XTRAX Showcase 2009

17 Hippies (Germany)

They may sound like flower power rejects, but Berlin’s 17 Hippies are actually one of Europe’s best acoustic folk groups. Imagine a mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo songwriting and Cajun tunes, perfectly blended to create unique and exciting pop music.

Arts About Manchester Family Friendly Film Workshop

The Family Friendly Film Festival will be holding a drop in animation workshop, and the finished film will be screened at the Film Festival in August so you can see your work on the big screen. Learn animation techniques from professional film makers, get some great tips on how to keep on making your own films at home. Visit www.familyfriendlyfilmfestival.org.uk for more information about the festival.

Art Yarn

Contact�s Artists In Residency programme�s (AIR) ArtYarn will create a knitting and crochet installation using the structure of a tree to house a series of growing tree roots made with yarn.

Ballet Boyz – Laws of Motion

The first outdoor dance piece by this celebrated company, which has thrilled audiences and dance critics alike with its exhilarating mix of award winning repertoire, performance style and high artistic standards. Co commissioned by Without Walls and Greenwich + Docklands International Festival.

Beingfrank Youth Raging Skulls

Bernie Bennett Embarrassing Dad

The scene is set for a circus show but the artist has gone into hiding because his embarrassing dad has turned up to watch. The show will go on, however, because � true to form � his dad tries to step in and save the day. Attempting everything from escapology to tightrope walking, with dangerous and laughable results.

Bilbobasso A Fuego Lento

It’s a story of a man and a woman, a story of a meeting and from this encounter fire is born; it appears like a sparkle, grows, flows, flies off, spreads and bursts out like the image of passion consuming the heart of our two characters. This is a show of love, Tango and fire.

BOOM DANG

BOOM DANG play an original mix of odd time signatures, Drum & Bass, Bhangra, Hip-Hop, Latin, Afro-Beat, Merengue and Moroccan Trance.

Bootworks The Little Box of Horrors

Sit inside The Box and experience a terrifying nightmare from your intimate perspective and, like an old fairground ghost train, The Little Box of Horrors will have you clinging to your seat with dread.

Bureau Of Silly ideas A campaign to (re) introduce the various disciplines of pie throwing to the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad

BoSI are collecting signatures on a petition and raising funds for the campaign to introduce pie throwing to the 2012 Olympic games. In exchange for signatures and/or donations visitors can throw pies at targets on the stall, get a sticker and sign up for the chance to join in some demonstrations.

Chapeau Magique

The “Magic Hat” workshop invites you on a journey through origami. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a great hat and stand out from the crowd. (Copyright Henry Krul)

Circo Ripopolo FAZZOLETTO

The circus tent has still not recovered from shrinking in the wash, and has now assumed the dramatic dimensions of 3 by 4 meters. The performers and the number of spectators per show have therefore been reduced to minimal proportions. Fortunately the two stable boys, Gabriel and Giancarlo, have remained normal size… (Copyright Henry Krul)

Circo Ripopolo A ROVESCIO

The show is sold out, full up, completo! But no matter, the two stableboys can still smuggle the audience in through the backdoor. While the real artistes are performing an act in the tent, Giancarlo and Gabriele take the opportunity to show their own acts.

Claire Mooney

Singer-songwriter Claire Mooney is celebrating the 20 anniversary of the release of her first album in 1989. She performs across the UK at a variety of venues and events.

The Cockney Awkestra

Unleash your inner Cockney and have a knees up with The Cockney Awkestra. Leading you through a series of surreal sketches with live music, they’ll teach you how to be better Cockneys.

Collecif Prêt a Porter le diable au corps

A couple are magnetised in a moment of playful violence and passionate insanity. This acrobalancing duo invite the spectator to share their petit voyage of extravagance and breathtaking physical exchange.

Comic Character Creations The Sovereign State of Freetannia

Newsflash! Fed up with the state of the country ex-Army officer Dickie starts his own, aided by his faithful wife Daphne and the man from the BBC. Tourists welcome.

Cie les Decatalogues Walking television

Three giants in overalls, carrying televisions as best they can, roam the streets and finally deliver to…the public.We can mock ,venge ourselves or thank them… at least watch objectively .Unless, for once,they’re watching us ?

Dodgy Totty Ladies of the Waves

Now in their 72nd year, Worthing’s only dry-land synchronised swimming team, the Ladies of the Waves (with the occasional guest gentleman) display their wide repertoire of strokes and moves. But watch out for predators in the choppy waters of the dry-land sea, for who knows what lurks amongst the shopping trolley reefs, or in the depths of somebody’s handbag.

Dodgy Totty Flights of Fondant Fancy

The year is 1940, and women all over Britain are doing their bit to keep the country ticking along nicely. Local ladies Fruiti D’Bosco and Agnes Swighandle have opened a small teashop, bringing tea to all in need�but is all as it first appears?

Dream Engine The Diamond

A nighttime spectacle combining a vast sculptural presence with the beauty of solo aerial dance.

El Tanbura

The acclaimed veteran Egyptian musicians El Tanbura, a collective of singers, fishermen and philosophers, are custodians of some of Egypt’s oldest folk songs and a powerful repertoire of resistance anthems from the 1950s.Their music is driven by the seductive call of the Simsimiyya – an ancient lyre dating back to the times of the Pharaohs.

Explosive Entertainment (worldwide) Explosive DholBlast

This show �Explosive DholBlast� uses the latest bhangra beats mixed with urban and explosive sounds of the Dhol players together with live dancers creating true magic on stage. Explosive Entertainments provides a comprehensive range of musical entertainment and services. Our services include Dhol players, Dancers, DJs, Live bands & more.

Faceless Company Little Cafïe

�Little Caf�’ combines live music, magic, puppetry, mask and comedy with the eccentric characters of a life size stressed-out Maitre D’ puppet and a wayward caf� to provide a charming walkabout with illusive wine and a flying pizza! (Photo by Amanda Crowther)

Fine Artistes Moaning Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci and the Mona Lisa (wearing a canvas with her face protruding through) have arrived in the 21st Century. Unfortunately, she is a real moaner and the public are invited to assist Leo in re-discovering that enigmatic smile.

Fine Artistes Turner Prize Judges

Straight from the world of contemporary art, two Turner Prize Judges are on the lookout for cutting edge art and fashion statements being made by the residents of Wilmslow Road, and hand out certificates and rosettes to worthy prize winners.

Fine Artistes Exi-Stencilists

Two black-clad bohemian painters set up their easels to produce public works of art in the Banksy stencil style. The public are engaged in lively debate throughout on the merits of modern art and the finished works are put on display and offered for sale in a mock auction.

Fittings Multi Media Sputnik

A young woman seeks to live away from the earth. With a watchmaker/mechanic she creates a structure that fuses her body and spirit with a machine. The journey begins. This is the first outdoor show by leading disabled company Fittings featuring Award Winning dancer Claire Cunningham. Commissioned by Without Walls.

Frolicked The Boggart

This little leaf goblin firmly believes everyone else is in his territory. He’ll interact with anyone who crosses his path and he’ll wreak a small amount of havoc in the process… No picnic is safe!

Helen Kane Frankie Chalet

Welcome to the world of Frankie Chalet, where everything can be just a little bit French! A beatnik accordionist who embodies (quite literally) the entire sex drive of France. Expect high brow literature, chanson’s d’amour and the truth about poodles. Romantic, atmospheric and very, very French. Available as a comedy cabaret act, or as a straight musical walkabout with wry asides.

Hoodwink Leap of Faith

A celebration of the human aspiration to fly: paper wings, balloons, feathers, flying monks and aero bicycle displays. Elegant comedy, music and extraordinary visual effects. An uplifting show suitable for all ages.

JELLY n Co

Exotically dressed tree spirits wonder through the park singing tree themed songs.

Jo Bithume (FRANCE) La belle Abondance

A theatrical interactive food experience with a gypsy family. Food is cooked with loving care and shared with the audience.

Joe Sature Hors Service

Three waiters and one waitress, dressed up to the nines, have been waiting in vain for clients to arrive� Screwball situations and double whammies, off cue songs and improbable choreography � everything becomes a pretext to kick boredom into touch and keep it there. From sticky moments to moments unstuck, you will no longer wonder why this bunch of lunatic waiters have been declared out of service.

John McKay Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band

Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band deliver old-time, good-time, fun-time music blending ragtime, blues, jazz and vaudevillian music. The group has established themselves as one of the most exciting, dynamic and certainly best dressed bands in the country.

Kawa Circus

Kawa Circus tells a story of an itinerant troupe of artists from a circus of Rajasthan (India) in rhythms and music, with the tyrannical director, the mesmerized traditional dancer charming everyone, the joyful acrobat and funambulist acting like a film star, the na�ve but concerned acrobat and pole-vaulter and the musician always laughing at his colleagues.

Kazzum Paper People

Two paper sellers tell stories as they manipulate newspapers into characters and landscapes. Once the stories have ended the Paper People wheel off their stand to tell their stories, elsewhere. A young peoples theatre company celebrating diversity and difference. Commissioned by Without Walls.

The Kingsize Five

Critically acclaimed, genre straddling outfit, with a take on the Blues that throws in jazz, swing, 50′s rock �n’ roll and punk with a strong melodic sensibility, dark lyricism and massive egos!

Larkin About Go Gran Go

Anarchic Grannies riding on top of souped up shopping trolleys. These pensioners have seen and done it all – wars and rationing, moonwalking and Elvis, punk and pop tarts � and they refuse to keep there zest suppressed.

Lingua Franca World Music Agency

Lingua Franca promotes and develops artistes from all over the globe. Artists presenting at the Xtrax Showcase will be from of a variety of musical disciplines and styles from different cultures.

Lo-Jo

Lo�Jo seamlessly blend French and African styles, embracing traditions from the past and the present. The Independent called Lo�Jo �the best live band in the world�, and they continually add to their show, absorbing influences from the artistic collective based at their communal home in Angers.

The Mancunian Steam & Pressure Navigation CompanyGalvanium

A curious interactive musical instrument featuring some unexpected components� A Without Walls commission.

Mark Mark Productions Zigmund & Froyd present �Dreams of Astonishingness�

This show is a pastiche of Las Vegas style magic shows and has been created in association with the Royal National Theatre. It is a static comedy performance where the tricks start going wrong and the magicians start to panic. Very visual and funny.

Maynard Flipflap RUBADUBDUB

Full of foam and bubbling over with enthusiasm, this wheeled contraption carefully sails its way home, emitting music and song from the old Admiral having his bath. While his comic cabin boy/ minder returns the soap and flannel that often falls over board. Maynard Flip Flap and Bath Time Theatre have commissioned this wonderfully constructed mobile bathing facility or bath on wheels.

Metro Boulot Dodo Hansel and Gretel supported by Without Walls

Press play on your mp3 PLAYER, pick up the pebbles, watch out for the witch and don�t get lost on this surreal and magical audio/performance tour.

Mike Hancock

A heady and hilarious family cocktail of comedy, live songs, magic, circus and audience participation all served up at the last chance saloon!

Mimbre Until Now

Until Now is a beautifully improbable acrobatic adventure Directed by Leandre Ribera. A poetic universe is fashioned from flips and balances to speak of journeys, good-byes and the astonishing feats of friendship.

Molly Orange Spit Spot

Two wayward litter pickers are let loose on the streets, scavenging what other people throw away. Everyday rubbish is transformed as the pair go on their surreal adventure.

Moutrey Productions LLP Rickshaw Airship

The renowned Aristocratic Norse explorer and adventurer Sir Erik Phileus Fogg of Finchley and his faithful manservant Olaff Treebob are off on their audacious attempt to travel around the block in their Rickshaw Airship.

Mundo Jazz

Mundo Jazz are a spoof World Music band whose mission is to teach us about peace, the environment, racial harmony and love. This they do with all the subtlety of a brick hitting butter, through their ridiculously catchy songs, awful dancing and thunderously crass philosophizing.

Noisy Oyster Lady Lucinda Harrington Carrington

Lady Lucinda Harrington-Carrington, a distinguished guest at any event, mingles and mumbles her way through the public accompanied by her ever-vigilant bodyguards, Ben and Beverley. Amazing life sized puppetry.

Ordsall Community Arts Singing Trees

Felled from the Great Forest of Ordsall, the Singing Trees are laden with fruit nurtured and home-grown by local young people and adult volunteers. Ordsall Acapella Singers, guardians of the precious fruit from the Orchard, accompany them on their voyage to market.

Paprika Balkanicus

Described as masters of great atmosphere, Paprika Balkanicus play a fiery blend of Balkan, Eastern European and Gypsy music. From UK and Europe to Australia and Japan – their electrifying show of fantastic musicianship and irresistible tunes makes every one sing, dance and call for more! (Photo by Kieran Doherty)

Pete Moser Roll up for the Music, Roll up for the show

For the first time in history you can see 4 one man bands in ONE SHOW. Pete Moser demonstrates the art of one man banding
A Diversity of dexterity
An Enthusiasm of entertainment
A Munificence of musicality
Witness the evolution of the one man band in a new 30 minute street show.

Pif Paf Honey

Join Bombus and Borage in the Giant Hive for a tragi-comic journey into the centre of the fragile world of man’s oldest friend. Trademark performance, props and music meet you on this unforgettable journey, will the bees make it? will Bombus and Borage make it? and where are a bee’s ears? join us and find out…

Pif Paf Hanuman

Straight out of the verses of the Ramayana, HANUMAN the Monkey God! A giant mechanical being, jumping and flying through the air, led by music and his small but faithful monkey army. Come and meet the cheeky giant as he glows through the night. Commissioned by the Indian Association of Greater Manchester.

Punchdrunk The House That Jack Built commissioned by Without Walls

�There’s nothing else in British theatre quite like a Punchdrunk show.�
The Times

I�ll huff and I�ll puff and I�ll blow your house down�..The House That Jack Built is a quirky dance theatre work in which three characters create a world made from straw. The acclaimed company Punch drunk produce a brand new outdoor show using the company�s trademark combination of theatrical and choreographic originality. A Without Walls commission.

The Recyclists

Kicked off the Tour De France and banned from the Velodrome, these lycra clad bicycle nuts are on a mission to entertain and educate (educainment). Will they save the World, or end up in a Critical Mess.

The Streetlights

New for 2009�The Streetlights take music and comedy just one step further with songs and routines for any situation. Non-stop laughs and music on the move.

Stuff and Things Futter’s Child

Lovable child-minding misfit Mr Futter does his utmost best to look after his charge � a rather challenging baby called Horace � in a bizarre world of love and horror.

Stuff and Things The Lost Funeral

Ernest Potts and Reginald Fowler have become hopelessly lost en-route to a funeral service, and worst still their coffin is emanating an ever increasing cacophony that threatens to reveal their secret skulduggery.

Stuff and Things Edmond Tahl

Using only an amplified suitcase Edmond explores his self-absorbed world of misfortune and adventure, in this hilarious high energy comedy mime act.

Stuff and Things Carpet Man & Lino Boy

Visionary fashion gurus Carpet Man and Lino Boy bring their inimitable 21st century couture creations to the catwalks of the pavements � seeking sales opportunities and market research.

Swank Be Prepared

Swank Camp is a fully interactive installation, complete with bivouacs, flagpoles and of course the campfire for good old sing songs. Join the pack in their natural habitat, learn skills you never knew you needed – play silly games and win an exciting range of new badges. Come along, its jolly good fun!

Tanante

Manchester�s most dynamic West African drumming troupe bringing you traditional rhythms, song and dance!

The Cocquettes

A-cappella singing sensation The Cocquettes formed in 2006 as part of the Liverpool Biennial for Contemporary Art. After their sell-out gig at the Purcell Room they now present their unique blend of barbershop, classics and show tunes to Festivals and Pride events.

The Grammophon Salon

Take your seat at one of the parasol-topped tables and a bevy of lovely, kimonoed Japanese girls will serve you green tea while playing you records on wind-up gramophones. Unique, quirky and pleasurable.

The Krape Twins

Two top-hole musicians create moments of magic to remember forever. Swing swoon with the Krape Twins. The create music, mayhem and merriment on the move. Enhance any event with these strolling virtuosos of pop. You request it, they play it, Jazz, Irish, Rock and Roll, as well as 50�s, 60�s, 70�s pop.

Thingumabob and the Thingumajigs

A Salfordian vaudeville cabaret musical entertainment show. Our shows are about getting everyone involved and encourage audience participation. We play a mish-mash of different musical styles blended with show tunes and good time sing-along melodies.

Walk the Plank & Heavens Above

A mobile of heavenly proportions, a beautiful night time spectacle.

The Wet Picnic The Dinner Table

The Dinner Table is a foodilicious extravaganza of exciting foodiliciousnessness. Ursula Harrington Carrington Barrington Farrington Larrington takes you on a 20 minute crash course in how to behave at the table. A surreal and fun show where all the guests learn a little something

Whalley Range All Stars Brain Wave

A new show by the WRAS. Take a peak into the �art of thinking’ with ideas that flow through the mind and get you thinking outside of the box. Expect sudden flashes of inspiration, day-dreaming, mental blocks, and a drifting mind. This is a 20 minute long vivid experience, which opens the eyes and flash-fries the frontal lobes!

Wynndebagge

Mixing medieval street music on hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, crumhorns and drums with ad-lib stand-up, Wynndebagge creates a spontaneous masterpiece of comic participation.

YoHaKyu Mariachoo!

‘A giant charro on Ukulele with a hopeful romantic on Guitar, this couple of unlikely Mariachi wild things cajole and serenade el publico, while still competing for lead songster.. MariachoO!’