The internationally renowned party peeps from uber cool Hedkandi will be bringing their trademark brand of hedonistic house music to your doorstep each month and is yet another addition to the outstanding line up of entertainment and live PA’s that the Epsilon are becoming well known for bringing to the city’s nightlife.

May Bank Holiday saw the first of the Hedkandi parties, with a host of live performances, world class lighting and the hottest party people around. Take a peak at the gallery below! 

With most stock being exclusive, the independent team are always on the look out for new, exciting products and alternative fashion to stock alongside their own limited edition T shirts and Jewellery. Check out the Crow and Dunnage  T-Shirts below, hand printed using silk screens and Fairtrade 100% organic cotton.

We also love their range of Lomography cameras, a great alternative to digicams that recreates effects from photographs of the 50’s and 60’s. Retro-tastic! Much more than a boutique, kujishop offer unique clothing and uniquely designed statement piece jewellery, all made here in little old England. The store represents an ever changing art and design led oasis of original fashion along with collectables, accessories and gifts.

Check out this online oasis of all things stylish, fun and quirky, here!

69: Thanks for agreeing to speak to us. So our readers can picture the scene, where are you at the moment and what you up to?

Matthew: We’re all busy rehearsing for Early Adventures, a triple bill of things I did many years ago to sort of kick off our 25th anniversary. I’m going back to the roots of the company and doing these very early pieces it’s a lot of fun actually I’m really enjoying it.

69: Early Adventures, a triple bill of productions including Spitfire, Town and Country and The Infernal Gallop is set to visit Nottingham’s Playhouse this summer, right?

Matthew: Yeah that’s right. It’s been great going back to those and remembering what it’s like to be a dancer as well because I actually was in all of those pieces.

69: What inspired their combination? I’m assuming they weren’t originally put together as a trilogy?

Matthew: No they weren’t but they represent a landmark for the company, they were the pieces that sort of got us noticed, Spitfire in particular was the first hit we had and the others led us on our way and they sort of represent the style of the company. I think anyone who knows the later, the bigger pieces which we have been doing for the past ten years, will see in these the beginnings of all that, you can actually see where they came from a little bit. I’m surprised sometimes at the things in them, I’m like oh that’s the beginning of that idea, that bit became Swan Lake or that went on to became Play Without Words, there’s all these little links that I think people will really enjoy seeing.

69: You mentioned your own background as a dancer; you actually started out quite late didn’t you?

Matthew: Yeah I did, I was very late. I was never going to be an outstanding dancer of any kind, I just enjoyed it and I enjoyed being in my own work and making things that I could do. I don’t think I’d be any good to any other choreographer to work with really.

69: You can’t have been that bad! You did it for 14 years!

Matthew: (laughs) I suppose like a lot of people I was good at aspects of it. My body, having started so late, was not physically able. I loved performing, I think I was a good performer and that’s what I try to pass on to everyone now, that’s as important as dancing.

69: Which of your pieces still resonates for you as a dancer?

Matthew: I used to enjoy performing Spitfire actually. It makes you feel like a star. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it but the dancers are all in white underwear but its presented like a ballet. You get to do a solo and the audience gets on the side of the humour of it and they applaud and cheer and everything. It’s quite funny cause you can play up your fantasies quite a bit and I enjoyed doing that. I’ve always enjoyed creating a character. I think when I was younger I wanted to act so being able to act through dance was something I really enjoyed and continued to do in the pieces I’ve done since.

69: Your productions are well known for their innovation, something that can alienate an audience. Are you surprised then that the public have taken tem so closely to their hearts?

Matthew: I think we’ve had a quite funny and unique history; the journey we’ve gone on has been incredible. We’ve now given more performances than any other dance company in the world, not just in the UK but in the world! I think that although the work has been described as quite ground breaking, upsetting the traditionalists and all that kind of stuff, it’s always remained very entertaining and audience conscious right from the beginning. We’ve always wanted to do performances that not only please the audience but one’s that they don’t feel cut off from. Sometimes with dance, people feel they’re never going to get it and I think that’s been the success of the company really, that connection with audiences.

69: You have a keen eye for mainstream popular culture; productions such as Edward scissor hands and Dorian Gray are testament to that. Do you think that helps to draw a new audience?

Matthew: I think it’s because I started late and I loved other art forms and I had a bit of time to actually live a bit before I went in to dance. Some dancers start so young and because it’s such a dedicated profession, that’s all they know. If you’re trying to make-work for a contemporary audience you’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse as much as you can. One of the things that’s been a pleasure for me is meeting with young people and as I’ve got older the Company has stayed younger, they’re all in their twenties and early thirties mostly and they are my friends now as well. I’m very close to the company and I get to know what they like and what their into and it keeps you young in a sense and it keeps you on top of things and culturally it does as well

69: what trends are inspiring you at the moment?

Matthew: Well, I have Sleeping Beauty coming out at the end of the year and I’m trying to give it a gothic almost vampiric aspect to it. I’m sensing that’s a pretty popular thing in young people’s literature and that whole culture, Twilight, True Blood and things like that. I don’t want to over do it but I think that’s a popular thing so I’m sort of tapping into that. More True Blood than Twilight I think.

69: TV has caught on to dance in a big way lately with Strictly, BGT and Got to Dance to name just a few of the shows out there. Do you think dance is the new cool?

Matthew: Yes I think it is. I mean looking at those shows and at something like Sky’s Got To Dance, the standard is incredible. It’s just ordinary people, dancing in local dance groups and things, and your mouth just drops open when you see the skill of these young people and these amateur groups. I think it’s amazing what has happened in the last 10 years, Billy Elliot and even Swan Lake have helped to popularise male dancing,. To dance as a man it’s become something you don’t need to hide, like I did when I was at school.

69: Could you ever see yourself getting in a reality TV project like that?

Matthew: I’m asked all the time, I get an invitation every couple of weeks for some sort of programme, let’s turn a bunch of rugby players into ballet dancers or those sorts of ideas. The Strictly team approached me about being a judge but I’m not interested really. I’ve got my job, I really love doing what I’m doing, I’m not really interested in being a celebrity or a talking head.

69: So your showcasing Play Without Words at Curve before it starts its run at Saddlers Wells. What was behind the decision to bring the show to Curve?

Matthew: Leicester’s been one of the newer venues that we’ve come to, we’ve done three shows there now and this will be the fourth and were building a great audience in the city. It’s a wonderful place to come to and there’s a beautiful stage to perform on so the shows all look great there. We did do a tour of Play Without Words about ten years ago, before the Curve was there, so as the city missed it we thought it would be a great place to start the run.

69: So why choose to revisit this show?

Matthew: It was the show that launched New Adventures when I renamed the company and it was the first show we did at the National Theatre so is very much a landmark for us. It’s also one of the most unusual shows I’ve done. It was approached literally as a play with no words. It was based on a film called ‘The Servant’ and it’s a very unusual way of storytelling with each of the characters being played by two or three different dancers at the same time so you get all these variations on the same story. The audience sees different versions of the story all at once, that sounds incredibly confusing and difficult, but it is actually really mesmerising to watch. Next to Swan Lake, it’s probably my most critically acclaimed piece and with the 25th Anniversary it seemed a good time to bring it back.

69: What else do you have planned to celebrate your 25th Anniversary?

Matthew: We have an in house party organised but the whole year really is a celebration, what with revisiting these pieces, bringing together some of the old cast members and ending with a World Premier of Sleeping Beauty so it’s going to be a great year, celebrating the past and present and the future. We also have Swan Lake 3D touring around the country; we filmed it last year in 3D, so that’s a whole other thing to add to the celebration as well.

Play Without Words is @ Curve 29th June to 7th July. Rutland Street, Leicester. Tel: 0116 242 3595 www.curveonline.co.uk

Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures is @ Nottingham Playhouse, 27th –28th June. Wellington Circus, Nottingham. Tel: 0115 947 4361 www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

To be at this exclusive event, all you need to do is book a table from 6pm at Alto Restaurant on Saturday the 19^th May, or make a night of it and stay over to secure your exclusive ticket.

To book a table at the event, call Sian Brunt on 0121 718 8000 between 8.30am and 5.30pm, or book a room here. 

With a range of half and full day pamper packages, visitors can enjoy the beautiful pool, thermal rooms including the wonderful Kelo Sauna with its rustic wooden finish and calming relaxation areas in between a host of treatments including the divine hot lava shell massage and re energising Salt treatment that’s proven to cleanse the respiratory system and speed up the elimination of toxins. There is also a light lunch for those whose batteries need recharging.

Clients can enjoy a light lunch in the canal side lounge or sit back and benefit from a spot of pampering in the Laurent-Perrier Champagne Nail Bar.

Bubbles and beauty? We’re sold!

If you can bear to drag yourself away from the spa then you’ll discover all the latest TechnoGym equipment, resistance trainers, weights and free weights in the large and well-equipped gym. There’s also a large functional training zone including TRX, flexibility and core stability zones, plus countless other specialist exercises areas and over 50 classes each week. Membership starts from just £12 per week and there’s even an indoor climbing wall as well as the midlands only Milon fitness suite that is said to be 30% more efficient than traditional workouts and sure to give you the workout of your life!

We’ve teamed up with theclubandspa Birmingham to offer two lucky readers a year’s Platinum Membership worth over £2000! For 12 months you’ll be able to use all the facilities and classes that makes Birmingham’s newest gym and spathe gym of choice. To be in with a chance of winning, simply enter your details below and sit tight!

Competition closes on July 16th! We may send you a few emails with offers, competitions and lovely stuff we think you might like. If you don’t fancy it, simply email tom@69-degrees.co.uk and we’ll take you off the list! Good luck!

Thank heavens then for HedShed and their private hair spa area. The luxury salon on Kings Heath’s High Street is now open is open Mon- Sat, with late nights Tuesday to Friday. a week as well as late nights on Tuesday to Thursdays. It features a quiet treatment area away from the main salon and the team have won so many awards that clients know from the start they’re in good hands.. If you’re still nervous, then the one to one consultations with their highly trained, passionate staff and the extensive menu of hair treatments from hair care giants Tigi, Sebastian, Wella and Label M should leave you feeling pampered to perfection. There also experts at extensions and are an official Great Lengths Hair Extensions stockist. For a limited period, they’re offering 20% OFF these extensions, ask for details.

The salon’s sleek, shed-inspired interior boasts not only a luxury hair spa but also an extensive beauty suite staffed by highly trained therapists and offers treatments and products from the likes of Elemis, Crystal Clear and MAC. There are five treatment rooms to choose from including a wet room, spray tan studio and double treatment room, perfect for a treatment with a partner or a pal!

We’re offering you lucky folk 30% off your first haircut at Hedshed. Simply print off the voucher below and take it into the salon!

You can find us in the best boutique stores, cafes, gyms, hairdressers and bars across Nottingham, Birmingham, Leicester and Derby, or you can click here! Enjoy!

Well now you can! Noel Gallagher recently described Melt! Festival as “pretty f#!@ing mad, probably what the inside of Maralyn Manson’s head looks like”. And if Gallagher says it’s mad, you know it’s pretty f#!@ing mad. 

We’ve teamed up with Festicket to offer you the chance to win a pair of tickets to Melt! Launching soon, Festicket aims is to be a onestop shop for booking your dream festival trip to every single festival in the world. To be in with a chance, all you need to do is fill in your details below and sit tight! The competition will be closing on June 7th 2012.

- Travel is not included in the prize. The tickets will give you access to the festival and camping site only.

- We may send you some information / special offers / deals we think you’ll love via email, if this doesn’t sound like your thing, simply email tom@69-degrees.co.uk and we’ll take you off the list! 

Starting out as a renegade soundsystem at the big daddy of all festivals, Glastonbury, Glade has evolved into a true haven for fans of alternative dance music. Set deep in the English countryside, you can immerse yourself in the music of Toddla T, Sven Vath, Rusko and Andy C (to name a few) brought to you by some of the best party people on the planet.

For the full line up and more festival information, head here.

We’re giving away two pairs of tickets to Glade Festival. To be in with a chance, simply fill in your details below and sit tight. Competition closes on the 24th May!

We may drop you an email every now and then with special offers, competitions and things we think you might like. If you don’t fancy the sound of that send us an email at tom@69-degrees.co.uk and we’ll take you off the list!

One of the many reasons The Chameleon is picking up awards is the exceptional way they look after their customers, so it makes sense that 2012 sees the Hill Street bar and restaurant concentrate on making sure their customers have the very best experience with them, whether that be within the sumptuous bar or highly regarded restaurant.

First off, for the bar, are five new, exclusive booths for those customers that enjoy the VIP treatment. These are proving unbelievably popular and need to be booked- we’d say 4 weeks in advance to make sure you’re at the front of the queue. By pre booking you can expect your chosen champagne, spirits or cocktails to be on ice waiting for your arrival, swanky!

For those of you with a busy schedule, The Chameleon are now offering an express lunch menu from £4.95 and can guarantee that your food will be in front of you and ready to eat in just 20 minutes. You can even pre-order your lunch on 0121 643 2233, perfect for a flying visit or quick business lunch.

We’re giving you lucky readers the chance to celebrate in style at The Chameleon with a £250 meal for four, including drinks! Runners up will receive a loyalty card, giving them 20% off of future visits! To be in with a chance simply fill in your details below.

Competition closes on July 2nd! We may send you a couple of emails with information, offers and products we think you’ll like. If you don’t fancy that you can email Tom at tom@69-degrees.co.uk and he’ll take you off the list.