LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
AIB Street Performance World Championship 2009 Cork, Fitzgerald Park As part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2009 Saturday June 13 - Sunday June 14, 2009 12 – 8pm
AND
Dublin, Merrion Square Thursday June 18 – Sunday June 21, 2009 12 – 8pm The AIB Street Performance World Championship is back, and it is universally agreed that it is time for some serious FREE fun! For two magical weekends this June the best contortionists, piano jugglers, magicians, breakdancers, comedians and other assorted world-class professional jesters will descend on Ireland; first on Cork’s Fitzgerald Park and then on Dublin’s Merrion Square, to battle it out for the most coveted title in street performance, the AIB Street Performance World Champion.
For the fourth year running, the Championship will explode onto Dublin’s Merrion Square, bringing with it unthinkable feats, unimaginable tricks and unbelievable hilarity.
And for the first time this year, the festival is delighted to announce that the unsuspecting inhabitants of Cork City will have the opportunity to join in the madness as well.
As always, competing in the Championship will be some of the most bizzarly talented and fantastically imaginative entertainers on the planet.
Get ready for:
Betty Brawn, the strongest women alive who can (and will) tear any Irish man to pieces
The USA Breakdancers, one of the best breakdancing troupes in the world, who are as comfortable spinning on their head as they are at making you laugh out loud
Titan, the undisputed heavyweight of robots, who, at 8 ft 2in will makes Arnies T1000 look like a pussycat.
... and a man who knows more about flying cabbages than anyone else on the planet
Here’s how it works:
6 stages are set up throughout Cork’s Fitzgerald Park on the 13 & 14 June, and 10 stages throughout Dublin’s Merrion Square over four days from the 18 - 21 June
31 of the world’s best street performers take to these stages throughout both weekends, putting on over 210 free shows for the public
Over 150,000 people will pass through both parks enjoying as much free entertainment and belly laughs as they can handle
The performers, who have dedicated their lives to this amazing art form, will ask for a contribution from their audience at the end of each show
Over both weekends, voting booths will be at both event sites and the act with the most votes will be crowned the 2009 AIB Street Performance World Champion
And here’s some more of the gravity-defying, head-spinning highlights this year:
Alakazam, (Australia) the man who has made an incredible career out of his ability to squeeze his entire body through the mouth of a squash racket
The extraordinarily random, completely daft, hilariously funny Mike Wood (Canada), who catapults cabbages onto a spikey helmet on his head
Mr Toons (Denmark) – the perfect example of a grown man with too much time on his hands, resulting in a wonderfully bizarre act that leaves you asking, less how did he come up with that, but rather why on earth did he come up with that!
The crazily agile, beautifully charming and absurdly funny contortionist Bendy Em (UK), who will have audiences on the edge of their seats as she contorts herself in to mind-boggling positions
Rob Williams (USA) and the world’s first foot-sandwich restaurant (yes, those are sandwiches made with his feet)
Plus:
The wonderful sign interpreters from the Centre of Deaf Studies will be in Dublin all day Saturday and Sunday, interpreting every show on both days. For those who want to get some more hands-on entertainment, there will be a whole host of other activites, including free clay modelling workshops, face painting, balloon modelling, juggling workshops, and a show that takes place in the belly of a 30-foot long sleeping sow!
SPWC wishes to kindly thank its generous sponsors: AIB, Dublin City Council, Failte Ireland, Arts Council, Irish Times, Metro newspaper, FM104 and MTV.
For more details on the AIB Street Performance World Championship 2009 log on to www.spwc.ie.
For media information and images please contact:
Layla O’Mara | layla@laylaomara.com | + 353 86 3977832