It’s Bastille Day in Bankside this weekend, with 2 days of feasting and family fun around Borough Market. Aqua babes head to the waterside for Regent’s Canal Festival and don’t skip on Big Dance grooves around London, including the Routemaster disco bus in Chelsea and the Big Dance Finale in Trafalgar Square. Party on!
Fri: English National Ballet in Duke of York Square, King’s Rd, SW3 (Sloane Square tube)
Join the ENB for their special Big Dance outing in the popular square, as they lead classes and performances in ballroom, tap and ballet, followed by a late evening screening of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic Shall We Dance. From 7pm-late, FREE (pre-booking essential via www.thelunacinema.com. Catch the Big Dance Bus earlier in the day 4.30-8.30pm at World’s End Place, down the road. (Jul 13)
Fri-Sat: Bastille Festival at Bankside, Borough Market, Southwark Playhouse, Park St and surrounding areas, SE1 (London Bridge tube)
Allez y to Bankside for the 5th annual Bastille Day celebrations, everything from petanque to cycling, cabaret to kids’ acts, family activities and cuisine demos and of course fab food in Borough Market, also the site of the festival finale party. Head to the Park Street Fair (11am-6pm) for the waiters’ race, absinthe sampling and gastro film clips including Ratatouille. From 11am until midnight, FREE (Jul 13-14)
Fri-Sun: Regent’s Canal Festival, along Regent’s Canal, NW1 (Warwick Avenue to King’s Cross tubes)
Follow an aquatic trail from Little Venice, along the Islington Boat Tunnel, through City Road Basin and up to Mile End Park. All along the canals there are live bands, street art, dance, film, food, floating DJs and activities for all the family. 12pm-late, FREE (Jul 13-15)
Sat: Big Dance Finale (pic) in Trafalgar Square, WC2 (Charing Cross tube)
It’s UK Big Street Dance Day and the footloose festival Big Dance culminates in a mass movement finale in Trafalgar Square. Hundreds of revellers including more than 30 dance groups will join together in a specially choreographed work by Wayne McGregor. From 12pm, FREE (Jul 14)
Sat: Portobello Road Arts Day, W2 (Westbourne Grove tube)
A free, family fun day filled with activities and performances including marionette trick puppets Monkey Biz, Epico the dragon touring Powis Square, giant lobsters on the prowl, a caravan of mechanical marvels, Romany song and dance and walkabout artists Drawabout sketching stories. Part of inTransit Festival Kensington and Chelsea. 1-4pm, FREE (Jul 14)
Sat-Thu: The Magician’s Daughter at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, SE1 (Waterloo tube)
Meet Miranda’s daughter as she explores an ‘isle of noises’ meeting friends Ariel and Caliban along the way. Filled with music and charm, this lively collaboration between poet Michael Rosen and the Little Angel Theatre of puppetry adapts Shakespeare’s The Tempest for audiences ages 3+. 1pm & 3pm (Sat, Wed-Thu), 12pm & 2pm (Sun); £10-£15 (Jul 14-19)
Sun: Deloitte Family Day at Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, W2 (Queensway tube)
Yoko Ono: To the Light is the inspiration for this family workshop led by artist Cally Spooner and designer Jackson Lam, to make art works based on the exhibition. 12-15pm, drop-in, FREE (Jul 15)
LOCAL PICK
Sun: Pop Up Cafe: Kids Olympics at Barnard Park, Copenhagen St, N1 (Angel tube)
Build up to the big event at this fun day of sporting activities, celebrating mini achievements, wacky races and more. Plus pop-up cafe with ice cream from Eat.St specialists Sorbitium. 10am-5pm, FREE (Jul 15)
We also like
It’s Dragonfly Weekend at London Wetland Centre in Barnes (Sat-Sun); celebrate all day at the Hoxton Street Party (Sat); see Punch professor portraits in Happy Birthday Mr Punch at V&A Museum of Childhood (from Sat); catch Hairy McClary and Friends at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith (until Sun); get your folk on with Morris Offspring at Cecil Sharp House, NW1 (Sun); savour a Strawberry Fayre at Spitalfields City Farm, E1 (Sun)
Don’t miss our July Family Events Calendar
