Do you like literature, the library, and dancing at live events? Now you can have all three wrapped into one at The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever at Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library on Saturday, July 30.
The library at 4275 Cass St. will hold San Diego’s edition of The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever in the library’s park starting at noon. Described as a flash mob/community dance, the event has taken place internationally every July since 2013. San Diego is one of only five locations hosting an event in the United States in 2022, and the only one on the West Coast.
“Whether you are more a fan of Emily Bronte’s classic 1847 novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ or Kate Bush’s 1978 song adaptation, we invite you to express your inner Cathy at The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever,” said PB library manager Christina Wainwright, who has designed dance costumes, especially for the event.
“Don a red dress and dance to Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ in the Pacific Beach Library’s park, using the moves that Kate Bush immortalized in her music video. Afterward, we invite you to hang out in our park. We’ll spin some tunes and you can bring picnic supplies.”
The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever is an event held at locations worldwide where participants recreate the music video for musician Kate Bush’s1978 song “Wuthering Heights.” The event’s inspiration is “Shambush’s The Ultimate Kate Bush Experience,” which took place in 2013 in Brighton, United Kingdom, as part of Brighton Fringe, created by performance collective Shambush. Shambush attempted to set an unofficial world record on that date for the most people dressed as Kate Bush in one place, with hundreds attending.
“Wuthering Heights” is an 1847 work by Emily Bronte, an English novelist and poet who is best known for this, her one and only novel, concerning two families of the landed gentry and their turbulent relationships. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction. “Wuthering Heights” is now considered a classic of English literature. But it was controversial for its depictions of mental and physical cruelty, including domestic abuse, and for its challenges to Victorian morality and religious and societal values.
Catherine “Kate” Bush is a British singer, songwriter, pianist, dancer, and record producer. In 1978, aged 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single “Wuthering Heights.” She became the first female artist to achieve a UK No. 1 with a self-written song. She was also the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist to enter the album chart at No. 1.
Wainwright characterized the upcoming library event as “something unique and just a bit weird in a good way.”
“The novel has enduring appeal,” she said adding, “It’s a love story about love and passion regarding the main characters, Heathcliff and Cathy. Kate Bush wrote the song from a TV miniseries based on one scene, now captured in her song, showing people in red dresses dancing in a field.
“Because it is so dramatic, over the top, years later, in 2013, people in English art groups thought it would be a neat thing to invite folks to wear red dances and dance out in the fields. It has since become an international movement.”
PB’s observance of the special literary event will be lighthearted.
“‘Wuthering Heights’ is for people of all ages and abilities just coming together to do something fun,” Wainwright said. “It just happens to be about ‘Wuthering Heights.’”
The PB librarian said they’re hosting online costuming workshops for folks wanting to practice dancing before they participate.
“Hopefully, it will get more people interested in Bronte’s book and in Bush’s music,” Wainwright said. “If you want to do something weird and fun together: This is that event.”
You can see more info about the event (including links to dance rehearsals, a costuming workshop, and several videos) at mysdpl.org/wuthering. Folks who are on Facebook can also join a group dedicated to the event, to get updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sdplwuthering.
