The Laya Healthcare Street Performance World Championship is just around the corner and this year takes place July 14th and 15th in Fitzgerald Park, Cork City and on July 19th – 22nd in Merrion Square, Dublin 2 and remember, it’s a free family friendly festival.
As usual the SPWC has lots of events happening. The tattooed Lizardman will make his irish debut, Cirque du Soleil acrobat Reuben Dotdotdot will be in town as will The Human Cannonball :O The reigning World Champion sword swallower The Space Cowboy will be this year’s special guest (I’m getting a sore throat just thinking about it).
This year the festival is looking for approximately 25 up-and-coming Irish talents to perform at the Buskers Stage on Saturday July 21st and Sunday July 22nd in Dublin’s Merrion Square. The Laya Healthcare Street Performance World Championship want to hear from musicians, dancers, comedians, circus and the ‘so out-there that nobody’s put a word on it yet’ acts! To enter, solo or group acts are asked to email promotional material including a video of their performance to info@spwc.ie before June 29th. The winning acts will be chosen by Festival Directors and 2012 winner The Space Cowboy.
Here’s a full list of performance artists:
2 ON 1
USA
www.rabbitrhythms.com and www.snapboogie.com
Ladies, prepare to swoon… men, prepare to take notes. This highly skilled duo are in a league of their own. Hip-Hoppin’ straight out of the US of A with a trail of accolades to their names, this is 2on1’s first trip to Ireland.
Putting the beat into Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit’s one-man percussion orchestra teams up with ever-cool and ultimately-smooth b-boy Snap Boogie who’s as quick on his feet as he is quick witted.This show isn’t just good…it’s freakin’ awesome!
AJ JAMES
U.K
From London’s Covent Garden, the birthplace of street performance. AJ James has emerged as a truly hardcore street entertainer. Unbelievably high skills and deadly stunts are tightly woven into a show with as much comic tension as a family of whales on a bungee crowd. A master of movement, professor of comic timing and guru of all things acrobtic, AJ’s show is perfect for all the family.
CHARLIE CAPER
SWEDEN
Magic does not get any more surreal than this. If you ever looked at a magician and thought that all magic is just an illusion, think again because real magic does exist and Charlie is going to prove it.
Commonly regarded as one of the best street magicians alive on the planet Charlie will leave you jaw hanging and mind boogling for his full show.Having won Sweden’s Got Talent, Charlie’s show is not just original, its mind altering. Watch and be truly flabbergasted at what just one guy can do.
CIRQUE NO PROBLEM
HUNGARY
All the family will fall head over heels in love with acrobatic duo! With characters and ambience inspired by the travelling circuses of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Cirque No Problem take the classical, infuse with the spectacle, add comedy and shake (not stir) it to create their own magical blend of AWESOME.
Experts in clowning, acrobatics, juggling and balancing, sometimes all at once! That might sound complicated but as Noa and Uri Weiss say themselves ‘It’s No Problem’!
DEADLY SERIOUS
AUSTRALIA
Introducing the ‘Godfather’ of Street Performance. This kilt-wearing hero of the street really is a legend in the world of street entertainment.
Slack rope, fire and knife juggling, unicycling and pretty much any dangerous skill that you can think of, Deadly Serious is a sure-fire crowd pleaser. Deadly shows, Deadly Stunts, Deadly humour, Deadly Funny. This guy is not just going to blow your socks off…he might even blow your whole kit off (which would be a pretty funny show in itself).
HAKUNA MATATA ACROBATS
IRELAND
Get ready to limbo, leap and laugh through this family show. High energy acrobatics at its absolute best. If you have ever seen a street show and thought that you could give that a go think again… because you can’t do this.
Crazy agility, skill and absurdly funny the Hakuna Matata Acrobats have toured the world and are now going to show Dublin and their home town of Cork what is means to be… well… more agile then every other person you know. A fantastic family show.
JONATHAN BURNS
USA
This human pretzel will have you in knots of laughter!Jonathan Burns presents a high energy show that will have you reeling with laughter and twisting in your seat.
His incredible career has been anything but normal from when he first proudly announced to his parents that he was going to make a living from squeezing himself through a toilet seat.His knot-like contortions, geeky comedy and silly stunts will make you laugh so hard, you’ll get abs.
KAMIKAZE FIREFLIES
USA
Vivid imagination that will have you roaring with laughter! Straight from Hollywood, the Kamikaze Fireflies are a kooky fire breathing, cube spinning, whip cracking, and stilt walking duo that blend vaudeville with sketch comedy, and circus skills with stand up.
Embrace the absurd and join them as they try to catch lightening in a bottle and fulfil their mission to ‘Bring peace to the world at an affordable price’.
LISA LOTTIE
THE NETHERLANDS
The festival’s very own ‘Bend it like Barbie’ Crazily agile, beautifully charming and unbelievably flexible, this pint-sized former National hide-and-go-seek winner will have you on the edge of your seat as she contorts her body and performs some of the most impressive hula hoop maneuvers you have ever seen!
To top it all off, she will attempt the most dangerous hula hoop trick in the world, seven foot in the air!This is one show that you will watch again and again and again.
MARIO QUEEN OF THE CIRCUS
USA
This latin lothario’s show absolutely should not be missed! Mario needs to share his love with you. His love of Queen and the late, great Freddie Mercury is so strong he’s built a whole show around it.
Juggling, duelling and unicycling all in the name of this amazing band, Mario entertains and enthrals his audience with his passion and skill.Mario’s universal sex appeal can only find release in the arena-rocking anthems of his favourite supergroup and with one of the most exciting finales in the world today, Mario’s show should most certainly not be missed.
PIANO JUGGLER
USA
Prepare to be wowed by the world’s only ‘Bounce Piano’. No matter if your musical ability stops short of playing the triangle or if you can conduct Beethoven’s 9th in your sleep, you will not want to miss the world famous Piano Juggler. Dan Menendez makes his triumphant return to the Street Performance and is ready to blow your musical mind!
King of the keyboard, jester of juggling this man has single-handedly pioneered a zany approach to entertainment that has turned music on its head. You have to see it to believe it; you really, really don’t want to miss this one.
REUBEN DOT DOT DOT
AUSTRALIA
Keep your eyes peeled for his infamous chinese pole skills… a spectacle not to be missed!Reuben DotDotDot defies gravity and dodges death with his insane acrobatic stunts.
Traveling the long way round from down under, Reuben will woo you with his implausible acrobatic manoeuvres, wow you with incredible feats of balance and tickle you pink with one of the hottest bods of the street. Do you know what a revolving one handed hand stand 20 feet in the air looks like? Come see this unmissable show and find out!
SCOTT JACKSON
CANADA
One man, one mouth will have you breakin’ it down
Scott Jackson lives in a world built by sounds. A door hinge’s squeaky creek, a snare drum’s darting snap, a helicopter’s chopping blades; these are the intricacies he’s made his craft.
Internationally renowned as a master of sound and ceremony, Scott Jackson is a beatboxer birthed by hip hop but who stretches the art form’s appeal at every turn. Having represented Canada internationally and reaching the final of Canada’s Got Talent this year, this beat boxin’ beaut will blow you away!
THE LIZARDMAN
USA
Out of the murk and mystery, from the depths of natures no-man’s land comes world famous performer ‘The Lizardman’.
Having sent over 700 hours getting tattooed with the estimated value close to $250,000, he has his tongue split to mimic that of a reptile’s, subdermal implants above his eyes to form horned ridges and four of his teeth have been filed into sharp fangs.Delve into mystery as you witness firsthand the side show antics of this self proclaimed ‘professional freak’. Has mankind challenged powers behind the cosmic barrier? You decide.
THE HUMAN CANNONBALL
U.K
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO… it’s the Human Cannonball!
Street performance superhero, magician Gary ‘Cannonball’ Stocker proudly debuts his brand spanking new show which quite literally defies physics.With only a deck of jumbo playing cards and his trusty cannon, be one of the first in the world to spy this crazy daredevil as he takes flight into unchartered territory! Be warned, nothing is what it seems. The world’s most dangerouscard trick? Indeed!
THE SPACE COWBOY
AUSTRALIA
The Space Cowboy is on the ultimate Street Performer diet. He ingests glass neon tubes powered by 2000 volts of electricity for starters, hammers 6 inch nails directly into this face for his main course and washes it all down with his chainsaw juggling finale. Exercise is key, regularly breaking out a sweat by dragging hefty weights with nothing but fish hooks in his eye sockets. To finish the day, this Australian world record breaker swears by a good night sleep…on a bed of nails that is.