A ROMANTIC duet between a dancer and a mechanical digger and performances inspired by hip hop and the sixties will form just part of the Urban Moves dance festival in Bury and Manchester this week.

The event, which will take place on Friday July 23, features Company Decalage, with a performance based around hip hop; Axial Dance performing a sixties inspired piece with a Lambretta; Beau Geste performing with a mechanical digger and a show from the talented performers of Bury Youth Dance.

Venues hosting performances include Millgate Shopping Centre, The Rock Shopping Centre and Kay Gardens.

The festival starts from midday, and all the shows are free.

The Bury event is part of a larger Manchester festival, which will include animated shop windows, daring aerial feats on walls and in the air and romance and dance on the platforms and escalators of Piccadilly Station.

Aspecto’s shop window in The Triangle will be brought to life by French company Etant Donne who will enthrall with their naughty antics, as dancers mercilessly send up the world of fashion and the hard sell in La Vitrine.

The Bicycle Ballet, a 30-minute dance performance, celebrating the dance that is cycling, will take place on Sunday, July 25, in Castlefield, Manchester. Bicycles will dance in a performance reminiscent of Busby Berkeley’s stunning synchronized film choreography, celebrating city cycling: the sheer joy of swerving downhill on a bike, the wind behind you and the sun on your face, tempered by the gritty reality of urban cycling.

For more information, visit urbanmoves festival.co.uk.

kdibbits@ burytimes.co.uk