The Bonington are blending cinema and music with their Dance Party Screenings

You may ask yourself, "What is that beautiful event?"

The Bonington in Arnold is a theatre, music venue, cinema, bar and - thanks to its new ‘Dance Party Screenings’ - home to an immersive moviegoing experience.

We hear from manager Jeremy Arblaster all about what to expect…

So, what is the inspiration for The Bonington’s Dance Party Screenings?

The re-release of ‘Stop Making Sense’ really inspired it all. Seeing videos online of people dancing in normal cinemas gave me the idea. I thought, ‘Hey, we can do that,’ but as we have retractable seating, we can literally open up the entire space as a dancefloor. It’s quite unique to us.

As a fully functioning arts venue, we have lighting and a sound system that regular cinemas just don’t have!

Films like ‘A Minecraft Movie’ have encouraged some to claim that more cinemas should encourage audience interactivity in screenings, considering the box office success it can provide. Is this a way of evolving the cinema experience with that in mind?

It’s certainly a part of it. But we’re not unique in that respect. Plenty of events – from the huge productions like Secret Cinema to smaller, more community-minded DIY film clubs – are all about offering audiences ‘more than just the film’. Providing an experience.

You've run three Dance Party Screenings already - how did they go down, and did a wide range of audience members get involved?

They went really well! We did two of ‘Stop Making Sense’ as the first one did so well. We then did ‘Dance Craze’, an early ska/2-tone concert film featuring acts like Madness and The Specials. It was really diverse, so we’re optimistic we’ll see some more new faces for this upcoming season.

You're set to have events centred around the likes of The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye. How do you choose which artists to focus on?

This was the tricky part. Finding concert films that are accessible enough, that don’t feature interviews or talking heads (that can kill the vibe!), and that are available in terms of licensing was probably the most difficult part. I spoke to our resident DJs Dom Gourlay and Jimi Arundell, and we went over what sort of artists would go down well out of what was available - and I think we’ve come up with a good, varied bunch.

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There's a Notts link in there, too, in Jake Bugg. Was it important to have some Notts representation?

Absolutely! I definitely wanted to do one with two separate concerts, and finding two complementary ones was tricky. But Jake Bugg was a suggestion of Dom and Jimi, and we all felt it would fit with The Rolling Stones and, of course, offer that local angle too! Who knows, maybe he’ll pop down!

On that note, local DJs will perform before and after screenings. Who is on the line-up and what vibes can people expect from them?

Dom has been DJing for years! He’s a regular at festivals and his musical knowledge is second to none. We also wanted to include some new people. Jimi (a resident Rescue Rooms and Bodega DJ) has recently come on board here at The Bonington as a member of staff, so including him was a bit of a no-brainer.

I wanted to get Tommy K involved as he’s a cracking DJ and we go all the way back to the days of Spanky Van Dykes (rip). He suggested Judge Success for the Bob Marley event, as we wanted someone to come in and really match the vibe of the film. I think they’re all going to be really great at picking up where the film ends.

Looking forward, is this set to become a permanent fixture on the Bonington schedule?

I’m hopeful. As I mentioned before, the content is hard to find (and sometimes harder to license). It would be nice to do a season every year, though. Hopefully, with more and more live music being filmed, there’ll be more available.

I enquired about Nirvana but was told that they basically never give anyone permission. There are definitely still a few we were looking at but didn’t settle on that we could potentially do. Fingers crossed!

Grab tickets to Dance Party Screenings on The Bonington’s website.

(Header image: A24)