CHARLESTONERCISE – Vintage Exercise DVD launch

CHARLESTONERCISE: The Vintage Workout – Exercise in style.

I spoke to Anthony today and already had my eye on this launch  – what a lovely idea. Keep fit by shimmying – I couldn’t think of anything better to get fit and have fun doing it, well I could but not with regards to dance. Get ready to bust some lovely vintage moves and through some roaring 20s shapes ladies and gents.

You can see this wonderous dance/exercise on new fangled YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZOWkHQT-R8

WHAT: “CHARLESTONERCISE – Vintage Exercise DVD launch”

WHERE: Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club, 64 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

WHEN: Friday 29th June. 6.00pm – 1.00am

With Vintage being all the rage, The Great Gatsby being remade with Leonardo DiCaprio and the Charleston featuring on Strictly Come Dancing – Manchester dance teacher Anthony Padgett has created a new fitness workout based on the 1920’s Charleston.
CHARLESTONERCISE: The Vintage Workout – Exercise in style.
charleston, fitness, exercise, vintage, zumba, dance, workout, health, slimming, style

And if you are wondering what is the Charleston? It’s a fun dance craze from the 1920’s America. It is from the Jazz era, a time of Flappers (young, liberated women), High Society, Gangsters and Prohibition (where alcohol was illegal and was drunk in illicit bars – the Speakeasies).

So ditch the leotards, lycra and leg warmers. Here is an exercise you can do in style. Put on your favourite vintage outfits and learn some easy and fun moves which also give you a great workout.

Said Anthony “I taught Salsa for 7 years and then came across the Vintage scene in Manchester and London. There was no looking back. So I put together Charleston dance moves from old films and began to teach this in Manchester. I was amazed how much energy you use and also how much fun it was. So the idea came to me, just as Salsa has Zumba as a fitness workout so the Charleston was the ideal dance for a Vintage workout – and Charlestonercise was born.

And it’s not just exercise, it’s also a social occasion. People can have drinks and nibbles afterwards. It really is a party.”

Anthony Padgett (B.A., M.A., P.G.C.E.) has been teaching dance for 10 years and has danced Charleston for BBC1 and Sky TV.

DVD booklets are available on Ebay. The DVD has 4 sequences of exercises in increasing difficulty. Each sequence has 6 moves that will exercise your thighs, waist, arms and chest. There is also a final 5th sequence that will focus on your abdomen and back. Fun moves in the DVD include The Great Gatsby, The Penguin, The Hotsy Totsy, The Flapper, to name a few.

Classes currently run in Manchester the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club, M4 1LW (in the heart of Manchester’s Vintage scene)

There will also be a special DVD Press launch party on Friday 29th June 6pm – 7.30pm at Matt & Phred’s. Review/complimentary copies will be available for the Press and then the night will turn into a general 1920’s Speakeasy Party with the “Lazy River Jazz Band” until 1am.

www.charlestonercise.co.uk

Facebook: http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Jazzswingdance/100001097411045

Contact: Anthony Padgett

New fangled mobile telephone: 0790 2342448

info@charlestonercise.co.uk  (new fangled electronic mail, well I never…)

Colour Me Vintage – Red

 

Colour is one of those apects of life that you either pay a lot of attention to or you don’t, or you are vaguely aware of colour but either are afraid of it or only pay it lots of attention when it’s right in your face, hard to miss.

 

Red is one of those colours, like yellow but less controversial in my eyes at least and I really think that yellow and red is generally a very bad combination. There will always be people, places, nature, sunsets, climates that pull off the combination with grace and effortless breathtaking style, but not usually in the UK. I am more than happy to be wrong though.

 

So red, rouge, mid-red (pink tones), there’s blue based and yellow based reds in muted, shiny, dark and light colours – and sparkly can be good and bad. I like red shiny patent shoes as very well modelled by Dorothy..why didn’t Toto have a matching doggie coat…hmm

Red can look very stunning with black and some people mix it with white too  – this is one of my least favourite combinations but I understand it. I naturally suit muted summer colours in cool tones – chocolate browns, navy blue, black grape, rose madder, lovely mid blues of a faded by the sea variety. I don’t look good in black and red of quite harsh tones because they look harsh on my fair blue based skin that goes red and freckles rather than tans in the sun.

I know that someone such as Dita Von Teese looks wonderful in these potentially dramatic colours. The lady may be a natual blonde (using Garnier black hair dye aparently) but the lady looks good in the classics of fashion as far as the 19th, 20th and 21st century are concerned. Dita lives out my dreams of looks chic and not at all ill in black. I don’t mind not wearing it though as there is such a lovely wheel and spectrum of colours to wear.

Vintage lends itself naturally to more daring and playful outfits from 1950s candy colours items to eye popping pink shoes, black and yellow rock n roll meets banana milkshake striped tops and three quarter length classic summer trousers, and ladies weating outfits of one colour and many shades be it gothic black, ingenue rose, classic princess creams, Hollywood Glamourpuss white (with black sunglasses or white framed specs) etc. Vintage is the goddess of inspiration and reinventon – and red items, worn or new can be put together to create your red personality if you are a lady or gent of red, or want to try it. If you want to start small and subtle then undergarments are the way to go. This is where I try out alternate personalities or colours I am unsure of that are my guilty secrets but that looks a little shite as visible clothe colours.

There are so many reds, so if you are unsure if you can pull the colour off then look at different shades in clothes, accessories, paints, wallpapers, furniture. Look to see what pleases your eye and why. See if you can pull off the same fee for yourself, through your wardrobe – be it nice pants, pretty earrings, nice shoes, dresses, trousers, belts, badges, bags, hair bands etc – to get some ideas of reds out there in the colourful world of ours you may find these sites useful – of the new fangled variety:

Makeup Withdrawal:  www.makeupwithdrawal.com/2010/05/scarlet-lipstick-love-story.html

The Science Bit – Color Vision: One of Nature’s Wonders: www.diycalculator.com/sp-cvision.shtml

miscellaneousgrievances:     http://miscellaneousgrievances.tumblr.com/post/650552943/color-palettes

www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/reds2.html

Oh and then there’s light red or pink as it’s known and I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t look mighty fine in the right tone/shade!

Be brave. Be free. Be Pink or Red or any colour you damn well please.

Happy red days.

Take the weight off: A Cup of Vintage

If you fancy someone taking over and doing the fiddly bits for you and you are of a vintage persuasion then you may well like A Cup of Vintage based in Caterham, Surrey. They hire out vintage tea cups and their saucer friends plus supply bunting etc if also needed.

www.acupofvintage.co.uk/

Burlesque Ladies: Cork Burlesque Community

Ooh burlesque in lovely Cork, Ireland:

www.facebook.com/pages/Cork-Burlesque-Community/295224593824598

Singer Lady: Anita Williams & Rouge

I would love to be a great singer but I’m not, and luckily there are women and men with such fantastic voices that I don’t need to be, and I can leave it to them, and I can sing along in my own way.

“Anita has been singing from a very early age when she joined the Montfort Stage School, Cork city, Ireland. She discovered her love for the stage and performing when she took part in many of the musical productions at the school. She performed many leading roles in musicals. Her earliest and most memorable being performing ‘Feed the Birds’ from Mary Poppins.”

www.anita-williams.com

www.facebook.com/pages/Anita-Williams-Rouge/147527811944251

Vintage Fair Baby! Vintage Fashion & Decor Fair

Vintage Fashion & Decor Fair

Be prepared to recapture the allure and energy of a golden age of music, dance and fashion. The Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire will be awash with glamour when it hosts the Vintage Fashion and Decor Fair on 22nd April.

The fair will be a celebration of the fashion and style of the 20th century, from the1920s to the 80s, and will showcase the fashion, beauty, home decor, music and dance of the era. It will be a magnet for lovers of fashion and style with a history with over fifty specialists from all over Ireland displaying and selling a wide range of vintage clothes and retro decor. There will be plenty to satisfy the discerning shopper looking for something unique with all sorts of original memorabilia from 1950s radios to film posters, pretty china to opera glasses. It is a treasure trove of all that was loved and cared for in the 20th century. There will be a lot more to the Dublin Vintage Fashion and Decor Fair than glamorous frocks and elegant hats. With retro makeovers and best dressed competitions expect a stunning parade of retro style, as fairgoers compete for the many prizes. And, with all day vintage entertainment hosted by MC Karl X Byrne of the Burlesque and Cabaret Social Club in the retro cocktail bar, you know you will have fun while spending less and buying ethically.

Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, County Dublin

Pretty Vintage: Vintage Fashions 1940

Vintage Fashions 1940, darling!

Just because: Vintage Rally in Youghal County Cork Ireland May 2009

I love old things, I love old cars, I love old cars driving round together, like motorised friends….beep beep brooom brooooom broooom, ok I’ll stop now.

Enjoy:

Titanic 2012: the exhibition

From the 31st of march until the 22nd of April 2012 will be the Titanic 2012 exhibition in Belfast City.

I love history but I wish this tradegy had never happened. I don’t even like to try to imagine the sheer horror of the sinking of the Titanic.

I do think that retelling and telling stories of the people on board the ship and how there lives were, i think those stories help to keep them alive in one way.

I have no idea if I am related to anyone on board the ship, although in one way we all are albeit a long way off. I have discovered in the last year or so that I am a lot more Irish than I thought. On my Mother’s side there is a lot of Irish family and ancestors coming from Cork and Kerry abd eventually making their way to South East London. I am more than happy with that combination.

My heart goes out to all the working class people who lost their lives on that night and their families. Actually, it goes out to anyone who wasn’t a cock, and I am sure there were a few of those on board.

From cocks, to old things, old stories, and every day clothes and lives – these are surely the reasons to find out more about this upcoming exhibition, and hopefully go:

Titanic Belfast will officially open on Saturday 31st March 2012, unveiling the new exhibition centre and a host of commemorative events.

The opening of the exhibition centre begins a series of Titanic related events including tours, drama and cruises. The building itself has been designed to resemble the hulls of four ships and the visitor experience relives the story of the Titanic from early construction to her maiden voyage. The festival will commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on the night of 14th/15th April 2012.

www.titanicbelfast.com

The Experience

TICKETS:
Tickets for Titanic Belfast are based on a timed ticketing with slots available every 20 minutes throughout opening times. Last admission is 1 hour before closing time.

The standard admission charges are as follows:

Adult £13.50

Child (5-16) £6.75

Child (under 5) Free

Student/Unemployed £9.50

OAP (m-f) £9.75

OAP (s-s) £11.50

Family (2adults + 2 children) £34.00

School/ Education group £5

Group at Door (15+) £12.75

Rayon Rose: We’ve got a caravan and we’re gonna use it

These gals sound most fabulous and utterly up my camp site!

They are hibernating for now but I expect their spring awakening to be fun and utterly campfabulous.

Rayon Rose: We’ve got a caravan and we’re gonna use it

From vintage fairs and cakes to more caravan-based arts events in 2012 – how great does that sound!

New fangled bits:

http://www.myspace.com/rayonrosevintagefair

twitter.com/RayonRose

http://www.facebook.com/events/49878979685/