GIVEN Parklife is just two days away, Quays News entertainment reporter Nathan Smith, caught up with one half of DJ collective Dance Lady Dance, Lou Pemberton, as the pair find their way to the main stage a woman down…
Almost a year on since Quays News spoke with other half Dore Young, to say a lot has changed is a pretty big understatement for Dance Lady Dance. From playing the Big Top stage at Parklike last year, they’ve continued to perform abroad and even DJ’d at fashion launches for major brands Topshop and Solace.
As things continued to look promising for the dance trio, Lou revealed the unfortunate news that Jayne Robinson has left the group due to the fact she is shortly due to marry in Amsterdam.
“It’s a shame,” said Lou. “We’ve been friends for years but it’s just the two of us at Parklife this year, we’ll be bridesmaids at her wedding though and she’s always welcome back.”
Entering the Big Top stage last year was a career high for Dance Lady Dance.
Since then a continuation of success has followed in its wake. Highlighting lessons learned and hinting at what this weekend holds, Lou admitted the passing of music icons David Bowie and Prince affected the pair immensely and are due to make an appearance.
“These are Dance Lady Dance idols so we’re going into Parklife with some edits of both of them ready to go as a way of remembering them, but keeping it fresh.
“You can’t go wrong with Bowie and Prince.
As we’ve gone along we’ve changed and developed our style. We’re mindful of the acts around us and rather than changing what we’re doing we’re adapting it to suite our style.
“That worked well last year and we’ll be doing that with the main stage this year. It’s a challenge and I really enjoy that, if it wasn’t it would be boring.”
Being a female in the DJ dance scene has made Dance Lady Dance something of a beacon of feminism as they stride towards success, in what Lou describes as a time for women to truly take the reigns.
“There are a lot of female DJ acts out there but there still is a divide,” she told us.
“People are often taken aback by the reality of a female DJ. It’s just an incentive to keep going to make people realise there is so much room for women to be doing the same as men. It’s such an exciting time to be a woman in the music industry.”
Being the down to earth girls from Manchester that they are, the dance duo have even tried their hand in fashion recently as an invite to DJ for Solace at Manchester’s Selfridges was instantly accepted.
“We’ve fallen into a lot of fashion events this year somehow which we’ve really enjoyed. One of the weirdest requests at a gig we’ve ever had was for a skirt in a size 10!”
Just had a lovely catch up with @QuaysNews ahead of our sets @Parklifefest this weekend #danceladydance #parklife2016 #hurryupweekend
— Lou Pemberton (@LouLouPembers) June 8, 2016
So with a successful year under their belts, Dance Lady Dance show no signs of slowing down as Dore and Lou head towards the main stage for Parklife 2016.
Last year, Dore said no dance routines would feature, when asked if there is any this year, Lou cheekily replied “perhaps you’d like to wear sparkly leotards and come up with a dance routine for us?”
Parklike can often throw some surprises, but unfortunately, myself in a sparkly leotard busting some moves will not be one of them…
By Nathan Smith
@NayfSmith
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow when you can catch our editor Nathan Salt’s chat with DJ duo and Annie Mac favourite Tough Love…
Day One – Blossoms
Day Two – Love Ssega
Day Three – Grace
Day Four – Izzy Bizu
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