It’s happening on the 27th & 28th June and it’s called Gloria!
It’s one of the hardest times ever to be working in the performing and creative arts, but that also means it’s one of the most important times ever for us to come together, have a great party and support the performers hardest hit by the closures of studios, bars, clubs and theatres.
With this in mind, London Dance Academy are coming together with Toad Motion and Fabulous Beyond Productions to support their expansive LGBTQ+ community by hosting an online Pride festival, in honour of our diverse community of artists. The private ticketed event will take place over daytime and evening on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June. One ticket gets you access to an entire weekend of activities and performances. The classes and performances will be hosted at London Dance Academy in Islington & ON bar, Canal Street Manchester and Produced by Toad Motion – whose credits include Red Bull, BBC and Samsung.
On Saturday and Sunday daytime, London Dance Academy will get your pulses racing with some of their signature, interactive classes and workshops such as Twerk teasers, Splits and Music Video Dance. If you prefer a more holistic start to your day perhaps you’d like to try their unique approach to Yoga. With a long standing reputation as one of the hottest fitness joints in Shoreditch, since lockdown their students recently rated their online classes 5 out of 5.
Fun fitness queen Dolly Trolley will also be hosting her famous drag aerobics class! Dolly Trolley is a Yorkshire-born firecracker based in London, known for high energy drag-lesque, fierce dance moves and ludicrous comedy parodies. Often found doing lunges in a leopard print leotard, she’s a versatile queen who is full of surprises, and most commonly reviewed: “I’m exhausted just from watching”. Get your spandex on, push your sofas to the side, tune in, and workout while you isolate in the most ridiculous fitness class on the internet.
Later in the afternoon, the Bougie Drag Brunch Queens – Tayce, Honey The Foxx, Bimini, Baby, Sminty Drop & Brandy X plus special guests (TBA) – will provide the kind of cabaret that had them named the No1 Drag Brunch in the UK, as well as hosting and linking together the evening’s performances.
London Dance Academy teacher and World Parapole Champion (and UK able-bodied pole gold medallist) Andrew Gregory, aka @tattoo_pole_boy, will perform a jaw-dropping pole dance piece that will make you rethink the limits of the human body. You might recognise Andrew from his recent features in Attitude and Time Out London.
Much-loved RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Divina de Campo and Cheryl Hole will each provide their trademark one-woman performances filled with the kind of antics, entertainment and impressions that helped them both garner loyal fandoms. Plus Donna Marie, the world’s no.1 multi award winning Lady Gaga tribute, impersonator & lookalike, also TV judge and 1 of the 100 on BBC’s All Together Now, will be performing with her spitting image looks and attitude!
Established Drag King club promoters the ‘Kings of Clubs’ will also form part of our cabaret with performances from King Frankie Sinatra and the incredible magician Richard Melanin 111.
‘The Cocoa Butter Club’ cabaret collective completes our lineup featuring the amazing Sadie Sinner The Songbird & Vanity Milan. The Cocoa Butter Club is a collective that aims to showcase and celebrate Performers of Colour within cabaret with regular events at the likes of Soho House and The Vault Festival, even being featured in a BBC documentary recently.
As the sun sets on Saturday we will also have DJs streaming live to take your house party up a level! We are delighted to have globetrotting La Demence & Little Gay Brother resident DJ Paul Heron, Heaven’s Popcorn & Ministry of Sound’s he.she.they regular Alexis Knox, House Nation podcast host & Fire’s Beyond resident Lee Harris, as well as the multitalented drag performers, Channel 4’s Drag SOS star DJ Tete Bang, Circa resident Sam Londt, Reka and many more, including Manchester favourites Smiley Vyrus & ON Bar / The Brewers resident Josh Smith. We also have the ladies from Mint – one of the most sought-after events in London for lesbian and bisexual women as well as the wider LGBTQ+ community.
To round off the weekend on Sunday evening, we are also proud to announce that Charlie Hides (from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9) will be hosting his hilarious isolation bingo. There will also be chances to phone and text in to interact and win high-ticket prizes, with Fitbit already confirmed as one of our prize partners.
Tickets are now available to purchase from https://tinyurl.com/gloriadigitalpride. They cost just £9.75 for 1 day or £12.75 for a whole weekend pass, with a surplus charge of £5 required to participate in the lockdown bingo (available from Fever).
Ticket proceeds from the event will go towards supporting our fabulous performers in this difficult time for artists worldwide.
