The annual Blackpool Dance Festival will cha-cha to China next year for the launch of its first overseas event.

The tournament, which started in 1920, attracts more than 20,000 competitors and spectators from about 60 countries.

Michael Williams, from Winter Gardens Blackpool, said the Shanghai spin-off would be a “great opportunity” to spread ballroom dancing’s appeal.

The expansion would also provide “an invaluable opportunity to introduce Blackpool across East Asia”, he added.

“Over the past few years, we have seen an influx of Chinese dancers competing in Blackpool.

“For us to take elements of our festival to China can only increase the number of dancers that will want to come and experience the magic of dancing in the magnificent Empress Ballroom.”

The Blackpool event, currently taking place in the town’s Winter Gardens, will continue to be held every May.

It incorporates various competitions including the British Open Championships for amateur and professional couples.

The Shanghai version will take place at the Grand Stage between 19 and 23 August 2016, with participants able to compete in both Latin and ballroom dancing.

With a wealth of Cirque-styled entertainment acts on the road, it isn’t always easy to tell the difference between a high quality show and a cheap knockoff. But in the case of Cirque Shanghai, the veteran troupe has already proven itself across three seasons at Pepsi Skyline Stage on the campus of Navy Pier, being dubbed by both locals and tourists as “Chicago’s Summer Circus.”

Come 2009, the program has been changed and re-introduced as “Cirque Shanghai: Bright Spirit,” which once again features jaw dropping acrobatics, but perhaps the most ambitious series of stunts, costumes and chorography for the company to date. Under the direction of Haiping Ge (a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Shanghai Opera Institute veteran), the program is ripe with stunts of physical prowess and an ambiguous (but still entertaining) storyline about inner discovery.

Take for instance the “Welcome Spirit” opening, a flurry of body twirls, dress swirls and airborne introductions. From there, the program was filled with colorful contortionists, hair raising hoop divers, bizarre ball juggling and synchronized plate spinning. Though not nearly as death defying, a section called “Hat Juggling” was amongst the most awe-inspiring where performers switched caps at lightening speed in between back flips.

The same could be said about “Team Jump Rope,” a hip-hop interlude loaded with dancers diving in and out of a rapidly spinning cable. However, the most visually arresting moment was the seesaw/catapult contraption that propelled acrobatics high above the stage with their bodies landing on the feet of an incredibly muscular man with his back arched against a bench.

Along the way, there’s plenty of heart-pounding music, which wouldn’t exactly be worthy of purchasing a soundtrack, but certainly augments the show with excitement and intrigue. Ranging between pulsating instrumental pop to indigenous instrumentation of mystical proportions, there’s plenty to devour in this well rounded sensory experience. 

So here’s an indication of how far China has come: The last motorcycle rider in the Globe of Death in this year’s “Cirque Shanghai” on Navy Pier is a woman. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has had more riders — we Globe of Death fans like to see at least seven, and I’ve seen eight cheating mortality — but, in this macho business, they’re all usually dudes.

You would have not seen a woman undoing her helmet and letting her locks flow when this Chinese circus show first played Navy Pier eight years ago. Nor would you have seen the decidedly sensual Pas de Deux Contortion that’s a striking part of this year’s show. It’s still appropriate for a family attraction in the outdoor Skyline Stage (the male and female duet is not that steamy), but for we students of the changing nature of Chinese entertainment, it’s still a sea change from the asexual tone of the early resident shows that came to the USA to showcase the traditional circus and gymnastic skills taught in China for generations.

I’ve seen seven of the eight years’ worth of “Cirque Shanghai” presentations (I took last year off; as with Scrooge and Tiny Tim, sometimes you need a break from young people jumping through hoops, especially when those hoops crop up at other times of the year). They’ve all been decent summer shows that are among the classier offerings at this, mercifully, soon-to-be-improved tourist magnet that does yet show this city at its best. But taking the years as a whole, you really can see some changes therein that reflect the loosening up of China. I speak of the cultural exports of the nation. These remarkable athletes always have been plenty flexible.

The shows have become more contemporary: This year, many in the cast of 36 in “Dragon’s Thunder” are exuberant individual performers who are far removed from the more regimented company that played the pier in 2006-2008 or so. I suspect Miao Miao Chen, a former performer herself, who took over directing this show in 2009, has been a factor there. The young people who make up this company are now allowed so much more freedom to be themselves.

That means the comedy is better (there’s a stellar routine involving a fellow catching things on his head) and the daredevils jumping around the Wheel of Destiny (one of them donning a blindfold) are all the more exuberant. Chinese performers in these traditional circuses never used to fake anything, that being a violation of the classic dignity of the time-honored routines. Now they goof with the audience all the time, and the guys are all sporting mohawk hairdos, replete with tufts of varying colors. The times, they have a-changed.

Paradoxically, this new personality means that the old disciplines can be better honored, and Cirque Shanghai remains mostly composed of these routines: the Chinese Flex Bar, the Silks et al. All are executed very well: The flex bar is always one of my favorites, especially when stilts are added into the bouncy mix. This year’s show also adds traditional Chinese drumming — Mulan’s Dragon Drums, the act is called, with an eye toward branding — which is not something one usually sees in these shows found mostly in the likes of Branson, Mo., Orlando, Fla., and, of course, Navy Pier.

At the end of the matinee Wednesday, the youngsters (and they are mostly, but not all, youngsters) ran out into the house at the end of the show, right into a group of wildly admiring Chicago Public Schools students offering them high-fives. It was a small moment, perhaps, in Chicago’s long, tortured attempts to welcome more international youth, artists and visitors, but it put a lump in my throat.

Wow! What an amazing show! I have not been a viewer of all the previous summer productions of Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier, but based on the newest production, “Dragon’s Thunder”, I will be a regular for years to come. Unlike a lot of “Cirque” shows, this is more spectacle than story which means that the audience doesn’t have to deal with lame story-lines, just solid performances. Tumbling,juggling,Balancing and more, jaw dropping acts.

I was in awe as the troupe performed one amazing feat after another. The audience was fixated by the beauty,energy and physicality displayed by this troupe, keeping them on the edge of their seats from start to finish. I loved the “Chinese Flex Bar” as the tumblers did incredible somersaults and twists landing on a space that did not seem possible to land on. The “Gravity Swings” took your breath away and the “Wheel of Destiny” makes your hear beat as the performers flirted with disaster.

“The Globe of Death” is by far the largest number in this show as we watch, not four ( the usual number) but five motorcycles twist and turn at speeds that are unbelievable , coming within inches of each other. This is the highlight of the show for almost everyone in attendance, but it is agreed, as special as this one act is, the entire production is a theatrical experience that a family can enjoy and retain as a solid memory of their experience in Chicago. For those of you who enjoy the Silks, contortionists and other acts, you will find that all of the numbers are not thrillers, The Chinese Drums ( for the first time in a Chicago production) adding rhythm that energizes the performance.  There are comic numbers as well making this a well rounded attraction for people of all ages and ethnicity’s to enjoy.     

The “Pepsi Skyline Stage” is a permanent structure at Chicago’s Navy Pier, located just West of The Shakespeare Theatre and because of the construction, weather never is involved- rain or shine, the show goes on, and it does so through September 2nd with many performances per day- Wednesday and Saturday nights, Fireworks at Navy Pier, allows you to view the show, walk back onto the Pier and watch the spectacular displays ( no extra charge).

To get complete schedule and ticket prices, visist www.ticketmaster.com.shanghai or www.navypier.com/cirqueshanghai/schedule.html

75 minutes of family fun awaits you at Chicago’s Navy Pier

Grinch may have stolen Christmas – but he’s brought it back to Gaylord National Resort on the Potomac.

That green guy of Dr. Seuss fame is celebrating Christmas on the Potomac through Jan. 9, and ICE!, featuring ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ in 5,000 blocks of sculpted and colored ice weighing more than 2 million pounds, is the resort’s holiday centerpiece.

This year’s ICE! attraction is similar in artistry and color to the one that brought 200,000 visitors to its Maryland riverside location in 2009, Welcome to the North Pole, a fantasy visit to the North Pole complete with ICE crystal carousel, castle and slide. 

The path into the attraction is lined with artifacts and memorabilia celebrating the art of Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel. It’s a lineup of lithographs, serigraphs and sculptures reproduced from Geisel’s original drawings and painting.

No worries about approaching the subzero environment at the end of the art. Staff hands out insulated jackets sized to fit toddlers to grandpa and everyone in between.

Upon entry into the icy diorama, the 1957 children’s classic tale comes to life. Thanks to 40 award-winning artisans from Harbin, China, you’ll walk through Grinch’s frozen lair; Christmas Eve in Who-ville; the Grinch stealing Christmas form the Who houses; and Mount Crumpit, where you can climb to the mountaintop and zip down ice slides right into Who-ville.

And what else does the resort have in store for the season? The list is long and includes nightly illuminations of the 60-foot glass Christmas tree hanging inside the resort’s atrium, indoor snowfalls and two million lights. Have your pick from events like musical dinner shows, breakfast with the Grinch; brunch with Santa, indoor ice skating and scavenger hunts. Indoor ice skating, rides on a miniature train and Christmas classic films on a giant screen at the resort’s indoor pool are in the array.

Before you go curl up with the original Grinch Christmas story – and visit the Christmas on the Potomac web site. It’s a good way to prepare the whole family for ICE! and the brightest season of the year on the Potomac.

The 2010 ICE! exhibit and all its attendant events are sure to accent the holidays for any age visitor who stops in for the fun. Be prepared to grow a bigger heart, just as Grinch did when he learned about the real meaning of Christmas. 

Orlando, Florida. In this city of palm trees and 80 degree weather, where 90 theme parks compete ferociously for the 20,000 tourists who arrive daily, the latest attraction might seem an unusual draw for late snowbirds fleeing the cold north; Ice.. Tons of it!

Move over Mickey Mouse, the ice sculptors have arrived in plenty of time for Christmas. for thirty-five days they’ve chiseled through two million pounds of ice to create a 20 000 sq ft winter wonderland.

The deep freeze extravaganza was created to promote a local resort hotel, which spent more than 1 million dollars to house it in an insulated tent in its convention centre. Air conditioners and blowers preserve the carvings at a cool nine degrees.

In one area, two life-size toy soldiers, carved from blocks of blue and red ice, guard the steps to a gigantic castle. In another, toys and animals fill Santa’s workshop with large candy canes gracing the doorway.

Visitors are given heavy parkas to wear as they wind their way through snow covered fields and ice carved fences, past a nativity scene of life-sized figures and animals shimmering under colored lights.

“My parents had sent me emails of Russian ice sculptures, so this is something that I wanted to see,” said Ken Chapman of River View, Florida. “The nativity scene was stunning, that was the prize of the whole thing.”