Blaenafon Ironworks
Published

Blaenafon joins European Route Of Industrial Heritage Dance Event "WORK it OUT" – Time to vote!

ERIH, the European Route Of Industrial Heritage, is the tourism information network of industrial heritage in Europe and covers more than 2,300 sites of interest. Blaenafon Ironworks is one, alongside Big Pit, and others in the World Heritage site. ERIH Dance Event "WORK it OUT" premiered in 2018 as ERIH's main contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage. It has since become an annual event.

This year Blaenafon took part for the first time thanks to a partnership piece between Cadw, Big Pit, Twinkling Toes and the Community Youth Project – Newport  / Romani Cultural & Arts dancers. “Work it Out” is aimed primarily at young people who can consciously experience industrial culture and its sites and discover their significance for their own past, their relevance for the present and their potential for the future; so it was great to welcome and have the young dancers performing the dance and enjoying visiting and exploring both sites as part of this. 

The music is newly composed each year, as is the specially developed choreography, which translates the hand movements and gestures of work from the past into modern movements. The dance activity is captured on video and submitted to ERIH as part of the event. Blaenafon now forms part of this years collection of performances across Europe. 

From September 23, 2024, you will be able to support the dance performance you love by voting for it! Cast your vote by liking your favourite video on ERIH's social media accounts. We hope you tap your fingers (as well as your toes) and vote for ‘our’ Blaenafon video, to help get the site recognised on the trail, and support the young people who gave their time to learn and perform for us. 

If we can get Blaenafon into the top three votes, it will be incorporated into a compilation showreel for the event as a whole, giving wider recognition still. Winners will be announced at the end of the month. So let’s go!

For more information on ERIH heritage trails and “Work it Out” see ERIH video  Blaenafon already features towards the end of this video at 21.30 in.