As we move into March it’s kind of started to feel like the year is running away. Should we be booking summer holidays? Why are all the music festivals already announced? Omfg, i’ve got four weddings to go to already, etc, etc. With that in mind, sometimes it’s good to spend the weekend properly resting whether it’s a calming cultural evening, a weekend on the sofa with a new book, or just Netflix binging on the sofa.
The events to pick up some new moves…
Northern Ballet perform Romeo & Juliet @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Fri 26 - Sat 28 Feb
*Contemporary Dance @ The Coronet *
Fri 26 - Sat 28 Feb
Did you go to FKA Twigs’ Roundhouse show last week and leave wanting to book tickets to some dance? Then try one of these events this weekend. At Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Northern Ballet perform Jean-Christophe Maillot’s (The Guardian call him the ‘busiest choreographer in Europe) version of Romeo and Juliet. At The Print Room in London’s Notting Hill (part of the Coronet theatre) there’s a weekend of dance at the 1898 Contemporary Dance festival, where four choreographers have created pieces based on the venue’s history. A classier way to experience dance than shuffling by the loos at Corsica Studios.
**The film to fill you in on new UK talent… **
*Catch Me Daddy *
In UK Cinemas Feb 27
Talking of Twigs (we could forever) she has choreographed a beautiful scene in this new thriller Catch Me Daddy directed by Daniel Wolfe. Set on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors it tells the story of Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed - who was nominated for Best Actress at the British Independent Film Awards) a young woman hiding out from her family with her boyfriend Aaron. It has been described as one of the most exciting British debuts for years but you can make your own mind up starting this weekend.
The festival that celebrates you, and you, and you…
**WOW Festival @ Southbank Centre, London
1-8 March
**Screw music festivals like Reading & Leeds that have about eight women across the line-up, The Women Of The World Festival celebrates its fifth year at the Southbank Centre in London starting this weekend. OK so it’s a different type of festival but events across the week include No Guts, No Heart, No Glory a new performance that explores being young, fearless and doing unexpected things through the lives of young Muslim boxers, debates covering domestic abuse, mental health, working in fields dominated by men and disability and feminism. You can also book tickets now for a workshop with psychotherapist and author Susie Orbach (read Bodies if you haven’t already), MOBO’s celebration of Women of the World, and WOW Now where BBCR1’s Gemma Cairney talks to teenage girls from across the UK about the realities of being a girl right now.
**The book to read if you’re feeling strange… **
The First Bad Man, Miranda July
Out now
Lena Dunham has called it ‘Astounding’, Vanity Fair called it ‘Astonishing’ and just about everyone else that has reviewed it as mentioned that Miranda July’s debut novel is ‘Absurdly Funny’. Pretty much what you’d expect from the multi-discipline artist behind Me and You and Everyone We Know and The Future (she still sends emails predicting The Future - my most recent cryptic one 'Direct your attention to your mouth') it’s an eccentric, sometimes sweet story following Cheryl, a woman in her early forties who has 19 year old Clee thrust into her life.
**The original Netflix Original to speed watch…. **
*House of Cards Season 3 *
**
Premieres Feb 27
Remember when a programme debuting on Netflix was a novelty and people wrote think pieces about whether it would CHANGE TELEVISION FOREVER? How you fell out with your significant other because they WATCHED AHEAD? Now that seems like very old, with the third series of House Of Cards up for streaming this weekend. Judging by the trailer things are going to be more intense than ever, with Frank Underwood now President of the USA. Will his and wife Claire’s murderous doings over the past two series’ catch up with them? It’s TV so probably. The event where you can see the future… maybe.
Various, Manchester
25-28 February
Around this time every year, Manchester is taken over by the Future Everything Festival. While there are plenty of great head-scratching, fascinating paid events taking place, you can do a lot on a very tight budget. PC Music’s Danny L Harle (behind the sweetest song about flowers since Sweet Female Attitude) plays with Manchester’s Highbank (playing everything from Hyphy to Hardstyle, Jersey to Juke, Cumbia to Reggaeton) on Friday, while the same night you can take part in a celebration of the creativity of Manchester and Liverpool with a project presented by the mysterious sounding Deep Hedonia.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.