Football and dance combine in acclaimed performance coming to Liverpool

Five professional dancers will perform with five football players and even a referee, in an intriguing new piece of dance theatre coming to Liverpool for one performance only.The Match, by Barcelona-based international company Vero Cendoya Dance, will come to Toxteth's FireFit hub pitch next month. The UK premiere of the piece is being brought to Liverpool by our own Hope Street Ltd, and will take place on Sunday October 22 at 5:30pm.The Match is inspired by Paolo Zucca's 2014 film The Referee, and has toured to sell out audiences all over Europe and in South America, bagging awards along the way.  You can watch the trailer here.It is presented in the city as part of On The Verge, a biennial festival which showcases provocative new performance work in unusual places and spaces across the city of Liverpool, produced by Hope Street Ltd. and this year taking place from October 19 to 22.Festival producer Montserrat Gili said: "We are very excited to bring such a high quality Spanish company to Liverpool for the first time. This will be a very different kind of dance performance, mixing real dancers with real footballers. And since football has always been intrinsically linked to the spirit of Liverpool - what better city to host the UK premiere of The Match?"Peter Ward, director of Hope Street Ltd, added: "Liverpool is a world class city, it leads in the fields of culture, sport and science and we are so proud to bring this brilliant dance piece to the UK for the first time. Dance is for all, no matter if you’re a Liverpool FC, Everton FC, Tranmere Rovers or, heaven forbid, Man Utd fan and Hope Street Ltd are committed to supporting the development of excellent dance performance in the Liverpool City Region."As we have a long history of working in collaboration with our European neighbours, we believe that it’s important to demonstrate the major successes that working with Europe can have in our communities."In addition to The Match, On the Verge will also present work by emerging artists in a variety of unique spaces including a bus, a karaoke bar, a locker room, a bar and even beneath a gigantic skirt - find out more at www.hope-street.org.Tickets for The Match are £12, available by calling 0844 8000 410 or online at www.TicketQuarter.co.uk.