Put togeth­er Steam­punk bands, cabaret artistes, Elec­troswing and Goth DJs, plus a mys­tery guest. Add tea-duelling com­pe­ti­tions and the out­ra­geous com­pere known as Dis Charge, coax your guests to dress up in suit­ably retro style and you have the ingre­di­ents for a par­ty on a slight­ly dark and deca­dent side. For extra impact, set the event in the fad­ed glam­our of Hornsey Town Hall, a grand Mod­ernist build­ing, moth­balled for a num­ber of years and now tem­porar­i­ly back in active ser­vice as an arts venue. This unique event, named Deco­Danse, is the cre­ation of Sharon Robin­son, and it is hap­pen­ing as part of Crouch End Fes­ti­val which runs from the 5th to 14th of June. The occa­sion promis­es to be grown-up and divine­ly deca­dent, round­ing off the final Fes­ti­val week­end in style. Tick­ets are avail­able at the bot­tom of the page.

I’m not sur­prised Sharon has dreamed up this extrav­a­gan­za as she’s a foun­tain of ideas. Men­tion to her a vague plan you’ve had for an event – any event –  and you can almost see her mind click and whirr into action as ideas tum­ble out, one more fan­ci­ful than the next. Only they’re not pure­ly fan­ta­sy as she’ll whizz into action and make it hap­pen. I asked Sharon about her influ­ences, and what lead to the cre­ation of such an imag­i­na­tive occasion:

How did you get involved?  Since vol­un­teer­ing with Crouch End Fes­ti­val last year I’ve met many inter­est­ing local writ­ers, artists, musi­cians, café and venue own­ers, and of course the fes­ti­val direc­tors and vol­un­teers. My back­ground is in com­mu­ni­ca­tions and I’ve organ­ised con­fer­ences and events – deal­ing with politi­cians, authors and com­men­ta­tors. But I’ve nev­er put on a cabaret or music event before. And the love­ly peo­ple at the Hornsey Town Hall Arts Cen­tre where Deco­Danse is being held are super supportive.