(Founder and Artistic Director: Susie White)


Sunday 21 December 2014

Io Ho Ho! Saturnalia

Well this is it - our final event of the year and what better way to round off a fantastic performance year than a Roman Christmas - or Saturnalia celebration - with the amazing boys and girls from Deva Victrix in Deva (that’s Chester to you!).

This is one of the few events we do during the year where we don’t actually dance, but we just LOVE it - it certainly makes us feel as though Christmas is well on its way. Phoenece and Meroe went for the Roman look for this event and joined the soldiers and civilians of Deva to escort Caesar through the streets of the city.

Meroe and Phoenece with Caesar

Saturnalia was a very popular festival in Roman times in honour of the god Saturn and was marked by the switching of roles - so slaves traded places with their masters and it was OK to do all the things you wouldn’t normally do - but just for 7 days! As in good Roman tradition we had the Lord of Misrule who presided over this world of chaos! But this year he met his match in the form of the ladies of the Handbag of Harmonies who were also out and about in Chester! Well done ladies for holding your own – your rendition of Io Saturnalia was certainly a tad more tuneful that the Roman version!

Once the lord of Misrule had been set free and Caesar had tried - but failed - to regain control of his glorious legions, we marched back through the streets of Chester to a chorus of IO HO HO SATURNALIA! Not quite sure what Saturn made of all of this but we clearly didn’t disappoint the gods too much because they saw fit to ensure a very mild and dry evening - despite the weather forecast!

The evening was rounded off with offerings and thanks to Saturn and a superb meal at Convivio’s.

At Convivio's

Thank you to Deva Victrix for a wonderful evening and a fantastic end to our 2014 dance season.