London Fairtrade Capital: The world's largest Fairtrade city.

As promised videos of our dancing sessions on Saturday 27th February are now up on our YouTube channel. You’ll see that our Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance took as across genres and continents over the course of the afternoon.

First up was the London Swing Dance Society. Founded by Simon Selmon in 1986, it’s the UK’s longest running Swing Dance Society. The Society supports and promotes swing dance events, classes, performances and is responsible for teaching thousands of people to dance. We’re not sure if our group count amongst that number. It was a great start to the day, and I can still hear the phrase “shorty, shorty, shorty, shorty, shorty George” echoing in my ears.

A more elegant session followed, with the Kensington Dance Studio demonstrating just why their co-director, Kele Baker, is a consultant on the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing” (She and her co-director Ralf Schiller do all the Argentine Tango choreography for the show.)

Next up was Threebee. The Bollywood and Bhangra Beats company was started by Shweta Aggarwal in 2003 and the group now runs classes throughout London. They wowed the crowds in Spitalfields Market with their Bollywood dance, encouraging a few familiar Fairtrade London faces onto the dance floor afterwards. (Step forward, Jess from Fairtrade Lambeth and Rebecca from Fairtrade Islington).

We jumped across the ocean again to join Brazilian dance company, Ritmo. Founded in 2009, the group is made up of renowned Brazilian dancers and choreographers, and their main objective is to promote Brazilian culture in Europe. Two of them took to the floor to perform a Samba de Gafieira. After that they were joined on the floor by campaigners and shoppers for a samba session that looked set to turn into a mini Mardis Gras.

Staying in Latin America, Teen Salsa Dance Group showed us what the Colombians make of Salsa. A non-profit community organization based in South London, the group is for people between 13 and 19 years old, performing regularly in Latin American community events and charities. The group’s energetic performance once again proved inspirational, with a popular workshop followed by a few dancers staying on the floor for a freestyle session.

Finally it was back to Brazil with Grupo Abolicao Synergy London and a Capoeira session. Capoeira combines martial arts, dance, music and acrobatics. Grupo Abolicao is another not-for-profit community group, who welcome everyone from beginners to experienced capoeiristas. Talking of the latter, you might just recognize the performer in the stripy board shorts. Yes, it’s our very own guest blogger, Alex Georgiou from Cafedirect.

People trying out their samba moves

Spitalfields Market on Saturday 27 February was filled with the sounds of swing, elegant waltzes, Latino rhythms, and Bhangra beats. These sounds were part of the Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance – the flagship event in London for Fairtrade Fortnight, which brought together dancing, free tea and other treats, and lots of energy in support of Fairtrade. Participants were treated to enthusiastic dance demonstrations by the London Swing Dance Society, Kensington Dance Studios, Threebee Bollywood and Bhangra Beats, Ritmo and Salsa Teen Dance Group . Each group complemented their displays with free workshops, and attendees eagerly tried out the various moves and rhythms. The event was hosted by James Redmond of Hollyoaks fame, who helped to raise a public cheer in favour of Fairtrade.

The Tea Dance was part of Fairtrade Fortnight, the main annual period for the promotion and celebration of Fairtrade. The Tea Dances were planned as part of 2010’s Big Swap theme and focus on tea, encouraging Britons to swap their regular cuppa for a Fairtrade cuppa.  Five other cities around the UK held their own tea dances as part of national efforts to encourage people to swap their cuppa in 2010! Cafédirect provided free cups of Fairtrade tea to warm the guests and demonstrate the high quality of teas on offer, and many other Fairtrade products were on sampled and sold in the bustling Fairtrade market stalls.  “Tea ladies” decked out in aprons and scarves handed out samples and information to the public, encouraging the public to learn more about Fairtrade and take part in the Big Swap, as well as to get more involved in the Fairtrade London campaign. The event also included  commentary from a tea producer, Mr Hendrickson, from the Chamraj tea estate in India, who shared his perspectives about how Fairtrade is benefiting tea farmers.

The event was a great success, with approximately one thousand people taking part in the dancing, tea drinking, and swapping throughout the day. Thanks to all who came and helped make it a swinging good time!

We’ve uploaded a few pictures to our Flickr stream and are working on adding videos to our YouTube channel. Send us yours too!

The Roving Mad Hatters Tea Party set off from Kentish Town tube on a drizzly afternoon last Sunday. We were bedecked in wigs, bow ties, masks and, of course, hats! Accompanied by a dormouse on a teapot we headed into Camden on a Fairtrade mission.

We trundled down Kentish Town High Street first, distributing tea postcards, Big Swap leaflets and TeaDirect teabag samples to shoppers as we went. People were sometimes friendly, sometimes bemused, sometimes keen to stop and chat. You could never tell who would be interested: some promising looking shoppers would swoop by without a glance, at other times aggressive-looking men in hoodies would suddenly break into a smile and nod as we urged them to swap their tea, or teenage girls in big groups would stop to chat about Fairtrade Fortnight. Only the “cool people” never succumbed to our charms, they were sealed away from us behind big sunglasses and loud music pumping through their iPods!

We finished up outside the big Sainsbury’s on Camden Road and accosted the crowds going in and out. By the end of the afternoon we had distributed 300 TeaDirect tea bags and much fun had been had by all.