Tag Archives: parties

Non-refundable deposits

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When you enter into a contract with your entertainment provider, whether it’s a wedding band, a magician or a DJ, you normally will be expected to provide some kind of non-refundable deposit along with your signature to secure the date. The amount may vary, but a 50% deposit is fairly common. 

If you’re a bride, or just planning a party and this is first time you’ve ever bought entertainment services, this can be a scary thing. What if the event gets cancelled? What if someone dies the week before? What if it rains on our outdoor beach birthday party? Do I get my deposit back?

Of course the answer will depend on the wording of the deposit clause in the contract, but most likely if the event is cancelled because of unforeseen circumstances; you will likely be out your deposit. But let’s dig deeper.

It’s easier for people to understand why a caterer or even a venue would request a deposit. They have to buy food or they are reserving the space exclusively for you and must turn down other business. But a musician isn’t purchasing any perishables, right? Well, not exactly. The busy nights for any event entertainer are Saturdays, followed closely by Fridays. There are only 52 Saturdays in a year and each one represents an opportunity cost. If for example a family tragedy occurs 2 days before your graduation party, the band still needs to be compensated for that Saturday night that they committed to your party. It is entirely possible that they have turned down other clients to commit to your party. While it’s very sad that a member of family decided to pass two days before your big event, this is not the fault of your hired act.

What can you do if the unforeseen happens? The first thing is to have a conversation with your hired entertainment. While they may be under no obligation to reschedule, many will try to work with you and apply part or all of your deposit to another date. The flexibility they have will depend on how in demand they are, how full their calendar is and on what day of the week you want your new date. You certainly can’t expect them to bump another client because you need to reschedule. And nor can you expect them to give you another Saturday night on the busiest part of wedding season. But maybe they’re willing to apply all (or some) of your deposit to a Tuesday night, or an off-season Friday night. 

This is a conversation you can have with your entertainer BEFORE signing the contract. Ask the “what if” scenarios. Just understand that if this conversation drags out too long, your vendor may start to question your commitment to the date.

Another option is to take out Event Cancellation Insurance for your date. 

What is typically covered by event cancellation insurance?
Fire, earthquakes, flooding, blizzards, hurricanes, terrorism, headline entertainers or speaker cancellation, outbreak of disease. 

Event cancellation insurance probably won’t cover things like lack of ticket sales, or the time spent planning the event.

Casino Night…

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One of the most popular events we’ve seen used for corporate team building “entertainment” is a Casino night. Each attendee is given a set number of chips and one raffle ticket at the beginning of the night and at the end of the night they can trade their winnings in for tickets towards a raffle. The more they win “gambling” the better the chances are of winning a prize in the raffle. If there are sponsors of the overall event, you can ask them for raffle donations. Otherwise, corporate branded items, M&S Vouchers/Amazon gift cards, etc. can be used. I’d suggest one raffle item for each 10-15 attendees. They don’t need to be high value, although it’s nice to have one “grand prize” type item. Keep in mind if people have flown in for the event, size matters.

As you watch you’ll see alliances being formed and a lot of teamwork and coaching as more experienced players assist other players and players strategize with each other to defeat players deemed to be winning too often.

Sometimes there may be a few people not want to participate for religious/cultural reasons, and you should always have alternates for them–usually a couple of games suitable for two such as checkers and Uno to start, but they are always joined by people who have lost all their chips fairly quickly and you can have Pictionary with white boards set up for team play.

If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you’ll know that Illusionists is a wildly popular form of entertainment that dovetails with the Casino party environment. This also works as an additional team building activity, as a good Illusionist show offers opportunities for group participation, and interaction both with the entertainers and among the participants.

Bend me, shape me

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Find the best contortionists available for hire in the UK today. One of the most extreme circus disciplines, contortion pushes the the limits of the human form. With superhuman flexibility contortion artists will put on a amazing and memorable show and guarantee to astound your guests leaving them with an impression that will last a lifetime.

Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is an unusual form of physical display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. Contortion is often part of acrobatics and circus acts.  In general, contortionists have unusual natural flexibility, which is then enhanced through gymnastic training.

Skills;
Most contortionists are categorized as either front benders or back benders, depending on the direction in which their spine is more flexible. Relatively few performers are equally adept at bending both frontwards and backwards.

Front bending skills such as folding forward at the waist with the legs straight, or placing one or both legs behind the neck or shoulders with the knees bent (called a human knot). They may also pass their body through a ring or barrel while in a forward fold.

Back bending skills such as touching one’s head to one’s feet, or all the way to the buttocks (called a head-seat), while standing, lying on the floor, or in a handstand. A Marinelli bend is a backbend while supported only by a grip at the top of a short post that is held in the mouth.
Splits and over splits (a split of more than 180 degrees) may be included in front bending or back bending acts. An over split may be performed while the feet are supported by two chairs or by two assistants. 

Enterology is the practice of squeezing one’s body into a small, knee-high box or other container which appears to be much too small for a person to fit in. 

Dislocations of the shoulders or hip joints are sometimes performed as a short novelty act by itself. One example is lifting the arm to the side until it passes behind the head and lies across the top of the shoulders.

In the past, contortionists were associated almost exclusively with circuses and fairs, but recently they have also found work performing in nightclubs, amusement parks, in magazine advertisements, at trade shows, on television variety shows, in music videos, and as warmup acts or in the background at music concerts. In addition, contortion photos and digital movie clips are traded by fans on the Internet, and several web sites provide original photos of contortion acts for a monthly fee, or sell videotapes of performances through the mail.

A brief history of the Harp…

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Find the best harpists available for hire in the UK today. The harp is known as the ‘instrument of the gods’ and dates back to ancient times. The magical ‘fairy tale’ sound of the harp will enchant any audience and it is capable of transforming a ‘run of the mill’ event, into an elegant, emotional experience. 

The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. The earliest harps were developed from the hunting bow. The wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. show an instrument that closely resembles the hunter’s bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps. 

The angled harp came to Egypt from Asia in about 1500 B.C. It was built from a hollow sound-box joined to a straight string-arm at an angle. The strings, possibly made of hair or plant fibre, were attached to the sound-box at one end and tied to the string-arm at the other. The strings were tuned by rotating the knots that held them. 

During the middle Ages the pillar was added to support the tension of extra strings. Stiffer string materials like copper and brass were used and these changes enabled the instrument to produce greater volume and a longer-sustaining tone. Paintings of these harps appear in many early manuscripts and their shapes hardly differ from those of the Celtic harps that are still played today. 

The earliest known depiction of a frame harp in the British Isles is on an eighth century stone cross. Music was an important part of life in ancient Ireland and the harp was an aristocratic instrument, played in the courts of kings and before the chiefs of clans. Harpers were required to be able to evoke three different emotions in their audience by their music: Laughter, tears and sleep. With the Anglicisation of the Irish nobility, the traditional harpers became minstrels and street musicians reciting poetry and singing folk songs to the accompaniment of their harps. 

The single action harp achieved great popularity throughout the rest of the 18th century as was evidenced in the French Court by Marie Antoinette; perhaps, the most famous player of this instrument. The harps of this period were magnificently decorated with relief carving, lavishly gilded and hand painted. Besides being musical instruments they were undoubtedly prized as object d’art when displayed in the gilded salons of the era. 

As music evolved it was also necessary for the harp, if it was to maintain its popularity, to move with the times. Instead of only being limited to eight major keys and five minor keys, it had become vitally important for the harp to be able to play in all keys. As a result of this need, Sebastian Erard obtained a patent in 1810 for the Double Action pedal harp. 

This ingenious invention revolutionized the harp and is still in use today. The harp has since continued to evolve and has had many significant improvements made to it over the past two centuries. In the late 1800’s Lyon and Healy, a Chicago based company which is still building harps today, began building harps in America with greatly strengthened frames and many important improvements to Erard’s double action mechanism. 

The 21st century holds great promise for continued popularity of the harp as is evidenced by the myriad festivals, conventions, societies, harp builders, music, performances and career opportunities available to harpists. 

From Medieval to Modern, from Classical to Jazz, from Acoustic to Electric. The harp is an instrument steeped in tradition yet open to change and for many it is more than a mere instrument, it is a calling.

What a drag!!

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with the beginnings of drag, get ready for a (not so) serious history lesson…

Men dressing up as women have been going on for quite some time. It started in a theatrical setting, with female impersonation going back to ancient Roman literature and classical Chinese theatre. Since women were generally banned from performing on stage, men had to perform all of the parts. A modern example of this phenomenon can be seen in the film Shakespeare in Love, which shows men on stage dressed as women. When looking at the etymology of drag, according to the online dictionary, drag means the following;

Sense of “women’s clothing worn by a man” is said to be 1870 theatre slang, from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor (another guess is Yiddish trogn “to wear,” from German tragen); drag queen is from 1941.

The term ‘queen’, which was considered a more derogatory term to describe a gay man, has been around since the 18th century. The word has since been reclaimed in a more positive sense. The drag queens of which we speak today first started (particularly in the US) in the 1950s and 60s. Even though the drag queen scene started around that time, it didn’t properly flourish until the 1980s and 90s. This is, coincidentally, also around the time that gay culture started to develop. In the 1950s and 60s drag was far more underground and even criminalised.

However, during the late sixties the gay community started fighting back. It started with the Stonewall riots, which were a series of violent demonstrations by the gay community against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia. It was known to be popular with the poorest and most oppressed people in the gay community, including drag queens and the transgender community. It’s been said that these riots have partly been inspired by drag queens. Within six months after the riots, two gay activist organisations were formed in New York that was ultimately trying to bring attention to their lack of social rights and respect.

Thankfully today’s society is more tolerant to Drag Queen performers and is not ‘hid away’. We are able to enjoy their sharp tongues and witty banter which we have all come to love.

What is a mime?

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Mime is a form of acting and drama where the actor uses his body and gestures and also facial expressions rather than words to express his role. Drama started before the Greek times, it was created as a form of entertainment for the local people. In the past, Greeks would hold a festival to celebrate their god Dionysus. She was the god of wine, fertility and celebration. During these festivals, Greeks would entertain the public by holding drama based performances on either comedy or tragedy. Mime artists are called mimics; they exaggerate every move they make so it defines what they are trying to show. A mimic is an actor that acts without words and their entire performance is based on their non-verbal gesture and bodily movements. Mime artists usually act a story through their body; there have been many famous mime artists through the years.

Mime has been around since the ancient Geek and Roman period. It all began when Greek’s started having festivals and carnivals in honour of Dionysus, who is the Greek god of theatre. In the olden days actors would concentrate on their character a lot more than the actual plot of the story this is how mime became an exaggerated form of acting where self-expression is highly important. In Greek times, they had two main genres of drama, one was comedy and one was tragedy, this developed in Athens. During all of these performances in the Greek period, the Catholic Church showed great opposition to mime and drama as a whole, they thought that doing performances about comedies and tragedies shouldn’t be allowed and that performances should be about religion. This is when Mystery and Morality plays started to come in focus which were religious plays. A religious play would be about Jesus Christ and Morality plays would have a good moral and teaching to the story. 

Famous Mime artists.

Charlie Chaplin was a famous English comedian and was also a successful film director. Most of his films had slapstick comedy but were also based on social themes of the time. Charlie Chaplin was inspired by a French silent film comedian called Max Linder. Chaplin was hugely influenced by him and later dedicated one of his films to him. Chaplin was an actor for 75 years and he started acting at a very young age. Charlie Chaplin was known for his acting and his great films; he is one of the best mime artists in the world and is currently a legend. Many people get inspired by his work.

Marcel Marceau was a famous French mime artist who died recently on 22nd September 2007. Marcel Marceau was known for his striped pull over and his battered silk opera hat. This was his costume for one of his characters “Bip”. Marcel Marceau performed all around the world and was known by many people, his mime acts where inspiring and he wanted to spread the “art of silence” all around the world so people could learn to appreciate it. 

Mr Bean is a British television programme, and Rowan Atkinson is the main character. His character is based on a child’s mind in an adults body, this character was developed when Rowan Atkinson was in university. Rowan Atkinson plays his character in a mime with random sounds that complete the character and the atmosphere of the performance. Rowan Atkinson is one of the best mime artists now and he is known for his character all throughout England.

All tastes catered for….

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Having a group of singers perform for you is very entertaining, it could be a boy band where they would do their best harmonies and all the ladies would swoon or a girl band where not only will their singing be amazing but will add a bit of eye candy to your event. Or if you wanted you could have a group which is not defined by boy or girl but a group like Fleetwood mac? Your event will sparkle if you hired one of our groups from our directory.  Whatever you were organising we are sure a boy band/girl band or group would be just the thing.

Guitars are always exciting with that ‘Rock n Roll’ edge – we’ve all pretended to do ‘air guitar’? Well now you can hire your very own guitar group or guitar soloist. You could want the next Brian May at your corporate event or a Status Quo group at a special birthday – we at Red Masque entertainment directory have the very best advertised for your party.

A beautiful piece of music is always lovely to hear and even more so when it is played by a pianist, you could have a pianist play in a swanky new wine bar that you have just opened or at a Wedding where the pianist could play subtly at your reception in the background.

A Harpist is another beautiful instrument that has a mystical feel to it, in fact very much like a pianist a Harpist can play at any special event where class is needed, or indeed a violin where a haunting sound can be played at a funeral to send of your loved one.

If you needed a ‘soul night’ where Motown and Soul music is needed to be played at your party then hiring the best Motown and Soul musicians better be done by booking with Red Masque entertainment directory, where we have only the most professional and rated that advertise with us, so you are assured of a great evening.

Even if you wanted a ‘Tribute act’ for your Soul and Motown event then of course this can be arranged too. You could want a ‘Jackson 5’ Tribute or a Marvin Gaye the choice is down to you, or you could want lots of different ‘Tribute acts’ that run concurrently with each other.

Everybody loves great musicals and if they haven’t ever seen a west end show then you could bring the west end to them.  Musicals are so moving and tell many stories; you can’t fail for anyone not to fall in love with them.

You could be opening up a theatrical company and need to have a launch party where a West end musicals songs are sung or a production of a west end show could be re-enacted for your event.

Of course you would probably need a string quartet to receive your guests as they walk into your new theatrical company.

Sweets for your sweets!

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We love our Canapé Girls for hire here at Red Masque directory and our clients love them too. So what could make them even more fabulous?

The Canapé girls have been planning new fabulous costumes for a while and here they are!  They all have our new fabulous light up bespoke designed trays. Depicting everything vintage and garden tea party, these beautiful canapé girls are a fabulous and unique way to help serve treats, sweets, cakes and canapés to your event guests.

The Canapé trays are now even more spectacular with super bright LED lights adding illuminated colour to each of the canapé hostesses. The colour can be themed to each costume, to your event or even colour changing. So with the combination of this fabulous addition and their outstanding costuming, our canapé hostesses are sure to stand out from the crowd!

One of the Canapé ladies is Perfectly pink is adorned with traditional English garden flowers, sparkling Swarovski crystals, cameo brooches and of course pearls and even has a full tea set in her fabulous wig – topped with a cute teapot!

Another Gorgeous Canapé lady is surrounded by traditional garden flowers, beautiful brooches, sparkling Swarovski crystals and strings of pearls with vintage decorative doves hidden in her hair!

Complete with their purposely created Perspex serving trays, these gorgeous girls can serve selections of sweets, canapé’s or cupcakes. The Canapé trays are now even more spectacular with super bright LED lights adding illuminated colour to each of the canapé hostesses. The colour can be themed to each costume, to your event or even colour changing. So with the combination of this fabulous addition and their outstanding costuming. The canapé hostesses are sure to stand out from the crowd! These fabulous crystal chandelier headdresses can always be seen across a crowded room, catching the light, sparkling and shimmering. Perfect for black tie in their fabulous white silk tail coats, they are beautiful way to serve your guests at award ceremonies, black tie events and parties.

Why book Rappers?

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There’s not an easy way to tell you this… but just cuz you can say some words that rhyme and sound good together, it doesn’t mean that you can rap. So you probably shouldn’t perform at your daughter’s sweet 16th party or any other party for that matter… just leave your rhyme spittin’ skills for the shower. But no worries! At Red Masque party and event entertainment directory we have advertised some new, up-and-coming rap artists know how to string their words together, put ‘em with some sick beats, and wow the crowd. Any event of yours will be off the charts with one of these rappers! 

When it comes to teenagers knowing their rap – you will be a very ‘cool’ Mum or Dad if you just leave it to the professionals.

So if you want to get a little more ‘info’ on the rap scene here is a little insight into how it all began…

Rapping essentially involves the speaking or chanting of rhyming lyrics, often set to a beat. The rhyming created by rappers is considered by many to be o­ne of the most sophisticated styles of poetry. What’s more, these rhymes often address provocative subjects such as sex, violence and socio-political issues.

Rapping first gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s as a kind of street art, especially among African American teenagers. But it wasn’t until 1979, when the Sugarhill Gang released their breakaway hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight, that record producers took notice of this emerging musical genre. O­nce they did, numerous rap acts, including Run-DMC and N.W.A., surfaced, and rap’s audience began to swell. It wasn’t just African American male rappers getting in o­n the act, either: By the 1980s, white rap bands such as the Beastie Boys and female rap bands such as Salt-n-Pepa were reaching the top of the charts.

By the 1990s, rap matured from an old-school-style – which was based o­n relatively simple lyrics – to a new-school-style, which was louder and included more complex lyrics. Artists such as The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dog and Tupac ruled the charts during this time, as did Eminem – o­ne of the most popular white rappers of all time.

Rap has stood the test of time and its popularity rages o­n with today’s artists such as 50 Cent, Ludacris and Jay-Z churning out hit after thought-provoking hit. The beat truly does go o­n.

Brazilian Carnival Dancers

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With the carnival fever fast approaching isn’t it better to hire these amazing dancers early? You wouldn’t want to be disappointed, after all Carnival dancers are the icing on the cake!

These gorgeous dancers will carry a feeling of elegance and prestige providing a very energetic performance with a modern twist featuring spectacular costumes and choreographed routines which will dazzle your guests getting everyone off their feet and onto the dance floor! The show will give the audience an authentic taste of the Latin & Brazilian dance experience including Samba, Salsa, Cha Cha, Lambada, Axe’ and much more!

Dancing to up tempo Latin & Brazilian songs as well as Latin pop and contemporary charts, be assured that these Brazilian Carnival Dancers will create an exciting party atmosphere!

You will deal with experienced artists who have been performing not only in the UK but all over the world. Their reputation has grown significantly over the years making them becoming the Capital’s leading show business dedicated to this kind dance.

Discover how you could indulge yourself and your guests with a dazzling and classy party entertainment! With many dancers available, the group can satisfy any request and cater for any budget, no matter how small or large!

Hire Brazilian Carnival Dancers to cater for Corporate, Galas, Weddings, Bar Mitzvah, Cocktails reception, Product launch, TV Commercials, Casinos, Theatre Production, Award ceremony, Themed Event, Office party, Fundraisers, Festivals, Venues and more.

You may need a Brazilian Carnival singer. As well as Carnival Dancers, it would be good to provide a Brazilian Carnival Singer who will entertain your audience singing up-tempo Latin & Brazilian songs in Portuguese, English and Spanish as well as Latin pop and top charts to quality backing tracks.

The singer can also perform a background music set featuring a classy repertoire of smooth Latin jazz and Brazilian bossa nova. This would be ideal for wedding reception or to delight your guest while dining. Please look on our Red Masque directory for more details.