A DANCE show on a horse-driven cart will parade through the streets of Bradford, celebrating the city's Traveller communities.

The carnival-style show, called Horse & Cart, will visit areas such as Holme Wood which have a Traveller heritage as well as other neighbourhoods with diverse communities. Locations can be traced via a tracker on Facebook.

People can watch the parade from their gardens and streets, and will be encouraged to join in with the dancing. The horse, called Rambo, and cart have been loaned by a Holme Wood family.

Created by Bradford-based Spin Arts, the show will tour from Wednesday July 28 to Friday July 30, before two full-length performances in Bowling Park (Saturday, July 31) and Lister Park (Sunday, August 1).

Sarah Shead, Spin Arts creative producer, said the unusual staging was inspired by a T&A article about local scrap dealer Gareth Coates who, in the first lockdown, distributed fruit and vegetables from his horse and cart. "There has been a surge in scrap metal collectors in Bradford, and they have a great entrepreneurial spirit, but they tell us they're often judged in a negative way. When they turn up with their horse and cart they're told to move on. There's a lot of racism and discrimination," said Sarah.

"Some of the settled Traveller communities in Holme Wood have scrap metal businesses, but their heritage is often misunderstood and portrayed in a negative way. They've chosen a different life, but what we found was a real sense of community."

Horse & Cart tells a story by Romany Gypsy author Richard O’Neill. Through music, storytelling and Irish step dancing and Kathak, a classical Indian dance performed by travellers, it explores themes of culture, migration, diversity, working-class and industrial heritage. "We'll have music and confetti blasting from the cart. There'll be lots of interaction; kids can have photos taken with Rambo and people can follow us on foot," said Sarah. "This is a celebration of an often overlooked part of Bradford’s history, shining a positive light on those who live outside the accepted norm."

Dancers Keira Martin and Sonia Sabri will portray stories of nomadic communities of the Indian subcontinent and Ireland. They said: "We’re looking forward to sharing our findings with the community of Bradford, and we’re interested to hear local views on culture, music, dance and storytelling.”

The cart will parade around areas including Laisterdyke, Tyersal, Thornbury, Barkerend, Ravenscliffe, Thorpe Edge, Bradford Moor, Bowling and Greengates. For the full list of streets go to spin-arts.com