farting and global warming (Wednesday 26^th).