Yeehaw! Grab your best gal, shine up your shoes and get on down to the fabulous Art-Deco Stoke Newington Town Hall for the best toe tappin barn dance of the year!

For this winter warmer spectacular the fun-loving Cuta Shine troupe are back to give us a treat and a taste of the old. Joined by 11 piece, jump, jive, swing band FAT 45, and Sheelanagig, who will bring their own brand of Gypsy-world-folk to the table, dancefloor mayhem is inevitably inevitable. Experience the sheer joy and energy these razzle dazzle mischeif makers will create and lose yourself in the whirling, stomping world of coyboy hat tipping, gingham skirt flinging barn dancing (don't worry all you first timers, the dancing will be orchestrated, Cayliegh style.) There will be no better way to keep yourself warm this winter.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Love Birds will also be playing host to some Barn Dating (wink, wink, nod, nod.)

Cut A Shine is a troupe of musicians, dancers and singers, determined and enthusiastic to preserve, promote, reinterpret and propagate traditional folk music and dance to as wider audience as possible.
Encompassing English, Irish, Scottish and American dancing styles, they stay faithfull to their individual styles and ensure an authentic rendition of each. As well as putting on regular events throughout the year at resplendent venues around London, and even the odd barn in the sticks, Cut A Shine have also performed at local community events and mainstream music festivals.
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COMPETITION: 1x Pair of tickets to attend Cut A Shine: 'Hackney WInter Hoedown Spectacular' at Stoke Newington Town Hall at 20:00 on Saturday, 11th December.

To claim your tickets, send an email to vienna@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ box. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: It is believed by some that the phrase ‘Cut A Shine’ originates from a small mountain community in Surrey County, North Carolina, circa 1802, to describe the act of dancing vigorously at the local clapper board barn dance. It is asserted that, before the monthly dance, those good mountain folk would adorn their Sunday best, get out their finest chewing tobacco, and shine up their boots, only to have the ‘shine’ ‘cut’ by exertions on the dance floor. However, researching the phrase more deeply will yield the fact that the phrase can in fact be traced back to medieval England, long before the settlers stole the phrase and took it over the pond to the colonies, and claimed it for their own. The exact meaning here is lost in the archives, although there are sources that indicate it most likely refers to... what?

A: 1) A young man making a successful courting pass at a maiden he has taken a shine to .2) Skimming smooth pebbles across the still lake waters at dusk .3) Rubbing apples across your torso and rump until a good sheen is gleaned upon the apple and a healthy rouge is brought to ones cheek .4) The peasantry act of shining cobble stones before royal soirees