DANCE CLASSES: Hip Hop and Funky Dance with Mark Cameron

The super-talented MARK CAMERON brings his dance classes to the Borders . Hoorah! Combining stretching, technique, routine and cardio this will be the best fun you will have on a Monday night. Or any night. Based around Hip Hop and Funky Street Dance, there are classes for all ages! 

This is a drop-in class but it would be advisable to book to guarantee a space. Loyalty cards are available for all 3 classes.

Water will be provided.

Start the week off with some dancing, learn new skills and make new friends!

Classes: From 30/4  (not during Holidays)
Times: 6pm-7pm (6-11 years)
               7pm-8pm (12-16 years)
               8pm to 9pm (16+)
Price: All classes £5
Booking: dancemark@hotmail.com
              

FILM: L7: Pretend We're Dead 

Fierce pioneers of American grunge punk, this film is an engrossing time capsule told from the perspective of L7, these true insiders who brought their signature blend of grunge punk to the masses.
 
Culled from over 100 hours of vintage home movies taken by the band, never-before-seen performance footage, and candid interviews, it takes viewers on an all access journey into the 1990’s grunge movement that took the world by storm.
 
MacArts are thrilled to be hosting this screening as part of the nationwide Doc ‘N Roll Film Festival ahead of the band playing in Glasgow on Sunday 10/6!

Friday 8th June
Tickets: £7
Time: 7:30pm
Doors: 7pm 
Box Office: 01896 756852
                      www.macarts.scot

www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/498554 

 www.docnrollfestival.com
 
Licensed Bar
Over 18s only

Music: Sophie Bancroft- The Songs Trio with Louis Durra

Saturday 23rd June 
Starts: 7:30pm (Doors 7pm)
Tickets: £10/ £8
Box Office: 01896 756 852
                      www.macarts.scot


www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/505036

MUSIC: Acoustic Gallagher 

Acoustic Gallagher will be playing at MacArts as part of a Scottish Tour.

Celebrating the songwriting talents of Noel Gallagher and playing well-known classics and B-sides from Oasis and High Flying Birds including 'Wonderwall' , 'Champagne Supernova' , 'The Masterplan', 'What a Life', 'If I Had a Gun', and of course, 'Don't Look Back in Anger'.

Played in a laid back and ambient style in this fantastic venue with a licensed bar open throughout the gig.

Band line-up
Craig Murray (vocals)
Mark Sheridan (guitar)
Stevie Turnbull (acoustic)
Stuart Wilson (percussion)
Terry Colwell (harmonica)

Friday 13th July 
Starts: 8pm (doors 7:30pm)
Tickets: £10
Box Office: 01896 756852
                       www.macarts.scot
                       www.acoustic-gallagher.band

                     www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/483994

Family Event: Feis Rois Ceilidh Trail

This year, MacArts are delighted to present an evening of great music from some of Scotland’s most talented young musicians combined with a fun, relaxed family ceilidh and food at the interval to keep the energy levels up – a great way to spend an evening in the School Holidays!

​Fèis Rois established its successful Ceilidh Trail programme in Ross-Shire in 2000. Following the success of the Ross-Shire Ceilidh Trail, Fèis Rois started a National Ceilidh Trail for Scotland in 2012. This project has since gone from strength to strength and provides opportunities for young musicians from across Scotland to perform in locations across the country and further afield.
Many previous participants of the Fèis Rois Ceilidh Trail have gone onto carve out very successful careers in the Scottish music industry. These include Fraya Thomsen, Mairearad Green, Matheu Watson, Mischa MacPherson, and Rachel Newton to name but a few.

Wednesday 18th July
Time: 4:30pm to 8pm (Doors 4pm)
Tickets: £10 adults/ £8 concessions/ £25 family of 4
Licensed Bar
Stovies and Macaroni served in interval 
All welcome! 

Box Office: 01896 756 852
                     www.macarts.scot

www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/495504
 

Music: Claude Bourbon - Spanish and Medieval Blues

 Ready for a unique and talented take on a wide range of musical traditions? Claude Bourbon is known throughout Europe and America for amazing guitar performances that take Blues, Spanish, and Middle Eastern stylings into uncharted territories.
 
Claude’s inimitable style incorporates all five digits on each hand dancing independently but in unison, plucking, picking and strumming at such speed and precision that his fingers often seem to melt into a blur. Thousands of people in the UK, Europe and USA have enjoyed listening to this virtuoso and for the majority of his audience it is an experience that compels them to return again and again to hear and watch him play, as his fingers lightly dance over the strings of his guitar and create a unique sound that is ’Claude’.
 
It is very hard to describe the almost endless amalgam of different influences in Claude's playing, all melting into each other, as he moves from classical openings, across a whole continent of cultural roots, from the Balearic’s to the Balkans, and then across to the Mississippi Delta, and shoehorned into all that is music that would not have been out of place in the courts of Emperors and Kings. 
 
Claude Bourbon weaved his songs through the audience as if on a journey through life taking in different flavours of Europe and beyond. His Spanish medieval blues evolved into Gypsy, Eastern European, with a splash of Paco de Lucia, Delta Blues and more. Holding audience attention under a musical spell.
It's not easy to begin to describe the breadth or mastery of the music you will hear if you are fortunate to catch one of Claude’s gigs, it is a sort of sensory experience like no other. A top master of his craft and never appearing to be rushed, he has impeccable timing and makes things that one can only marvel at seem simple.
 
Now based in the UK, some of this guitarists’ influences allow us a fascinating insight into this remarkable musician; Paco De Lucia: Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore; Joaquin Rodrigo; JJ Cale; JS Bach….
 
Claude has played countless venues, including Glastonbury Festival, Isle of Wight Festival, Colne Great British & Blues Festival, Rock O'Z Aren ,  Avenches, Switzerland, among others. He has shared the stage in Europe and the USA with countless musicians, Calvin Russel, Charlie Morgan (Elton John, Gary Moore), Jan Akkerman (Focus), Steve Grossman (Miles Davis), Herbie Armstrong ( Van Morisson), Jose barrense Dias and many more.
 
Experience an evening of exploration in the unique ambiance of the Thumb!
 
“ Claude Bourbon is a unique figure today… his playing is almost indescribable“ - The Hook, Charlottesville, USA
 
"Never heard anyone get that much beautiful sound out of a J-45", Bob, Tucson, AZ
 
“A breathtaking acoustic fusion of blues, jazz, folk, classical and Spanish guitar from a stunning guitar virtuoso…”Altadena News, USA”
 
“…This accomplished artist offers tender, compelling performance through highly developed precision. His sound instantly creates ambience – from haunting Spanish moods to lyrical, romantic jazz, Claude Bourbon provides both a rich evening of music for lovers, and a real treat for music lovers…”
BBC, UK
 
"...His fingerpicking is exquisite and if I closed my eyes I could clearly hear two guitars playing. Just when I recogngnised a theme he moved on with a mesmerising cascade of notes which kept on flowing. He added a driving bass, for a version of “She knows how to stretch it”. By the time he sang the first verse he had ‘stretched it’ from Spain to the Caucuses, and from the concert hall to the bar room. His forte is obviously his wonderful guitar work, but he does occasionally burst into song and what you then get is something between Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens, combined with a French accent! C’est magnifique.” Dave Baily
 
Sunday 26th August
Time: 7:30pm
Doors: 7pm
Tickets: £12/£10
Box Office: www.macarts.com
                      01896 756 852
​www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/492080

​Over 14s gig 
Licensed Bar                 

Club Night: Kitten Casino

Kitten Casino was established in 2011 by Trisha & Bruce Wagener and since then they have been having regular events throughout Scotland with visitors coming from as far afield as Spain!  
 
Kitten Casino is an exciting and amaaaazing club night full of fantastic people who love to dance to original sixties vinyl with a mixture of classic mod, soul, northern soul, r&b, boogaloo and original ska.  With the colourful set up at Kitten Casino you will not be disappointed. 
 
Resident DJs and guest DJs from all over the UK and beyond will keep you on your feet or you can take it easy in the chill out area that overlooks the dance floor.  You will get to hear various tunes to keep you entertained and meet a real friendly bunch of people in this incredible venue!
 
We don't have a strict dress policy but we do dress to impress.  All we ask is that you come along and enjoy yourselves. 
 
We look forward to welcoming you if this is your bag, cats! 

Saturday 15th September
Time: 7pm to 12am 
Tickets: £6 (available on door so get along early)
DRESS TO IMPRESS!
Over 18s only
Licensed Bar

Music Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert Support from Siobhan Wilson

Hear Lies the Body
​“The album title has a dual meaning – sex and death.” These are common themes from Aidan Moffat; since his early days with Arab Strap, he has explored these subjects with a grace and grit that plunges deep into the human soul. But this is no re-hash of the past, rather a further leap forward for Moffat, now teaming up with fellow Scot, singer and guitarist extraordinaire, RM Hubbert, for this new project.

“It can be read as romantic surrender, but of course it’s also a phrase you’ll find on a tombstone,” Moffat elaborates. Equally multidimensional is the music contained within, weaving beautiful, spidery guitar work, haunting piano lines, lush strings, delicate percussion, fizzing 808 beats, synth pop, samba, and moments of jazz, while Moffat’s rich voice carries the narrative in rich grumbles, hushed whispers, and revealing spoken word.

The album begins with first single Cockcrow and a chance encounter of two old flames as they enjoy hen and stag parties in Blackpool – the album follows their story as it moves forwards (and backwards) with wit and wisdom, exploring themes of love, family, fortune telling, deceit, death, Schrodinger’s cat, the multiverse … and marshmallows. The narrative was influenced, Moffat says, by “an article I read about mothers who abandon their families, and how that still remains a pretty taboo subject in our times. When marriages break down, it’s almost always the man who leaves.” 

The video for Cockcrow was directed by Paul Fegan, who made 2016's 'Where You’re Meant to Be' Scottish folk doc with Moffat and is based solely around a performance by Dundee ballet dancer Jack Webb. "It was inspired by a dance piece I saw performed last year by Scottish Ballet. Aidan, Hubby and Siobhan's song felt both tender and cold, vulnerable and hopeful. Jack Webb, Julian Schwanitz (Cinematographer) and I decided on a simple one-shot idea based on these conflicting emotions. Something dream-like. And we wanted to include a bed given it's a prominent element in the singles cover art. Bridging a traditional music video and a performance piece, it's lit in a way that makes the dancer appear like a living painting, specifically an old master, obscured by time - but fierce." Says Fegan.

Siobhan Wilson, whose vocals you can also hear on Cockcrow, along with former Arab Strap drummer David Jeans, will be joining Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert

Website http://www.hereliesthebody.com/

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGk8Lp1gPLY


Friday 19 th October 
Time: 8pm
Doors: 7:30pm
Tickets: £12.50 (+ bf)
Box Office:  ​01896 756 852
www.ticketsource.co.uk/macarts

Licensed Bar 
This is an over 14s gig- 14 to 17 years must be accompanied by an over 18

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Music: Turin Brakes + support

After an impressive 19 years together, seven studio albums and over a million records sold worldwide, they might be excused a bit of downtime. But no…….the estimable London 4-piece Turin Brakes released their eighth studio album ‘Invisible Storm’ in January 2018 on Cooking Vinyl.
 
The band - founder members Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, along with long-time bandmates Rob Allum and Eddie Myer - returned to their favourite bolthole Rockfield Studios in the Monmouth Valley where with producer Ali Staton they could absorb the vibes left hanging in the air by a long line of musical mavericks, sit down at the piano where Freddie recorded ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and let the music take shape, revealing the next stage in the journey.
 
Invisible Storm is big-picture music played on a small screen, refracted through lyrics that embrace the personal and the universal. Formed in Balham South London, Turin Brakes released their Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album The Optimist in 2001 followed by Ether Song in 2003 which featured the top 5 hit single Pain Killer (Summer Rain). One of the finest indie bands of the last decade with 7 top 40 hits to their name Turin Brakes are a band that’s weathered many Invisible Storms, are sure of who they are and what they’ve set out to do, and know that there’s always a story left to tell…
 
www.turinbrakes.com



Saturday 27th October 
Time: 8pm
Doors: 7:30pm
Tickets: £20 (+ bf)
Box Office: beyondpresents.co.uk
​                      01896 756 852

Licensed Bar 
This is an over 14s gig- 14 to 17 years must be accompanied by an over 18

 MUSIC: The Wedding Present- Tommy 30th Anniversary Tour + support from Melys

The Wedding Present are touring to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of their first singles collection, Tommy. Fans can expect to hear tracks from the compilation, as well as favourites from across the band’s career.
 
The Wedding Present have had eighteen UK Top 40 hit singles… not bad for a band that has, from its inception, stubbornly refused to play the record industry’s game. It all started in 1985 when David Lewis Gedge boarded a National Express coach in London with 500 records packed into a pair of his mother’s suitcases and, in this fashion, delivered the band’s debut single GO OUT AND GET ‘EM BOY! to a distribution company in Yorkshire. That pioneering spirit has been at the core of the band’s philosophy ever since. From GEORGE BEST, “an unmitigated delight” [NME], the first full-length release on their own Reception Records onwards, the band has charted an appealing, if often eccentric, course of its very and in 2017, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of this debut album,The Wedding Present released GEORGE BEST 30. This album featured brand new versions of the original twelve songs recorded by Steve Albini and mixed by Andrew Scheps.
 
Tuesday 11th December
Time: 8pm
Doors: 7:30pm
Tickets: *£20 (*booking fee applies)
Box Office: 01896 756 852
                     www.macarts.scot 
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/499768

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