If a scateboarder jumping through an inferno, men dressed in a shiny tracksuite singing Westlife into a hairdryer or the tale of a Transylvanian mail-order bride who finds herself stranded in Ireland with only her high-risk dance contortion and alligator wrestling skills to rely on is your cup of tea then get yourself down to the The Street Performance World Champsionships in Merrion Square this week.

Svetlana Flamingo, Lord of Strut and The Fire Guy are just some of the acts performing from the 17th - 20th of June. The show, which attracted more than 150,000 spectators when it was held here in 2009, is arguably Ireland's greatest free
festival. 2010 will be the fifth year of the festival in Dublin's Merrion Square.

It really is a fantastic and unusual event. So this June the best contortionists, magicians,breakdancers, comedians and other assorted world-class professional jesters willdescend on Ireland; first on Cork’s Fitzgerald Park and Mardyke Sports Ground, and then on Dublin’s Merrion Square, to battle it out for the most coveted title in street performance, the AIB Street Performance World Champion.

Due to the phenomenal turnout last year, the Cork festival will also expand to Mardyke Sports Ground. Over both weekends, voting booths will be set up at the event sites and the act with the most votes will be crowned the 2010 AIB Street Performance World Champion.

Some of the world-class competitors this year include: Quick Change: We still haven’t worked out how they pull off their act: it is quite simply jaw dropping and possibly one of the most spectacular shows on the planet. An uncountable number of blink-and-you-miss-them costume changes that left the America’s Got Talent judges speechless. Any ideas how they do it!?: www.spwc.ie/quickchange Victor Rubilar The man who turned down a place at the World Cup to be with us (well, that’s what he tells us!!) will treat us to some football-inspired antics. Keep your eyes peeled for four time Guinness World Record holder and football free-styler The 2009 title holders, the awesome USA Breakdancers will also return as special
guests in 2010.

If you missed them last year, here’s a taster of what to expect:
www.spwc.ie/breakdancers. And this year the festival also has a surprise up its sleeve in the form of a mass participation World Record-Breaking attempt…! Keep Sunday the 20th June free, come along to the Pepper Canister Church round 1.30pm, and if you feel like practicing your Space Hopper skills between now and then, it won’t go astray! All entertainment at the festival is entirely free of charge, with the performers, who have dedicated their lives to this amazing art form, asking for a contribution from their audience at the end of each show.

Check out http://www.spwc.ie/dublin/home.swf for more details.