About Us
Cut A Shine is a collective of musicians, dancers and callers who've been spreading their brand of rip roaring hoedown and barn dance music across the UK for over ten years. Conceived in the squat and warehouse parties of London, the band host square dances and ceilidh dances at venues across the capital, whilst spending the summer months darting from festival to festival raising a dust bowl of dance where ever they go. The line up includes Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin and Double bass – the classic “Bluegrass” line up. The show is augmented with flat foot dancers, eccentric and energetic dance callers, and singers, for a all round hoedown experience. The band have played everywhere from 90th birthday parties to the Mumford and Sons Album Launch (yes, that album), as well as pretty much every decent UK festival there is: from Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Bestival to Green Man, Wilderness and Love Box... Keep it Hoedown.
The band now host their own festival in the mountains of Mid Wales called Fire in the Mountain, and regularly promote and organise venue shows for the best of visiting Appalachian and Bluegrass musicians from the USA.
Our Current Venue is the spectacular Grade II* listed Round Chapel in Hackney.
“Cut A Shine” is not a noun, rather, it is a verb: to Cut A Shine, and the origin, an old world expression meaning to dance. Back in an era before the Internet, television or even electricity, the local dance would be the primary way of engaging with the wider world and your local community. One would don one’s Sunday Best and shine up those shoes real good, only to cut the shine through rigorous dancing. And therein lies the mission of this collective of musicians, dancers and callers – to get people to Cut A Shine and dance them old dances…and dance them with each other!
The project started back in 2005 when we started hosting barn dances as warm ups to squat parties across London. As these parties grew popular, more shows were hosted in bigger venues featuring just the barn dancing bit, and the band was born. The show went on the road shortly after and we started hosting hoedowns and stages packed full of bluegrass and folk music at festivals and venues across the UK (we won’t bore you with the list!). Then, people who had seen us at festivals started getting married, so we play lots of weddings as well.
Cut A Shine still host regular dances in London, now based at the glorious Round Chapel in Clapton, Hackney. Members of the group also went on to form their own whole festival dedicated to hoedown music – Fire in the Mountain, bringing some of the best players over from the States to the UK. Do come and cut your shine with Cut A Shine and expect to hear authentic rippin’ old time fiddle and banjo tunes, see flat foot “buck” dancers on stage, and, most importantly, come ready to grab a partner and swing and whirl, and party like it’s 1854.