A choreographer who danced for the Queen is championing an unlikely combination of Welsh clog dancing and Brazilian martial arts.

Angharad Harrop, 26, from Trelogan, in Flintshire, and her troupe will unveil the fusion of the two cultures in a stunning performance at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

She has already introduced the sultry and sensual movers in Rio de Janeiro to the delights of Welsh clog dancing.

Angharad, who danced for the Queen at the start of her Diamond Jubilee tour, has secured support from the Arts Council of Wales, De Montfort University – where she gained her Masters – and Senzala UK to collaborate on a project that looks at heritage and culture from Wales and Brazil.

“The project explores communication and how we can share our culture with others. How we identify where we belong through our culture and how can we use this to show others who we are and where we come from,” said Angharad, who is a lecturer in dance at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk.

Her collaborators from Brazil, experts in capoeira, a Brazilian martial art developed by African slaves in the 16^th Century, combining dance and music, will join her team on the S4C stage at 6pm as one of the Eisteddfod’s daily World Music @6 performances on July 12.

Angharad’s parents, Peter, an optician in Caernarfon and Jane, are still keen folk dancers. Born in Rhos-on-Sea, Angharad went to Eirias High and then De Montfort University in Leicestershire where her fascination in capoeira was kindled.

“I wrote my thesis about it and went to Brazil in 2009 where I met my collaborators. I was there about a month and a half,” she said. It was there she met Brazilian musician and teacher Ruan de Vargas, who is coming over for the Llangollen performance.

“At first he spoke no English and I spoke no Portuguese, it was very interesting,” said Angharad.

With backing from Wales Arts International she returned to Brazil in 2011 to work on Perguntas and Atebion (Brazilian for question and Welsh for answer) with Ruan, who also visited north Wales in 2012 and did some music classes at local schools.

“At first we were not looking at culture but at music and movement, but we realised that our cultural backgrounds came into it and there was no way we could avoid it.

“The connections may not seem obvious but at their roots there is a freedom of expression. Capoeira is about freedom and slaves finding a way to express themselves.

“Welsh folk dancing was something not encouraged by the English or the church because some of it was seen as associated with paganism.

“The music is different but they both use a lot of drum beat. Capoeira is really fluid and rhythmic in movement while Welsh folk dance is strict but the Welsh melodies really float.”

Dancing in clogs belongs to a country which is wet and where feet need to be kept dry – in Brazil there was no need for shoes.

Angharad inherited her mother’s dancing clogs – hand-made by legendary Welsh clog maker Trefor Owen of Criccieth, Britain’s last remaining bespoke clog-maker. She has several pairs and will be taking them to Brazil after her Llangollen performance.

She dances at Llangollen on  Friday and on the Monday she will be flying to Rio de Janeiro for a two week residency at a major centre for choreography where she will give workshops in Welsh folk dancing and clogging before a performance on July 27.

Also joining Angharad at Llangollen will be capoeiristas Pedro Reis and Will Thorburn, Welsh dancer and harpist Ceri Rimmer and Anglesey based musician Henry Horrell and a Brazilian exchange student At Edge Hill, Deborah Lago.

With record advance ticket sales, organisers say the stage is set for one of the most successful festivals ever.

Hundreds of competitors and thousands of visitors flock to the field every year to soak up the sights and sounds of the world as singers, musicians and dancers from New Zealand and Russia, China, India and South America mingle.

Impromptu performances break out, Zulu choirs sing, Indian musicians pluck sitars and accents from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas mingle.

The traditional opening parade sets the template for the six days of the Eisteddfod, from Tuesday July 9, to Sunday, July 14, with a fabulous spectacle of colour and sound as locals and visitors from the UK and across the world join together.

Competitors dance, sing and play musical instruments as the procession moves from the Eisteddfod field through the streets of Llangollen, and back again, led by the event Patron, Terry Waite MBE.

That sets the scene for the week with the Eisteddfod field alive and buzzing with international performances on the new and improved undercover Outside Stages.

Visitors can enjoy live music at the 200-seat S4C Stage, join in with a dance workshop on the Amphitheatre Wrexham Lager Stage or listen to live storytelling on the Lawn Stage.

And in the early evenings the S4C Stage will be transformed into an amazing window on world music for The World @ 6 programme of song and performance from Persia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa and more.

Throughout the week world-class competitors perform in a spectacular celebration of cultures with stunning choral music and lively traditional dance, especially on Folk Friday when the outdoor stages will feature world-class music and dance.

The Eisteddfod is a complete international experience and that goes for the food too. Home-cooked Welsh produce is on the menu but so are the cuisines of Europe, China, India and the rest of the world and there’s excellent local Llangollen ale.

There are gifts and clothes from South America, jewellery, wooden toys and Welsh-made products at more than 40 stalls, including exhibitions of festival supporters, Extreme Animals and Owl Rescue Display, charity groups and more including jugglers, escape artists and magic tricks.

Among the stars at the International Eisteddfod this year, are top American tenor Noah Stewar, Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, English soprano Claire Rutter, Kiwi bass Jonathan Lemalu and the choir Only Men Aloud who shot to fame on the hit TV show, Last Choir Standing.

To book tickets and for more details on this year’s event go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/llangollen and to check out Angharad’s work go to  www.angharadharrop.com.

A company that’s revolutionised the traditional Welsh Cake and attracted a host of celebrity fans has been signed up for the UK’s first major baking festival.

Organisers at Bakewell Baking Festival – billed as the “spiritual home of baking” and home of the famous Bakewell Pudding and Bakewell Tart – wanted the very best Welsh Cakes and invited Cwmni Cacen Gri from Betws y Coed to show off their skills.

They hit the headlines after it was revealed that pop stars Olly Murs and Pixie Lott were fans – not to mention Wales’s favourite weatherman, Derek Brockway.

Last year Ann Romney, wife of the unsuccessful Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, harked back to her Welsh roots and extolled their virtues to anyone who would listen on the campaign trail.

Partners and best friends Jennie Barrie and Jo Wordsworth will be giving demonstrations and talking about how they started their successful business at the two day Derbyshire festival on June 8-9.

Jennie said: “I think they Googled us and saw a clip of us on TV and we’ve just been swept along.

“The festival director is Welsh and he rang us and looked at what we have and must have thought we were a bit of a double act.

“The Beehive Baker Stacie Stewart who won Master Chef in 2010 and Edd Kimber, first ever winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2010 will also be there.”

Cwmni Cacen Gri has revolutionised the traditional griddled Welsh Cake tea time treat, by including varieties which include some exotic flavours such as raspberry and white chocolate, triple chocolate, chocolate and orange, chocolate and mint, cinnamon, orange and lemon, lime and coconut and Penderyn Welsh whisky and sultana.

“We’ve just provided the Welsh cakes and bara brith for the Snowdonia Half Marathon,” said Jennie.

She and Jo have also picked up entrepreneur of the year award at Conwy Rural Awards and were new business finalists in Network She awards.

Jennie added: “Conwy Rural Business Support has been wholly supportive and backed us all the way. They have been especially effective in getting publicity for our business.”

“The Bakewell Festival is something we are really looking forward to. They want to hear from us about our business and how it started and how we got to where we are,” said Jo.

“We’ll be doing a workshop to demonstrate how we make Welsh cakes.”

And Cwmni Cacen Gri were one of 35 regional finalists – out of the 1,000 UK bakeries -which tried to get a place on ITV’s popular daytime TV competition, Britain’s Best Bakery.

Jennie and Jo, who both have two children, had grandparents and parents who were in business in Betws y Coed and knew each other as pupils in Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy at Llanrwst. Jo trained as a nurse at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and for 13 years was practice nurse at Betws y Coed surgery, while Jennie worked in the Middle East for five years as a PA in a drilling company. She returned and worked for Citizens Advice Bureau, before she and Jo teamed up to start their new business.

Bakewell Baking Festival is the brainchild of the town’s Mayor Paul Morgan and his partner Janet Reeder.

Paul said: “I am from Wales, I lived just outside Builth Wells and I was determined to have Welsh cakes at the festival because I had grown up with Welsh Cakes as a kid.

“I looked Welsh cakes up on the internet and came across an article which suggested they were going out of fashion – which I’m sure is something Jo and Jennie would not agree with!

“I started looking around Cardiff and then worked my way up north and then came across Jennie and Jo and Cacen Gri and I remembered seeing something of the ITV programme Britain’s Best Bakery.

“We have been quite selective for our exhibitors for the two day show because we did not want everyone selling cupcakes.

“We will be attracting the BBC Good Food Guide, Olive magazine, food and travel publications, Cheshire and Derbyshire Life magazines, local TV and radio.

“This is our first ever festival and as far as I know I don’t think there is another baking festival in the UK

“Baking is something of a phenomenon at the moment and the second episode of the Great British Bake-Off was at Bakewell.

“Jennie and Jo are great fun and we do not want them to come and just make Welsh cakes but we would like them to talk about their story, which is fascinating.

Anna Openshaw, the Project Officer for Conwy Rural Business Support, is delighted by the success of the Cacen Gri company.

She said: “We’re thrilled that they will be flying the flag for Wales in general and Conwy in particular at the Bakewell Baking festival.

“Jennie and Jo are perfect role models of how to take a great idea and turn it into a fantastic business success.”

For more information about the support and advice that’s available to small businesses in rural Conwy go to www.econwyrural.co.uk or contact Anna Openshaw either by emailing to:conwyruralpartnership@conwy.gov.uk">conwyruralpartnership@conwy.gov.uk
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You can also ring 01492 577834/5. If you want more information about Cwmni Cacen Gri visit  www.cwmnicacengri.co.uk and for more
about the festival visit www.bakewellbakingfestival.co.uk