Writer’s latest project to brighten up urban lives

Harlesden writer Rose Rouse paraded around Willesden Junction Station on Saturday with a dance troupe as part of her latest venture.

The music journalist started the project Not on Safari on Harlesden earlier this year which is about exploring her neighbourhood by inviting people who live in the area to show her around.

Since the project began, she has discovered places she never knew existed and walked with broadcaster Louis Theroux, philosopher Robert Rowland Smith, and even Vince Power, who used to own the internationally-famous Harlesden music venue The Mean Fiddler.

But this time she wanted to interact with the community in a different way and chose to perform with dancers in and around the station.

She said: “It was great. We all dressed in red because I wanted us to wear a passionate colour. I wanted us to contrast against the bleak industrial landscape.

“I made a soundtrack to go with the journey. We danced on the road and in the station and people were waiving at us of the buses.”

Along the way, the performers got their feet tapping to artists including Dusty Springfield, Bjork, Al Green and the Sex Pistols.

Ms Rouse said: “One of the highlights was when a maintenance worker joined in. We also took over a bus at one point and the driver put on his hazard warning lights. It was hilarious.

“My project is urban anthropology, memoirs and happenings. I want to do something unusual which lightens up people’s lives.”