8 December 2015
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Where: City Hall, Cork Sunday 31st January 2016
When: 3.00pm-6pm
Who: Evelyn Grant and the Cork Pops Orchestra, Special Guest Keith Hanley
Tickets: €10 from Pro Musica Oliver Plunkett St., Cork
A January ‘Gathering’ of young and old, from communities all over Cork and beyond who love to dance, will take to the floor in City Hall, to the ‘Savoy Hotel’ style music of Evelyn Grant and the Cork Pops Orchestra. The Lord Mayor’s Tea Dance, hosted by Cllr. Chris O’Leary, Lord Mayor of Cork, is a not-for-profit initiative organised by a local committee of people from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The committee is chaired by Dr. Andrew Crosbie.
Above: Previous footage
Afternoon tea is a highlight of the occasion and there will be a ‘Cinderella’ prize for one lucky lady, who will receive a hair do and make up prize, lunch for two and a limo to the ball. To win the ‘Cinderella ‘ prize the ticket purchaser must enter their name and number in the shoe box in ‘The Cobbler’ opposite the GPO, Oliver Plunkett St.,
Young people are invited to bring an older person or a group of older people to the ‘Ball’.
Previous Tea Dances have proven to be great fun and the need for these events is greater now than ever before. These dances recognise the role of a previous generation and offer a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge this contribution at the start of 2016.
We are inviting ‘The Young at Heart’ of the nation to use the ‘free travel’ to come to Cork for the ‘craic’. We hope by publicising this event nationwide that local groups in cities towns and villages throughout the country will repeat this initiative.
Entertainment is provided by the Cork Pops Orchestra conducted by Evelyn Grant and we expect some of our dancers to out-dance ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. Viva Dance studio under the direction of Rona Coulter will give a ballroom dancing demonstration. The vivacious Cork Swing Dancers will give their special exhibition dance, too.
The orchestra will be joined by special guest Keith Hanley who is starring as ‘The Genie’ in Alladin at the Everyman Palace Theatre pantomime.
The Cork Pops Orchestra will perform a selection of up-tempo and ‘smoochy’ numbers. Dancers can enjoy a range of music from Johann Strauss to Abba and demonstrate their dancing skills in waltzes, tangos, two-steps, swing dancing and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll.
We would like to acknowledge the continued support of Cork City Council; our media sponsor ‘The Evening Echo’; Valerie Finnegan Cahill (Ikon Hair Salon); the Oliver Plunkett St.; traders; Dino Creedon and his family.
The Cork Pops Orchestra’s Tea Dances were devised by Gerry Kelly and grew from
the successful Millennium Tea Dance project for ‘The Young at Heart’, which took place in Cork City and County.
