Monday 11 September 2017

Review: Stepping back in time at the Vintage Tea Dance at Symphony Hall

The other weekend, me and three of my friends, wearing our vintage style frock finest, hot-stepped to Symphony Hall Birmingham for a vintage themed event. It was the Ever-After Tea Dance, in the afternoon, with a Dance Spectacular to follow in the evening so you could choose which event suited you best, and the focus was on fun and learning a few nifty moves.


It was great to see the Symphony Hall transformed and taken back a little in time. It is a stunning venue anyway, but for the first time they installed a temporary dance floor over the lowered stall seating so that guests could sit and drink tea, enjoy a cake and then learn how to lindy hop on the dance floor with a live band.



It was a very civilised affair and it was nice to see different people of different generations all together for the afternoon. It wasn't as busy as I had perhaps expected - there were two levels of tickets, with the premium offering you a table in the main area, which most people seemed to have opted for - but the dance team soon set the tone.


We managed a sip of tea before we headed to the dance floor for a tutorial on some key steps, that we then put together into a sequence. It was a lot of fun and easy to follow, even if I did keep tripping up over my own feet!

After around 40 minutes of learning our dance, we were then welcome to freestyle as the live band came out with a singer to entertain us for five or six songs. This was when we devoured the cake that came with our ticket!

It was a really lovely event to go along to and something different to what you usually see around. I love vintage style, owning a fair few Lindy Bop dresses, and my friends and Sister-in-Law like it too so we were keen to go along and having the chance to try out some retro style dance moves was fantastic.

It did seem to be quieter than perhaps the organisers had anticipated which is a shame as I really do think that a vintage themed event could be very popular. If there had been more music and dancing, to build up the atmosphere, and vintage themed stalls perhaps, it could have been a bigger event and it may have been a bigger draw.

Nonetheless, we really enjoyed stepping back in time at Symphony Hall and do hope that unique events such as this come around again.


There's always something new to discover at Town Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham, whether you have classical tastes, like comedy, enjoy spoken word or are looking for family friendly entertainment. I am looking forward to seeing Stephen Fry in November and the Movie Music of John William's in Concert during the Christmas break, plus there's lots of comedians scheduled and Stick Man, which we loved last year, is back in December and January - one not to miss. There's also an early bird discount available until 30th September for tickets to see Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales by Julia Donaldson over Easter weekend. Can't wait for this one!


* I am a blogger ambassador for THSH and attended the event mentioned for purposes of review - but all opinions are my own.


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