AROUND TOWN list.co.uk/aroundtown
HITLIST THE BEST PARTIES, TALKS AND EVENTS
✽ Irn Bru Carnival It’s all here from the traditional whirl of the waltzers and crash of the dodgems to the brand new Voodoo Dancer and equally stomach-churning Matterhorn, Speed Buzz and Extreme. There are some gentler rides for wee ones such as the Teacups and the Carousel. Entry price is £13 with visitors receiving ten vouchers to be used on all rides and most stalls. Each ride is one voucher and stalls are two vouchers (some stalls take cash). SECC, Glasgow, Fri 19 Dec–Sun 11 Jan.
✽ Dance Dance
Party Party Edinburgh jumps on the worldwide bandwagon with its own version of the fun-focused women’s dance party, which has just three key house rules: no boys, no booze and no judgement. 511, Edinburgh, Mon 15 Dec.
✽ Chris Leslie and Mitch Miller: Red Road Revisited The pair have been
following Glasgow’s Red Road flats (famous for almost being blown up in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, before the council came to their senses) for almost three years, and now Leslie and Miller talk about their documentation of the area. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Wed 17 Dec.
✽ Loony Dook Dive into 2015 with a dip off South
Queensferry. Gather for the parade, led by the Beastie Drummers, and watch as the swimmers freeze their
proverbials off under the iconic Forth Rail Bridge. South Queensferry, Thu 1 Jan.
✽ Scot:Lands Celebrate New Year in Edinburgh’s Old Town with this series of
events from some of Scotland’s top artists and musicians. There’s plenty of music, art and theatre to go around; included on the bill are the likes of Neu! Reekie!, Roddy Hart and Comar. See feature, page 19. Various venues, Edinburgh, Thu 1 Jan.
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS Time to get physical with everything from parkour to pole dancing
N ew Year’s resolutions come and go, but it helps to keep things interesting if you’ve decided to try your hand at staying fit by doing something out of the ordinary. For those who caught Commonwealth Games fever in the summer and are waiting for January’s dawning to act upon it, a range of national classes in more traditional sports can be found at national agency Sport Scotland’s website (sportscotland.org.uk).
For stranger choices, you could try a bit of outdoor acrobatics by learning parkour (or free-running), the French street sport that involves using the built environment as an assault course. Described as ‘demanding, physical and technical’, there are classes in Edinburgh run by Access Parkour (accessparkour.com) and in Glasgow through Glasgow Parkour (glasgowparkourcoaching. and Glasgow Parkour Girls com) (glasgowparkourgirls.wordpress.com).
Or for something similarly body-crunching,
62 THE LIST 11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015
get involved with Roller Derby: there are mini-leagues in Edinburgh (Auld Reekie Roller Girls, arrg.co.uk) and in Glasgow (Glasgow Roller Derby, glasgowrollerderby. com, which has an intake for new skaters on Sun 11 Jan). A fast-growing area is pole-dancing classes for women, which might have once been seen as a little bit tacky, given the technique’s origins in strip bars. Now they’re firmly in the mainstream, though, and you can try it out in Edinburgh through Goeswell (goeswell. co.uk) and in Glasgow at Twirl ’n’ Tone (twirlntonepoledance.co.uk) or Ultimate Pole Fitness (ultimatepolefitnessglasgow. com). Also watch out for a new incoming fitness fashion in both cities, with the imminent opening of Ryze trampoline parks – a growing all-ages phenomenon in America (follow facebook.com/ryzeedinburgh and facebook.com/ryzeglasgow for opening announcements). (David Pollock)