The hottest Cuban dancers will take the audience on a musical journey through pulsating beats and Cuban rhythms bringing the Havana spirit to London. Starting on the 30th of May the event is part of the Uderbelly Festival in town until the 8th of July. Featuring mambo, salsa, rakatan and cha cha cha, the show written by the director Tony Gough promises to transform the Southbank Centre into proper Cuban atmosphere full of sensuality and vibrating dancers.

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30th May – 8th July

Havana Rumba

Southbank Centre

Udderbelly Festival

Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX

Tickets: £25 £20 £15 £10

The audience will also have the chance to review the huge 2010 programme hit, nominated for both an Olivier Award and a TMA Award, George Céspedes’ Mambo 3XXI, as well as Carmen?! from choreographer Kenneth Kvarnstrom. With more than 280 premières since its formation in 1959 Dance Contemporánea de Cuba is a must-see dance show full of intensity, sensuality and exquisite dancers.

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29th May – 1st June – 7.30pm

Danza Contemporánea de Cuba

Sadler’s Wells

Rosebery Avenue,

London

EC 1R

Tickets: £12, £16, £22, £25, £32

In the historic Olympic year the festival returns with extraordinary surprises that will take over the streets of Greenwich and East London. One of the highlights of the event is the incredible and epic re-interpretation of the Greek myth with Prometheus Awakes.

The project was developed by the talented and worldwide renowned Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus along with Graese, the inventive disabled-led theatre group. The amazing structure will light up the skies and wonder the eyes of the audience with such a spectacular visual show.

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22nd June – 10pm
Prometheus Awakes
Greenwich + Docklands International Festival

National Maritime Museum
Royal Museums Greenwich

London

SE10 9EF
Free entrance

On the other side of the river,  at the World famous Globe Theatre, Grupo Galpão will bring its carnivalesque Romeo and Juliet – as part of the event Globe to Globe – on May 19th and 20th, with its thrilling mix of circus, music, dance and Brazilian folk culture.

The play Two Roses from Richard III reunites two of Brazil’s leading directors: Claudio Baltar from the circus companies Intrepida and Archaos, and Fabio Ferreira, known for his text-based theatre and multimedia work. A guaranteed array of astonishing costumes will be on display thanks to the knowledge and experience of the costume designer – the renowned carnival winner Rosa Magalhães, who collects five titles of Rio’s carnival.

Almost at the same time, Grupo Galpão will take over Globe’s stage for the second time and promises to repeat the same success it enjoyed the last time around, featuring circus language and live music – played by the actors, translating world classics into Brazilian popular culture, in a wonderful mix between the popular and the erudite.

The World Shakespeare Festival is a celebration of Shakespeare’s world’s playwright, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, in an unprecedented collaboration with leading UK and international arts organizations. Almost 60 partners are coming together to bring the Festival alive. The festival has been running since  April 21st and is part of the London 2012 Festival which is the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

By Bruna Gala

After the tremendous success of her chart-topping Chamber Music Society she is now coming to London for an exclusive concert to present her new album. A rising star in the jazz music scene this time Spalding brings nu-soul, pop and r’n’b to her new set of original songs .

A natural live performer, the multi-talented Afro-haired singer and composer promises to play another mesmerizing concert at the intimate KOKO’s atmosphere making it one of the hottest must-see gigs of the year.

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28th May -7pm

KOKO

1A Camden High Street

London

NW1 7JE

http://www.koko.uk.com

Over fifty art galleries from the Americas, Europe and London will be showcasing an exciting range of works by established and emerging Latin American artists. This is an opportunity to experience the sophisticated, international and most distinguished visual art from Latin America through museum-quality works representative of abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual art.

For 2012, three sections will be presented at PINTA London: Galleries, Solo Exhibitions and Art Projects – the latter of which is set to be curated by London-based Mexican, Pablo Leon de la Barra. Once more, the fair will include the participation of over fifty international art galleries, amongst these São Paulo’s Luciana Brito, Baró and Casa Triângulo, and Rio’s Anita Schwartz.

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7th – 10th June
PINTA London 2012
Earls Court Exhibition Centre
Warwick Road, Earls Court
London
SW5 9TA
http://www.pintaart.com/

General Admission £15
Student £8
Groups (8+) reduced price £12

After scaring New Yorkers and Londoners with statues that looked like just about to jump from the skies and commit suicide, the acclaimed London artist is managing to have the same repercusion in São Paulo, where a new exhibition of his work has just opened.

“People passing by the exhibition were quite scared with what they saw”, explained to the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo Luis Fernando Spaziani, the programme director of Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), the cultural centre funded by a major bank in Brazil and responsible for the event. “When the police came and finally noticed that it was just statues, the problem was solved”.

Famous for his sculptures based on moulds made from his own body, Gormley brings Event Horizon (Horizonte de Eventos) to São Paulo, a major exhibition of his work at CCBB, on view from 12 May – 15 July 2012.

‘Still Being’ is the first major presentation of the artist’s work in South America. It will be held in three venues in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, and will introduce the main themes that have concerned the artist over the last 40 years: the body as space and space as object.

Are you a foreigner finding it difficult to pick up English? Then you should try Geordie! The Newcastle dialect is a challenge to many Brits, let alone those coming from abroad already entangled in learning a different language and culture. It is a daunting task for travellers and newcomers looking to embrace (or simply grasp!) the city’s noble heritage and customs, such as football (Hoo’s the Toon gannin?) and wet afternoons (Cowld the day, mar!).

Differences between English dialects are much more profound than those between the Portuguese spoken in the various parts of Brazil. Geordie is considered one of the oldest English dialects in the world, and it is deeply rooted in a history stretching back to medieval times. At times it is hardly intelligible for Brits from the South.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Two years ago, a survey of 5,000 people for Travelodge revealed that Geordie is “the sexiest accent in Britain”, closely followed by Edinburgh. I wonder if it was Cheryl Cole’s warbling and Sting’s whining that helped Geordies to secure a place in people’s hearts and pants.

In November 2011 Brazilian entrepreneur Guilherme Afonso moved to Newcastle and was suddenly faced with the strange wonders of Geordie speech. And so he created the iPhone application Alreet Geordie School, a spoken dictionary to help those Brits and foreigners visiting or moving to Newcastle.

The initiative took several months to complete, and was supported by more than 40 local organisations, ranging from museums to night clubs. The project team also included Jorgen McLeman, Steven Hunt, Kerry Harrison and Peter Robson – the last two are authentic Geordies.

The project is UK-only, but there is potential for similar applications in Brazil. A baianês dictionary (Bahia dialect) and the Aurélia (gay dictionary) were once published in Brazil, but these jest-filled books served humorous purposes rather than more functional one. Also, they were simple lexicons with little or no regard to phonology and general characteristics of the cultures represented. Alreet Geordie School is much more than this.

Language is a quickly and vigorously changing field. It’s good that technology is keeping pace with this phenomenon and helping to bring different cultures together.  It is also helping to document unique language traits, shifts and trends –  very useful for linguists and historians. More importantly, it could help you to engage with a Geordie babe and thoroughly enjoy the nuances of their sexy tongue! Ye knaa what ah mean leik?

By Victor Fraga

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Find out more at their Facebook page  www.facebook.com/geordieschool

Or by the app at the Apple Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geordie-school/id515823120?mt=8

Owner of a beautiful and mystic voice, Teresa Salgueiro is one of Portugal’s most acclaimed and respected singers. With an extraordinary career broaden over the last 25 years, she returns to the Union Chapel in London with her new album O Misterio and her amazing gift to wow the audience.Teresa Salgueiro reached international recognition as the stunning voice of Madredeus, the group she founded in 1986 with guitarist and producer Pedro Ayres Magalhaes, helping to establish it as the most renowned Portuguese band of all time.  After 11 recorded albums she left the group in 2007 to pursue a solo career and has released five solo albums.

O Misterio (The Mystery) was recorded last year at the Covent of Arrabida, an iconic location in Portugal, a scenery surrounded by magnificent mountains and the ocean that radiates tranquility and magic. Teresa Salgueiro composed the songs and wrote the lyrics of all 17 songs – a first time experience for the singer – that reflect on the mystery of life and the dimension of the human condition.

Out in the UK on May 21, the new album O Misterio is an ode to life, a mighty musical production planned to be performed live and to create a mystic atmosphere full of emotion and delight. The singer brought talented musicians and a variety of instruments: the usual accordion (Carisa Marcelino), guitar (Andre Filipe Santos), double bass (Oscar Torres) drums and percussion (Rui Lobato). Long time collaborator Antonio Pinheiro da Silva co-produced her new album.

Known for her powerful unique voice and remarkable performances Teresa Salgueiro will recreate the album energy at the Union Chapel show, on an amazing evening of pure superb and exceptional music.

By Silvia Almeida
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Saturday 26th May, 8pm
Teresa Salgueiro
Compton Avenue
N1 2XD

020 7226 3750 ‎
www.unionchapel.org.uk