Dance, Issue 665

The 2010 Festival in Numbers

Here are some statistics about this year's Festivals

We've very carefully and scientifically gathered some stunning numbers and statistics about this year's festivals.

Transformation

Harrowing but uplifting tale of survival

At first sight writer, director and performer Gemskii appears to have created a welcoming, informal atmosphere in her small space at the Roxy, handing out programmes and opening her show with a polite invitation to ‘laugh, even though this story is…

5 Questions - Ricardo Garcia

One of the busiest men on the Fringe, Ricardo Garcia takes time out from his many performances to tell us about his interactive show, A Compas Flamenco. 5 things you love most about flamenco? I love the fact that it is the art of the people – not a…

Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company

Where Spanish and African cultures collide

With its close proximity to Africa, Spain is often seen as a gateway to a better life. Some immigrants are successful, others not, but it is their desire for greener grass, followed by a longing for home, which inspired Paco Peña’s latest show…

Pas Perdus

Delightful family-friendly clowning

The booming voiceover that introduces this charming piece of physical theatre is that of a hypnotist inducing the calm of sleep on its audience. What then transpires is the appearance of a dream world, though the night visions we experience are far from…

Maria De Buenos Aires

An Argentine feast for all five senses

A programme note warns audience members going into this anarchic reinterpretation of Astor Piazzolla’s already surreal 1968 ‘tango opera’ not to worry about following any sort of narrative. Thus released, you’re free to let teeming chaos wash over…

Cape Dance Company

Pop star-slick, but patchy

The key to what doesn’t quite work about this uneven showcase from one of Africa’s most acclaimed young companies is right there in the first piece – Michael Thomas’ pastoral/pop fusion Treasures of the Heart. They’re technically superb on the…

La Lutte

Contemporary meets combat in a strong male duet

This is strong dance. This is male dance. But this is also the kind of dance that looks like two boys fighting over whose next on the Playstation. La Lutte (French for ‘the wrestle’) is the new duet from Belgium/UK-based choreographer Filip Van Huffel…

Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal

The late great choreographer Pina Bausch lives on through her work and company, as the dancers of Germany’s Tanztheater Wuppertal arrive in Edinburgh to perform Água. Inspired by Bausch’s time in Brazil, the work is filled with striking video images…

Dance:Film10 brings dance on film to Edinburgh Festival

Pieces on Pina Bausch and Scottish Ballet films by Daniel Warren amongst highlights

The Edinburgh International Film Festival may no longer coincide with the rest of the August extravaganza, but the folks at Dance:Film are doing their best to fill the slot. Small but perfectly formed, this year’s film fest features films about Scottish…

Tabú - I Will Be Bad

Contemporary circus flying in the face of fear

Watching contemporary circus outfit Nofit State is like stepping into the pages of a living, breathing pop-up book. Before the show starts, we are ushered into the big top by a babbling 12-strong international cast of characters who look straight out of…

Alonzo King Lines Ballet

Modern classical dance with an Indian beat

It’s part of our make-up to search for the meaning in things. So it’s no surprise that when an audience sits down in front of a piece of modern dance, the big question in most people’s heads is ‘what’s it all about?’. Bringing two works to this…

Reel-to-Real: The Movies Musical

Less chat more dancin’ and singin’ please

Much has been made of Reel-to-Real’s impressive technical credentials, which allows live performers to perform iconic song-and-dance numbers against a backdrop of footage from classic film musicals. In fact the background projections, while cleverly…

Intertwine

Works, and dancers, in progress

Collisions Dance Company are on the cusp. They’re young enough – as a company and individuals – that they haven’t quite found their own style yet, but they’re also talented enough that watching even an uneven collection of small pieces like this feels…

Where Did It All Go Right?

Passion and fun in the nightclub

Presented by Dance Base in the backroom bar of an underground gay hotspot, this light and lively send-up of the mating rituals of clubbing must be one of the most accessible pieces of dance theatre on the Fringe. Devised by Ireland’s ponydance…

The Regretrospective

The tiger who came to tea with his ex-lover, the horse

Under ‘experiences that could only happen at the Fringe’, chalk up ‘watching a woman wearing a horse’s head use flamenco to seduce her ex-lover, a large cuddly toy tiger, in a bedsit, to a trip hop soundtrack’. And yet, bizarrely, dancer and multimedia…

Mary & William

Intimate rendition is by turns humorous and poignant

Actress Mary MacDonald Hamill performs a biographical piece woven together with excerpts from Shakespeare which provide a lyrical commentary to the narrative. Following the story of her life and career from childhood, this intimate rendition is by turns…