Obviously we are biased but here is a description of how last Friday's ¡VAMOS! launch went at Dance City... Thnx Annelise! 

The launch of the ¡Vamos! Festival  2010  – report by volunteer, Annelise Andersen:

“Last Friday, the National Dance Agency for the North, Dancecity, was witness to several activities that Tyne and Wear is famous for: loud music, dance into the early hours and cooking by the locals. However, this was certainly not your average welcome to the weekend. The 2nd July sparked the launch of the biennial festival ¡Vamos!, an electric 10 day celebration of Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures in Newcastle and Gateshead. The evening began with a performance by a group spanning almost all the performing arts “Transtango” whose set certainly epitomized their name. Playing unique compositions incorporating music, film and dance from Britain to Brazil, this multi-national multimedia ensemble uses influences of jazz and tango to cook up an audio and visual delight. The result on the night displayed not only their excellent musicianship but allowed the audience a broad taste of both the world of the arts and the world’s arts in an immersion of both the familiar and the unknown. After a brief break we welcomed to the stage a very different musical experience in the form of “Chinchivi”. This group, named after a drink mixing flavours and ingredients of the African, Spanish and indigenous traditions by slaves in the valley of El Carmen, Peru, delivered a wild, fiery and thrilling 45 minutes. The fusion found in Chinchivi’s flavour was demonstrated beautifully not only through their music, but through the warmly-welcomed audience participation throughout the act. The stage was quickly rendered a fiesta where everyone was invited, beginning with just one member of the public who was moved to dance with the group, and ending with rows of admirers moving and clapping to the beat. And this was only the start. Following these acts quite literally out of the theatre, large numbers of party-goers danced their way to Dancecity’s Urban Café where they were met by impromptu Cuban dancers, the sound of reggaeton by a live DJ and South American traditional cuisine. As a volunteer and appreciator of Vamos I think I speak for all when I say this was a truly lively, dynamic and outstanding launch to what is set to be a very exciting seven days. Vamos!”

For the full ¡Vamos!,programme see www.vamosfestival.com