LIVING THROUGH HISTORY
Get to the happy place and improve your health through dance
PITTVILLE Pump Room in Cheltenham has been a popular venue for dance events throughout its history. Its large ballroom, with its iconic domed ceiling, lends itself as the perfect space for balls, tea dances, dinner dances and for learning to dance.
The Pump Room opened in 1830, hosting a grand public breakfast and ball that established the building as a timeless events venue. It continues to host balls and dancing and attracts local residents and visitors from further afield.
The Pump Room has a calendar of events scheduled that both showcases its wonderful ballroom and space and invites the community to participate in music and dance. We all recognise, more now than ever, that our mental and physical wellbeing is vitally important and that we should take opportunities to embrace new activities to keep well and improve our overall health and wellbeing.
Dancing is a proven way to stay fit and to find that sense of wellness. Often described as a happy place, dancing is good for the body and mind. If you’ve ever considered learning to dance, why not try the Lindy hop with Just Jive Lindy Hop. The Pump Room hosts lessons on Monday evenings. Lindy hop is the dance that the American GI soldiers introduced to Britain in the 1940s.
Anyone can learn to swing dance and can practise their steps at the monthly dance nights hosted in the venue’s ballroom, and in readiness for Cheltenham’s first Retro Festival weekend.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the American GIS in Cheltenham and the time when the Pump Room was requisitioned for stores and accommodation and Pittville Park saw Nissen huts erected.
To mark this historical milestone, The Cheltenham Trust is hosting the town’s first Retro Americana Festival weekend at the Pump Room and Pittville Park.
The festival spans the weekend of June 24-26 and will incorporate 1940s dance with live music from the Big R Big Band, an American hoedown dance and a programme of free live music, dancing, vintage stalls, classic cars and entertainment that reflects the 1940s and 1950s.
Visitors are welcome to dress in the style of the eras and enjoy a step back into bygone times that will bring history to life 80 years later through music, dance and tributes to those who served for our country in WWII.
Dancing takes on many styles and genres and on Sunday, May 1, the Pump Room will host its first Burlie Brunch. This new event celebrates female confidence through feminine styling.
Run by the talented burlesque performer and teacher Kitty Ribbons, the workshop focuses on realising potential through tested techniques to lift esteem and improve grace and deportment. The one-hour workshop, combined with brunch and bubbles, promises to be enlightening, empowering and fun, and Kitty will showcase grace and poise in a specially commissioned burlesque performance. People have danced throughout history and today we still enjoy the dances of the many eras. The Pump Room will continue to host dances and events, as it was intended to, and everyone can enjoy its Regency splendour as a place to improve their overall health and wellbeing through music and dance.
For more information, visit www. cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk/event/ burlie-brunch-39195
For the full retro Americana schedule of events, visit www.pittvillepumproom.org.uk/retro-americana-festival/