Shovel Dance Collective play their traditional music and improvisations at the Brudenell Social Club in Headingley.
Shovel Dance Collective play Brudenell Social Club on Wednesday 17 February, their Leeds date on a wider tour. They're a nine-piece ensemble, and they describe their work as a patchwork of traditional music sewn together and embroidered with their own group improvisations, explorations of field recordings and concrète-style tape manipulation. The traditional material is the starting point, but the improvisations and the tape work are what they build on top of it.
Their arrangements lean into the inviting, hopeful and human qualities of folk, and they talk about the joy and sadness held in those collaboratively shaped words and melodies, balancing dense orchestration with intense fragility. There's a political edge to it too: they're interested in how traditional music carries the voices of those who have gone before, the oppressed and those whose labour creates the world's wealth. It's traditional music as a living thing, rather than a museum piece.
The Leeds show is part of a tour that takes them across the UK, with stops at Rough Trade East in London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and several other cities, before they head to Lille and Paris. So this is one of their few dates in the north, and it's a standing show.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Leeds and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Doors are at 19:30, and tickets are £17.50 in advance.
