Free Woodberry Down Disco returns to Redmond Community Centre on Saturday

Woodberry Down Disco, a free drop-in dance session for neighbours on the estate, returns on Saturday 19 September. It runs from 12pm to 2pm in the pavilion of Redmond Community Centre, Kayani Avenue, N4 2HF.

The first session took place on 12 September and opened the estate’s yearly Hidden River Festival. Nobody has to dance, and people are welcome to sit and watch or simply come along to meet the people who live around them.

What happens at Woodberry Down Disco

Every session is built around a theme. The dances are accessible, and anyone who would rather sit out can use the seated areas or try quieter activities. A library, arts and crafts, and storytelling tied to the theme run alongside the dancing. Recent sessions featured Azonto, a dance style from Ghana, and the next theme is Superheroes.

The project was started by Nirmala Kesumadewi, a Woodberry Down resident whose neighbours’ WhatsApp group has thousands of members. She said the chat made her feel connected to the area. It also made clear to her that plenty of the people living nearby were strangers, and that plans to meet in person often came to nothing. She wanted people to be able to turn up without organising anything themselves.

“I wanted to create something free and low-stakes, where people could just drop in, drop out,” she said.

Local jobs and plans for a dance company

Woodberry Down residents are paid to help run the sessions, and another resident has been hired to lead a salsa session. Kesumadewi hopes to gather neighbours who want to build their skills. In the longer term she wants to form a professional dance company led by residents.

Cultures of Hackney, a Hackney Council fund for cultural activity rooted in local communities, is supporting nine projects this year, and the disco is one of them. Entry is free, and another session is expected in October.